Washington | Reuters – The U.S. government will pay farmers hurt by President Donald Trump’s trade war with China a minimum of $15 per acre under an aid package to be unveiled before the end of this week, Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Tuesday. “We’ll have information for you before the week ends,” he told […] Read more
U.S. government to pay $15 minimum per acre to farmers hurt by China trade war
Alberta UCP’s trade critic named ag minister
Alberta’s new premier has tapped a not-quite-rookie MLA with experience in farming, farm policy and U.S. politics as his new minister of agriculture and forestry. Jason Kenney, sworn in Tuesday as premier, named Devin Dreeshen, the MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake since last July, to handle the ag and forestry file. Dreeshen came to the UCP’s […] Read more
Crop missions a whole new ball game under Trump
New opportunities in China and Japan a result of U.S. president’s actions
Reading Time: 4 minutes ‘Thank you, Donald Trump.’ Members of the recent New Crop Mission to Asia didn’t say those exact words. But the fallout from the belligerent U.S. president’s trade war with China is definitely one of the pluses that members of the mission encountered. “The big difference this year is the trade environment,” Cereals Canada president Cam […] Read more
Stalled farm bill could move fast after Democrat House win
Washington | Reuters – Congress may swiftly resolve a drawn-out impasse on the U.S. Farm Bill now that Democrats are poised to retake control of the legislative body, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee said on Wednesday. Collin Peterson, ranking member and presumptive new chair of committee, said passing the crucial agricultural legislation was going […] Read more
Trump’s trade war looms over divided U.S. farm belt ahead of vote
Reuters – Chuck Wirtz voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, inspired by the then-political outsider, but the veteran Iowa hog farmer now has buyer’s remorse as the U.S. Republican president’s trade policy exacts a heavy toll on his business. Wirtz, 56, estimates the tariffs resulting from the U.S. trade war with China and […] Read more
Hog industry worldwide getting slaughtered in trade war
Beijing/Chicago/Carambei | Reuters – Ken Maschhoff, chairman of the largest U.S. family-owned pork producer, has watched profits fall as trade tensions rise between the United States and China. His company, The Machhoffs, has halted U.S. projects worth up to $30 million and may move some operations overseas. Investing in domestic operations now would be “ludicrous” […] Read more
Pork producers slammed by tariff war call for government aid
The bottom fell out of the pork market this summer and Alberta producers are suffering huge losses
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canadian pork producers need “immediate help” from government to deal with a price plunge sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff wars with China and Mexico. “What we’re seeing right now is really bad,” said Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director of Alberta Pork. “And a lot of it has to do with what’s going on with […] Read more
The milk in the middle of the high-stakes NAFTA drama
A new milk category thrust dairy farmers into a political firestorm — so what is Class 7 all about?
Reading Time: 3 minutes It seemed like a win-win — until a new milk category caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump and unexpectedly became one of the key sticking points in NAFTA negotiations. It’s called Class 7, which is milk protein isolates (dried milk powders high in protein). It was introduced in 2016 in response to diafiltered […] Read more
Price plunge spells disaster for Alberta hog farmers
Demand is strong, Canadian packers are short 70,000 hogs weekly, but prices have plunged
Reading Time: 5 minutes A crash in prices — fuelled by Washington’s tariff war — could spell the end for many of Alberta’s dwindling number of hog operations. The sector has already lost half of its hog farms in the past decade and with producers losing $50 on every animal they ship, more are looking at throwing in the […] Read more
Tariff relief for Canada’s farmers at issue in Quebec election
Montreal |Reuters – Quebec farmers want further relief from a global tariff dispute ahead of Oct. 1 elections in the mostly French-speaking Canadian province, which has seen a recent rise in nationalist sentiment. Quebec’s ruling Liberals, centrists but separate from the federal Liberal party, launched their campaign on Thursday. They trail in polls behind the center-right Coalition Avenir Quebec […] Read more
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