File photo of wild horses running on grasslands in Nova Scotia’s remote Sable Island National Park Reserve. (Photo by Sarah Medill/Parks Canada/Handout via Reuters)

Wild horses face unruly storms as Fiona nears East Coast

Damages feared to buildings, utilities, crops

Ottawa | Reuters — Shaggy, long-maned wild horses grazing freely on the sandy grasslands of the crescent-shaped Sable Island in the North Atlantic are expected to come under the swipe of a powerful storm forecast to hit Eastern Canada this weekend. Hurricane Fiona, tracking northward after carving a destructive path through the Dominican Republic and […] Read more

Migrant workers clean fields in California’s Salinas Valley on March 30, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Canadian, U.S. farms face crop losses on foreign worker delays

Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labour is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more


File photo of apple picking in a Quebec orchard. (Noah Burger/iStock/Getty Images)

EU to ban Bayer’s Calypso insecticide

Brussels | Reuters — European Union governments on Tuesday widened the EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides after deciding not to renew their approval for Bayer’s thiacloprid. Farmers will not be allowed to use the neonic insecticide, sold under the brands Calypso and Biscaya, after April 30, 2020, when its current approval expires. A majority of […] Read more



A Mexican port-of-entry sign on Highway 92 near Naco, Arizona. (Rex_Wholster/iStock/Getty Images)

Target Trump’s base if trade spat worsens, Mexican farm lobby says

Mexico City | Reuters — The Mexican government should target agricultural goods produced in states that have voted for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party if the trade conflict between the two neighbours worsens, the head of Mexico’s main farm lobby said on Friday. Bosco de la Vega, head of Mexico’s national farm council CNA, […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Neonic-treated canola not an ‘unacceptable risk’ for pollinators

Already facing federally mandated phase-outs from many major on-farm uses in Canada over risks to aquatic insects, neonicotinoids aren’t expected to pose “unacceptable risks” to pollinators when used on canola seed or hothouse vegetables in the meantime. Health Canada said as much Thursday as it released its final re-evaluation decisions for three neonic pesticides — […] Read more


Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland attends a news conference on media freedom as part of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Dinard, France on April 5, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Stephane Mahe)

Canada looks at fresh tariffs on U.S. goods

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada is looking at ways to boost the effectiveness of its retaliatory tariffs against the United States, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday, but did not address remarks by a senior official who revealed what Ottawa might do. Canada imposed tariffs on $16.6 billion worth of U.S. exports in May […] Read more

File photo of apples in a U.S. supermarket. (CHUYN/iStock/Getty Images)

Canada gearing up to slap more tariffs on U.S. imports

Canada will update its list of U.S. imports, including farm products, on which it will place tariffs in retaliation to U.S. tariffs on imported Canadian steel and aluminum, David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, said Monday. “The intention… is not to escalate anything but simply to do what we said we’d do — […] Read more


U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a meeting of the National Space Council in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 18. (Photo: Reuters/Leah Millis)

Trump’s tariff war threatens to erode support of farmers

Chicago | Reuters — President Donald Trump’s tariff battle with key buyers of U.S. apples, soybeans and corn threatens the support of some of his biggest backers — U.S. farmers now seeing their livelihoods in jeopardy. Farmers overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2016 election, welcoming how he championed rural economies and vowed to repeal estate […] Read more

(PutPorkOnYourFork.com)

Mexico hits back on U.S. steel, slaps tariffs on pork, bourbon

Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico responded in kind to U.S. President Donald Trump’s metals tariffs by imposing its own duties on U.S. steel on Tuesday, while also targeting politically sensitive agricultural products from pork to bourbon. Mexico’s peso tumbled to its weakest level since February 2017, leading losses among major currencies due to the […] Read more