Madison, Wisconsin/St. Claude, Manitoba | Reuters – Minnesota farmer Paul Fritsche can no longer afford health insurance as he struggles to sustain a dairy farm that has been in his family for nearly a century. With U.S. milk prices in the fourth year of a slump due to chronic oversupply, Fritsche, 58, is unsure whether […] Read more
U.S. dairy farmers get little help from Canada trade deal
U.S. milk producers ask government for more aid, citing $1 bln tariff impact
Washington | Reuters – U.S. milk producers asked the government to increase aid payments to the industry to offset losses from foreign tariffs, saying dairy farmers have lost more than $1 billion in income since May. The administration of President Donald Trump in late May announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 […] Read more
CAQ taps businessman as Quebec’s new ag minister
Quebec’s new governing party has turned to one of its more experienced MNAs to handle the farm file. Premier Francois Legault on Thursday named Andre Lamontagne, a businessman and former supermarket owner and the MNA for the southwestern riding of Johnson, as his minister of agriculture, fisheries and food, and as minister responsible for the […] Read more
USMCA fallout: Some milk producers looking to exit
Dairy leaders looking for a ‘way forward’ but many are questioning their future in the sector
Reading Time: 6 minutes Dairy farmers in Alberta and across Canada are considering whether there’s a future in their sector — or if they should get out of the business, say farm leaders. Some may do that before the year is out, said David Wiens, vice-president of Dairy Farmers of Canada. “Over the next few months as we look […] Read more
Dairy farmers unhappy after meeting Trudeau on USMCA
Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian dairy farmers met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday to discuss his politically-risky move to open up the protected domestic market to U.S. industry but complained he had not given them details about compensation. As part of the talks to complete the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, Canada […] Read more
Another blow for Canada’s dairy industry
Dairy farmers frustrated and disappointed but other farm sectors welcome the NAFTA replacement
Reading Time: 5 minutes Many Canadians breathed a collective sigh of relief when Canada, the U.S., and Mexico agreed to a new trade agreement at the end of September. But for the country’s dairy industry, this proposed deal is just another in a series of blows that is slowly but surely bleeding the industry dry. “This is definitely death […] Read more
Trudeau takes Quebec dairy gamble to preserve big trade deal
Ottawa/Montreal | Reuters — With his political future at stake, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will mount a charm offensive to placate dairy farmers who say he sold them out in order to win approval of a continental trade deal. Compounding Trudeau’s challenges in the influential province of Quebec, where many dairy farmers are based, […] Read more
Canada, U.S. deal saves NAFTA as trilateral pact
Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — The U.S. and Canada forged a last-gasp deal on Sunday to salvage NAFTA as a trilateral pact with Mexico, rescuing a three-country, US$1.2 trillion open-trade zone that had been about to collapse after nearly a quarter century. In a big victory for his agenda to shake up an era of global […] Read more
Canada, U.S. reach deal to update NAFTA, sources say
Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — The U.S. and Canada reached a deal to update NAFTA and keep it a trilateral pact with Mexico, beating a midnight deadline with agreements to boost U.S. access to Canada’s dairy market and protect Canada from possible U.S. autos tariffs, two Canadian sources with direct knowledge of the talks said on […] Read more
Canada sticks to plan to stay at NAFTA talks despite Trump attack
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada on Thursday shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism that talks to modernize NAFTA were moving too slowly and made clear it had to keep negotiating as long as there was a chance of success. The prospects for a quick deal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement appeared […] Read more
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