Reading Time: < 1 minute The real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Alberta’s agri-food industry rose by 2.5 per cent in 2017 to $6.5 billion. The province accounts for 12.5 per cent of the country’s agri-food GDP, and is in third spot nationally (after Ontario and Quebec). The GDP for the province’s primary agriculture industry increased 1.9 per cent to […] Read more
Alberta GDP numbers rise across the board
Steel tariffs could rebound on farmers here
It’s not clear what impact tariffs will have on farm equipment but any increase will likely be passed on
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s unclear if the new steel tariff proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump could be bad news for Canadian producers when it comes time to buy new farm equipment. If the tariffs are imposed, U.S. manufacturing companies would pay 25 per cent more for imported steel and 10 per cent more for imported aluminum, unless […] Read more
Ottawa’s big cheque will pay even bigger dividends, says pulse group
But critics decry federal grants to next-gen industries
Reading Time: 4 minutes Critics are calling it “corporate welfare,” but the supporters of a protein supercluster say $150 million-plus in federal funding will turn pulses into the next canola. There’s never complete buy-in for this sort of government action, but projects like this typically aren’t possible without government funding, said Ron Styles, acting president of Protein Industries Canada. […] Read more
Adapt to the new world order, says Stephen Harper
Globalization foes are just getting started, but free traders can thrive if they adapt
Reading Time: 4 minutes He was enthusiastically welcomed as the prime minister who scrapped the wheat board, earning a standing ovation before the first word of his keynote address. But Stephen Harper had his eyes on an even bigger farm issue when he spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of nearly all of FarmTech’s 2,000 attendees. In a sweeping political […] Read more
Superclusters: Creating a silicon valley for agriculture and food
Two proposals from Western Canada are vying for backing in Ottawa’s bid to put Canada at the front of the new economy
Reading Time: 6 minutes So what would you rather have — new lucrative ‘plant protein’ markets or a way to turn Big Data into bigger profits? Those are the goals of the two agriculture and agri-food proposals vying for a slice of $950 million of federal cash that Ottawa will spend on ‘superclusters’ — business-led collaborations that aim to […] Read more
More temporary foreign workers needed, says CCA
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association wants the federal government to make changes to the temporary foreign worker program to address the shortage of labour. “Cattle producers and beef processors are struggling to find enough workers, and straining to deal with the impacts of job vacancies on production,” the association said in a recent newsletter. It cites […] Read more
Big stakes and big risks in Trans-Pacific trade talks
Canola and beef sectors say there’s no middle ground — reaching a deal will be a huge win and failure will be ‘a really bad scenario’
Reading Time: 4 minutes Without a new Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, two ag sectors won’t just miss out on multimillion-dollar opportunities — they’ll take a major hit in key Asian markets, say canola and beef officials. “There are some really clear benefits for Canada here in terms of growth potential, but also some very serious consequences if we don’t move […] Read more
Long-running cattle checkoff battle may be coming to an end
An agreement on an industry development fund is key to a tentative deal between Alberta Beef Producers and cattle feeders
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s not finalized yet, but the organizations representing cattle producers and feeders say they’re close to creating a fund to advance the province’s beef sector — and ending a nearly decade-long checkoff. “The Alberta Beef Industry Development Fund is a concept that would be able to be implemented with a non-refundable service charge,” said Rich […] Read more
Agriculture contributed C$111.9 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2016
Winnipeg | CNS – A new report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada released Friday has pegged agriculture as contributing C$111.9 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2016, which accounted 6.7 per cent of the country’s total GDP. The annual report entitled An Overview of the Canadian Agriculture and AgriFood System, provides a summary of the economic […] Read more
New Alberta rep on Canadian Pork Council
Reading Time: < 1 minute Dan Majeau is the new Alberta rep on the Canadian Pork Council, a federation of nine provincial pork industry associations representing 7,000 farms. Among the council’s priority issues are pushing Ottawa to take a leadership role in completing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. The organization has also been working the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to resolve issues […] Read more
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