Canada’s 40 mink farms are operating under heightened biosecurity requirements after reports of COVID-19 jumping from humans to mink in Europe. Alan Herscovici, an industry spokesperson who operates the website Truthaboutfur.com, said early reports out of Denmark and other European countries gave Canadian producers some time to prepare. “These farms have always had a certain […] Read more
Canada’s mink farms brace for COVID
Producers have had time to increase biosecurity efforts at the farm level
Beware of Kazakhs wanting to buy seed, agency says
Seed growers and farmers alike are being warned such sales breach breeders' rights rules
Western Canadian seed growers, seed retailers and commercial farmers are being urged not to sell seed to Kazakhs or their agents because it breaches plant breeders’ rights rules. “The basic fact is no Canadian breeder has given permission for their genetics to go to Kazakhstan,” Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, […] Read more
Britain, Canada agree on post-Brexit rollover trade deal
Tailor-made comprehensive pact expected to follow
London/Toronto | Reuters — Britain and Canada struck a rollover trade deal on Saturday to protect the flow of almost $35 billion-worth of goods and services between them after Brexit, and vowed to start talks on a bespoke agreement next year. As Britain prepares to end its transition out of the European Union on Dec. […] Read more
Irritated trade partners push back on China’s coronavirus food tests
Canada rips testing as 'unjustified trade restrictions'
Beijing/Geneva | Reuters — Major food-producing countries are growing increasingly frustrated with China’s scrutiny of imported products and are calling on it to stop aggressive testing for the coronavirus, which some say is tantamount to a trade restriction. China says it has found the virus on the packaging of products from 20 countries including German […] Read more
Barley trade routes redrawn as China tariff hits Australian farmers
China's barley purchases from Canada more than double last year's
Sydney/Paris | Reuters — Out in Australia’s grain fields, farmers have started harvesting one of their biggest-ever barley crops, after drought-relieving rains convinced many to plant to the edges of their paddocks. Yet the tractors are working under the cloud of a new tariff imposed by China — seen widely as retaliation for Australia’s push […] Read more
Canadian pot producer Aphria to buy U.S. craft brewer
SweetWater's '420' beer would come to Canada
Reuters — Canadian cannabis company Aphria Inc. said on Wednesday it plans to buy craft brewer SweetWater Brewing for US$300 million as it looks to expand into the U.S. while becoming the first major pot producer to enter the alcoholic beverages market. The deal gives Leamington, Ont.-based Aphria a U.S. distribution point at a time […] Read more
U.S. lifts federal protections for gray wolf
Reuters — The Trump administration in the U.S. said Thursday said it will lift Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf, arguing the species had been brought back successfully from the brink of extinction. The move gives states in the continuous United States the authority to manage their local wolf populations, including by allowing […] Read more
Cannabis-infused drinks fizzle on production, distribution challenges
'Actually executing the idea is much more difficult'
Reuters — Investors pinning hopes on cannabis-infused drinks to propel growth of the legal marijuana industry may have to wait a bit longer, as companies struggle to produce and distribute the highly-sought beverages in a profitable way. Nearly 11 months after regulators allowed their sales, very few brands have been able to reach shelves. Canada […] Read more
Feds seek feedback on farm worker living conditions
Consultations focused on 'primary agriculture' labour stream of TFWs
Improving and standardizing living conditions for temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada — specifically, those on Canadian farms — is the subject of a new round of federal consultations. Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Tuesday announced consultations are now underway until Dec. 22 with “provinces and territories, employers, workers, worker […] Read more
Record-high Canadian canola supplies in commercial pipeline
MarketsFarm — Visible canola supplies in the Canadian commercial pipeline are sitting at historically high levels, according to Canadian Grain Commission data. A total of 1.75 million tonnes of canola were sitting in commercial hands across Canada during the week ended Oct. 18 — only slightly off the record of 1.786 million tonnes set only […] Read more
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