Reading Time: 3 minutes Over the decades since the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and later, NAFTA, was signed, Canadian agriculture has undergone a significant shift. There was once a multitude of diverse local and regional economic drivers, but now we have a “one-size-fits-all” export-driven, low-priced commodity production model. Farm capital needs have skyrocketed as illustrated by the massive […] Read more
Judge free trade by what we have lost
Farmers’ share of food profits has declined as has rural Canada’s economy, while farm debt and food imports have gone up
Canada to Mexico on NAFTA: You might be on your own
Calgary | Reuters — Canada will focus on preserving its U.S. trade ties during talks to renegotiate NAFTA and may not be able to help Mexico avoid being targeted by the Trump administration, Canadian government sources say. “We love our Mexican friends. But our national interests come first and the friendship comes second,” a source […] Read more
As Trump meets biotech CEOs, farm advisers fret over empty USDA spot
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has left the agriculture secretary as the last department head to be named to his cabinet, while a meeting with the chief executives of two agribusiness giants gave a hint at a roster of farm issues the incoming president will face. Trump met on Wednesday with the […] Read more
Protectionism game comes with raised economic stakes: Frum
As U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration day approaches, the business world is pondering how the new administration might affect the world economy. Trump’s pride in his unpredictability is troubling, given he’s the president-elect, said David Frum, political commentator, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, and a senior editor for Washington-based magazine The Atlantic. However, […] Read more
Trudeau to shuffle Dion out of foreign affairs
Ottawa | Reuters –– Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his cabinet this week and is set to move Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, who ran into political trouble last year, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. “Dion is out,” said the person, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of […] Read more
Ignoring Trump, UN talks seek to turn climate pledges into action
Morocco/Reuters – Almost 200 nations began work on Monday to turn promises for fighting climate change into action at a UN conference that played down threats to a 2015 global agreement if Republican Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidency. At the start of two-week talks in Morocco, many delegates wore badges with a smiling picture […] Read more
Clinton campaign studying alternative to U.S. ethanol mandate
Washington/San Francisco | Reuters — Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign has solicited advice from California regulators on how to revamp a federal regulation requiring biofuels such as corn-based ethanol be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply, according to campaign and state officials. The move is the clearest sign yet that, if elected, Clinton […] Read more
U.S., European trade negotiators battle political headwinds
New York | Reuters — Facing deeply entrenched differences and political headwinds, the top negotiators trying to reach a sweeping U.S.-European free trade deal avoided agriculture, public procurement and other thorny issues in talks this week. Instead, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney and European Commission lead negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercera said on Friday they […] Read more
Cruz’s Iowa victory could show Big Corn’s waning influence
New York | Reuters — U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s victory on Monday in corn-rich Iowa could represent a major blow to the country’s controversial biofuels program, reflecting its waning influence over politicians even in the U.S. farm heartland. Cruz, a conservative senator from Texas and outspoken opponent of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
