(Dave Bedard photo)

B.C. to punch up AgriStability

Reference margin limit eliminated for 2019, 2020

British Columbia plans to make another $9 million available to farmers through “enhancements” to AgriStability for the 2019 and 2020 program years. The province on Thursday announced it will increase the compensation rate available through the federal/provincial income stabilization program from 70 per cent to 80 per cent when margins fall below the 30 per […] Read more


Tim Hortons had a nationwide rollout for Beyond Sausage Egg + Cheese, Beyond Sausage Farmer’s Wrap and Beyond Sausage Lettuce Tomato sandwiches on its breakfast menu in June 2019. (CNW Group/Tim Hortons)

Tim Hortons pulls Beyond Meat products from Ontario, B.C.

Reuters — Restaurant Brands International’s Tim Hortons said on Tuesday it has removed Beyond Meat’s products from its coffee and donut shops in Ontario and British Columbia. This comes after the coffee and breakfast chain cut Beyond Meat’s burgers and sandwiches from its menu in September from all of Canada except the two provinces. “We […] Read more

The U.S. National Wildlife Health Center and U.S. Geological Survey produce this map of CWD’s current distribution in North America. The version shown here is current to Sept. 9, 2019. (NWHC.usgs.gov)

Deer heads required from Kootenay region for CWD tests

The discovery of chronic wasting disease in deer in northwestern Montana has officials in CWD-free British Columbia tightening their testing net. The province on Wednesday announced a mandatory sampling program, in which hunters must submit heads from mule deer and white-tailed deer harvested in wildlife management units 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6 and 4-7 […] Read more


Tim Hortons had a nationwide rollout for Beyond Sausage Egg + Cheese, Beyond Sausage Farmer’s Wrap and Beyond Sausage Lettuce Tomato sandwiches on its breakfast menu in June 2019. (CNW Group/Tim Hortons)

Tim Hortons retreats from Beyond

Tim Hortons is dialing back its Beyond Meat marketing in Canada and will keep the plant-based meat substitute on its sandwich menus in Ontario and British Columbia alone. The coffee-and-donut chain, an arm of Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International and Canada’s biggest fast-food chain by number of outlets, first test-marketed breakfast sandwiches with the U.S. company’s […] Read more

(Silverjohn/iStock/Getty Images)

B.C. grants late AgriStability enrolment for 2018

Fire, flooding and a drop in raspberry prices in 2018 have spurred the federal and British Columbia governments to trigger the AgriStability late-participation mechanism. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her provincial counterpart Lana Popham, at an event Monday in Vernon, B.C., invoked the new late-participation rule for the 2018 AgriStability program year, “to help farmers […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Bovine TB strain in latest outbreak new to Canada

Canada’s latest outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in domestic cattle involves a strain of TB bacteria not related to any previously seen in Canadian livestock or wildlife. Culture testing of bacteria taken from a cow confirmed as TB-positive in November shows it’s “not related to past cases of bovine TB in Alberta or British Columbia or […] Read more

This file photo shows a rack of blood samples being tested for bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand dairy cattle. (Lakeview_Images/iStock/Getty Images)

Bovine TB probe expands to Saskatchewan

Updated, Dec. 24 — Some cattle in Saskatchewan are now under federally imposed movement controls as testing for bovine tuberculosis expands to 14 domestic herds in three provinces. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced Friday the tracing of a single case of bovine TB in a beef cow from a farm in British Columbia’s southern […] Read more


This file photo shows a rack of blood samples being tested for bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand dairy cattle. (Lakeview_Images/iStock/Getty Images)

Six more cattle herds to be tested in TB probe

Updated, Dec. 20 — Cattle from four more herds in British Columbia and two in Alberta are now being tested for bovine tuberculosis as officials probe the country’s latest domestic case of the disease. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Monday reported the six herds are now under “movement controls” while TB testing is underway. […] Read more

Dairy cattle in Canada. (Pearman314/iStock/Getty Images)

USMCA costs Canada sovereignty in ag policy, critics warn

Changes to Canadian dairy supply management in the final text of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement give up oversight of the system to the U.S., Canada’s dairy farmer group warns. The trade deal, signed Friday in Buenos Aires by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto, now goes […] Read more