Reading Time: < 1 minute Richardson International has acquired Eagle Agro Services, a full-service, retail crop inputs outlet in Veteran in east-central Alberta. The family-owned business was established in 2002. “We are excited to expand our business into a new geography as Veteran is a new marketplace for us,” said Tom Hamilton, Richardson’s vice-president of agribusiness operations. The company will […] Read more
Richardson International buys Eagle Agro Services
Grain handle drops in CN’s first quarter
Reduced traffic in grain, fertilizers and petroleum, against increased costs from “challenging operating conditions,” ate into the first-quarter bottom line for Canadian National Railway (CN). Montreal-based CN on Monday booked net income of $741 million on total revenues of $3.194 billion for its quarter ending March 31, down from $884 million on $3.206 billion in […] Read more
Strike action postponed at CP
Conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway won’t be walking off the job Saturday, but will instead vote soon on a contract offer their unions recommend they reject. Federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu on Friday agreed to a request from CP to have the Canadian Industrial Relations Board administer a ratification vote on […] Read more
Smartphone app for aphid control in cereal crops
Reading Time: < 1 minute Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has released a smartphone app called the Cereal Aphid Manager to help producers control the pest. Producers count both aphids and beneficials that eat them (at a minimum of five locations), and the app predicts what the aphid population will be in seven days and recommends whether to spray or not. […] Read more
Regulatory change urged to help expand rural broadband
A parliamentary committee is calling on the federal government to use legislative tools to help shore up broadband access for rural and remote areas of Canada. The House of Commons’ standing committee on industry, science and technology, chaired by Vancouver area Liberal MP Dan Ruimy, on Tuesday released its report and recommendations for meeting federal […] Read more
Ontario backs Mondelez’s Toronto bakery expansion
One of the world’s biggest snack food companies is up for an eight-figure investment from the Ontario government to boost production at its Toronto plant. The province on Monday announced the Mondelez Canada bakery in East York will get up to $22.6 million from the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, by way of that program’s Food […] Read more
Grain handle down, costs up in CP’s Q1
Increased traffic in potash and intermodal containers offset an eight per cent drop in grain carloads in Canadian Pacific Railway’s first quarter, against higher costs and “challenging” conditions. Calgary-based CP on Wednesday booked net income of $348 million on gross revenues of $1.662 billion for the quarter ending March 31, down from $431 million on […] Read more
Ag societies get their funding wish
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta’s ag societies got their wish in last month’s provincial budget — stable funding from the province. The government pledged to give the 283 primary and seven regional agricultural societies $11.5 million per year for the next three years. “This longer-term commitment ensures that agricultural societies can plan ahead and budget for the facilities, events, […] Read more
Two unions set to strike Saturday at CP
Unions representing engineers, conductors and signal maintainers on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have served formal notice to strike starting Saturday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers and conductors, served strike notice late Tuesday, as did System Council No. 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), representing over […] Read more
Online cattle market AgriClear goes dark
Canada’s TMX Group has pulled the plug on its AgriClear online cattle exchange after almost three years of operation. TMX, which operates the Toronto-based TSX stock exchange among other services, announced on AgriClear’s lone remaining web page that the AgriClear platform and website have been decommissioned, effective Monday (April 16). “As part of the active […] Read more