In a bid to bring its eye-in-the-sky views of clients’ fields closer to Earth, Monsanto’s Climate Corp. has struck up a partnership with a Canadian drone data provider. Climate on Nov. 15 announced an “official” partnership with Toronto-based Deveron UAS, which operates a fleet of drones serving farm clients across North America, to deliver “advanced” […] Read more
Climate Corp. to partner with Canadian drone data firm
Federal programs set for Growing Forward sequel
Market development, product development and overall sector development are among the priorities in the federal government’s five-year funding plan for the ag sector. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, speaking Friday at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, announced a $1 billion suite of six federally funded programs to roll out through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The Canadian […] Read more
Data mining finds no honeybee colony risk from correct neonic use
An expedition through published and unpublished studies on neonicotinoid pesticides has led a Guelph research team to find no colony-level risk to honeybees from the seed treatments — if they’re correctly used. The University of Guelph team, led by toxicologist Keith Solomon and adjunct professor Gladys Stephenson, analyzed 64 papers from “open, peer-reviewed literature” on […] Read more
New Brunswick deputy ag minister retiring
New Brunswick’s assistant deputy minister for agriculture will act as the lead bureaucrat for agriculture in the province after the current deputy retires. Premier Brian Gallant on Wednesday named Cathy LaRochelle, assistant deputy minister for both the provincial department of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries and the department of energy and resource development, as acting deputy […] Read more
Feds announce tax support for cattle producers
Measures will assist those hit by bovine TB outbreak and in areas affected by drought
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle producers affected by bovine TB outbreak in 2016 and this year will receive additional tax relief. Farmers who received compensation under the Health of Animals Act from livestock destroyed due to the bovine tuberculosis outbreak in 2016 and 2017 in Alberta and Saskatchewan are eligible for livestock tax deferral provisions. These allow them to defer a […] Read more
P+H plans new east-central Alberta elevator
Winnipeg grain and agrifood firm Parrish and Heimbecker is set to reinforce its recent arrival in the east-central Alberta retail market with a new grain elevator. Privately-held P+H announced Tuesday it will build a new 46,000-tonne capacity grain elevator and crop input centre at Viking, about 120 km southeast of Edmonton. The Viking site will […] Read more
Quebec veal processors merging
The bulk of Quebec’s veal processing capacity is forming up under one banner as Delimax-Montpak gets set to buy its rival Ecolait out of creditor protection. Delimax-Montpak Group announced Friday it has an agreement in principle to buy St-Hyacinthe-based Ecolait for total consideration of $50 million. Delimax-Montpak said Friday the deal “will allow the veal […] Read more
U.S. study links bumblebee declines to fungicide use
A new look at the environmental factors around declining bumblebee populations and ranges points to a less-than-usual suspect: fungicides. “Insecticides work; they kill insects. Fungicides have been largely overlooked because they are not targeted for insects, but fungicides may not be quite as benign — toward bumblebees — as we once thought,” Scott McArt, assistant […] Read more
Renamed Seed Hawk now flies the flag of parent company
Reading Time: < 1 minute Saskatchewan equipment maker Seed Hawk has been rechristened as Vaderstad Industries Inc. The company was started in the tiny community of Langbank by farmer Pat Beaujot, his brother, and two friends in 1986. They were frustrated by the lack of suitable seeding equipment for no till at that time and decided to build their own […] Read more
Out of the blue — India’s tax on peas hits growers here
India is our top customer for pulses but the pea tax and ongoing fumigation issue make for ‘a challenging situation’
Reading Time: 2 minutes India’s sudden decision to impose an immediate 50 per cent duty on pea imports has Canadian pulse officials scrambling to find answers — and figure out what comes next. “This sort of moves us beyond even where India has been before in pulse import duties… more than a decade ago we were at 10 per […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
