Manitoba’s hog producer body is taking farmers to task for “risky practices” following confirmation of the province’s third case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Manitoba’s chief veterinary office (CVO) confirmed Friday and announced Monday that a sow farm in the province’s southeast is the third to have animals with the PED virus (PEDv). Two hog […] Read more
PEDv hits third SE Manitoba hog farm
N.B. ag minister among unseated Tories in election loss
New Brunswick’s incumbent agriculture minister is among the election-night casualties for Premier David Alward’s Tories as the provincial Liberals get set to return to government. Michael Olscamp, the Tories’ minister of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries since 2010 and MLA for the Sackville-area riding of Tantramar, lost his seat Monday against Bernard LeBlanc, the Liberals’ MLA […] Read more
Canada/Korea trade pact’s final text signed
Now signed and sealed, a trade pact that’s expected to level the playing field for Canada’s agrifood export sectors in South Korea is waiting on implementation. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Korean President Park Geun-hye formally signed off on the free trade agreement’s final text at a ceremony Monday in Ottawa, three months after the […] Read more
Deere chain to pick up four S. Alta. dealerships
A southern Alberta group of John Deere farm equipment dealerships is set to become part of the Cervus Equipment chain. Calgary-based Cervus, which owns the largest group of Deere farm equipment dealerships in Canada, announced an agreement Thursday to buy up all shares in Evergreen Equipment, the owner of Deere dealerships in Bassano, Brooks, Drumheller […] Read more
CP challenging extended rail interswitching rules
Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) wants the courts to shoot down new federal rules that allow more Prairie elevators to move loaded grain cars on more than one railway, the Manitoba Co-operator reports. The Canadian Transportation Agency rules, launched in tandem with the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act passed in May, are the target of an action […] Read more
Incoming Alta. premier taps ex-MPs to push for market access
Boosting market access for Alberta’s agricultural wares and other exports is expected to loom large on the new provincial premier’s radar. Jim Prentice, sworn in Monday as premier, kept Wetaskiwin-Camrose MLA Verlyn Olson as his minister of agriculture and rural development, and reappointed Jason Krips as deputy minister for the department. Prentice, in his mandate […] Read more
Man sought on alleged ag equipment scams
Police in Alberta and Saskatchewan are looking for a 31-year-old man wanted on fraud charges stemming from allegedly unfulfilled online ads for farm equipment. Bradly Barry Kowalczyk is wanted on warrants from Calgary and the Three Hills, Chestermere, Crowsnest Pass, Viking, St. Paul and Olds areas of Alberta on charges relating to fraud over $5,000, […] Read more
CN to be fined for under-hauling grain
Canadian National Railway (CN) is set to be fined for allegedly failing to meet its now-mandatory minimum weekly grain handle. The as-yet unspecified penalty would be the first under the federal Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act passed earlier this year. [Related story] The Act requires CN and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to move a minimum […] Read more
Meat industry groups seek rehearing of COOL court case
Canadian, U.S. and Mexican livestock and meat industry groups want a rehearing from a U.S. court that so far has shot down their challenges of U.S. mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) laws. The American Meat Institute (AMI), the lead group in a list of plaintiffs including the Canadian Pork Council and Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), filed […] Read more
Rogers Sugar plans layoffs at Montreal refinery
As a cost-cutting measure in a “very competitive” domestic sugar market, Rogers Sugar plans to cut back its Montreal refinery’s workforce by 59 employees. The Montreal plant, run by Rogers subsidiary Lantic, will cut the positions through “layoffs, early retirements and voluntary departures,” the company said Wednesday. Canada’s sugar industry operates in an open market, […] Read more
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