RCMP and Citizens On Patrol make it official

Reading Time: < 1 minute The RCMP and Alberta Citizens On Patrol Association (ACOPA) have officially teamed up. An Alberta RCMP release said the two have co-operated for many years, but deputy commissioner Todd Shean and ACOPA chair Beverley Salomons recently signed an official memorandum of understanding (MOU) which outlines their partnership. Citizens On Patrol is a police-supported, community-led program […] Read more

On board: Gary Stanford, Trent Rude, Jean-Marc Ruest, Harvey Brooks, Kevin Bender (back, l-r), Brent Watchorn, 
Cigi CEO JoAnne Buth, Drew Baker, Bill Gehl and Jim Smolik (front, l-r).

Prairie wheat commissions, grain firms to fund Cigi

New chair Kevin Bender says provincial wheat commissions were keen to ‘step up’ and grain companies are now on board too

Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers and grain companies have come together to provide core funding for the Canadian International Grains Institute — and an Albertan will chair the new board of directors of Cigi. “The end of the western Canadian deduction is happening at the end of July — that was the checkoff money that was going to fund […] Read more


Canadian pulses granted three-month extension to India’s fumigation exemption

Canadian pulse officials have less than three months to reach a long-term agreement with India over fumigation in pulse shipments

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian pulse exports to India have been given the green light, at least for the short term, temporarily heading off fears of higher fumigation charges or being shut out of the country completely. The federal government announced July 5 that India has granted another exemption to allow Canadian pulse exporters to access that market. Exports […] Read more



A close-up screengrab from near 100 Mile House on the B.C. Wildfire Animal Resource Map. Tags in red denote producers with livestock needing to be moved; tags in green denote offers of space or transport for affected livestock.

BCCA connecting ranchers, haulers in wildfire areas

Livestock producers needing to move animals out of wildfire zones in British Columbia’s Interior are being asked to contact the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association. The BCCA, on its website, said it’s helping to co-ordinate haulers with producers who need to evacuate livestock. “With closures of highways and evacuation orders, permits are needed to re-enter evacuated areas […] Read more

(Lafleur.com)

Olymel plans sausage production at Red Deer

New equipment and refrigerated storage are going into Olymel’s Alberta pork processing plant at Red Deer as the facility gets into the sausage business. Pork and poultry processor Olymel, owned mainly by Quebec agribusiness co-operative La Coop federee, announced Monday it will put up $2 million to convert a section of the Red Deer plant […] Read more


(SaskatchewanTrappers.com)

Saskatchewan sets new cougar, bear trapping seasons

Saskatchewan has set up a new cougar season for trappers, plus a southern expansion of its black bear trapping season, in part to help limit livestock predation. The province on Wednesday announced a new “trapping-only” cougar season will open Oct. 15, 2017 and close March 15, 2018. It also announced a new “black bear opportunity” […] Read more

(GreenhouseJuice.com)

Toronto juice firm backed for ‘cold pasteurization’

A Toronto organic juice processor that bills itself as shunning conventional pasteurization for its products has picked up federal funding to develop a “new-to-Canada” way to extend their shelf life. The federal government on Friday announced a “repayable investment” of up to $6.3 million from the AgriInnovation program for Greenhouse Juice Co. to set up […] Read more



(Canada Beef Inc. photo)

Prairie wheat, barley commissions’ single checkoffs set

The post-deregulation era of Prairie grain research and market development funding is cleared to begin, as the three Prairie provinces’ wheat and barley commissions have set new single checkoffs on Prairie wheat and barley, all starting Aug. 1. The Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA) on Wednesday announced that when the Western Canadian Deduction […] Read more