Ottawa has seen enough drought in parts of southwestern Alberta, southern and eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec to offer deferrals on their ranchers’ 2016 income tax from breeding livestock sales. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Tuesday released the federal government’s initial list of municipalities designated for the 2016 deferral. In Alberta, those areas include Clearwater, […] Read more
Drought-hit tax deferral zones named
Trump pledges U.S. withdrawal from TPP on ‘day one’
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to start the United States’ exit from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal on “day one” of his administration in January. In a video released Monday, Trump said his transition team had been directed to put together “a list of executive actions we can take on day one” […] Read more
Gay Lea lays out dairy processing expansion plans
A dairy farmer co-op on an aggressive growth track has mapped out its next four years’ worth of expansions and upgrades, starting with a storied processing plant in southwestern Ontario. Gay Lea Foods Co-operative on Wednesday announced a budget of $140 million over four years to set up what it describes as an “innovative nutrition […] Read more
Maple Leaf to shut southern Ontario turkey plant
Maple Leaf Foods plans to outsource all its fresh turkey processing to another company’s southern Ontario plant in 2018 after shutting its own operation. The company announced Tuesday it will close its plant at Thamesford, Ont., east of London, after phasing its production over the next 18 months into Sofina Foods’ plant at Mitchell, about […] Read more
Call to help the hungry generated huge response from farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Forty years ago, farmers in Western Canada responded to a call to help people who were hungry in the developing world — and the organization that would become the Canadian Foodgrains Bank was born. The call was issued by Mennonite Central Committee, headquartered in Manitoba and it was farmers from that province and neighbouring Saskatchewan who donated […] Read more
Tighter border programs eyed for poultry, dairy imports
Federal programs meant to give importers tariff breaks on certain imports and products destined for re-export are up for tweaks to better cover Canada’s supply-managed poultry and dairy sectors. The federal government said Friday it plans to launch consultations with “industry stakeholders” over potential changes to its Duties Relief Program (DRP) and Import for Re-Export […] Read more
Bovine TB probe turns up more TB-positive cattle
Federal inspectors have confirmed a southeastern Alberta cow found with bovine tuberculosis in September was not just a one-off. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Friday reported five more cattle from the initial cow’s index herd in southeastern Alberta are confirmed to have been infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria — presumed to be to be […] Read more
Cash advances to be offered on unharvested grain
Farmers who weren’t able to wrap up their harvest this fall on account of lousy weather may still be eligible for cash advances under the federal Advance Payments Program. The Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA), which administers the program for farmers in Western Canada, said that effective Tuesday it will accept new seeded cash advance […] Read more
Ergot tolerances set for chickpeas, fababeans
Chickpeas and fababean crops graded in Canada will have a new maximum tolerance for ergot next year, even though the cereal disease doesn’t occur in either crop. The Canadian Grain Commission on Wednesday announced an ergot tolerance of 0.05 per cent for all grades of fababeans and chickpeas in Western Canada effective Aug. 1, 2017, […] Read more
Horse owners asked to complete survey on emergency plans
Survey closes Nov. 23
Reading Time: < 1 minute Horse owners are being asked to take a survey on their emergency preparedness so both they and others in the equine sector are better prepared to handle a crisis situation. “The importance of developing an equine emergency structure for Alberta was demonstrated recently with the wildfires in Fort McMurray,” the Alberta Equestrian Federation said in […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
