MarketsFarm — The newly released map from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) shows the Prairies’ ongoing drought getting worse. According to AAFC’s nationwide map released on Friday, southwestern Manitoba, parts of southern Saskatchewan and the southeast corner of Alberta are under CDM’s classification of Extreme (D3) drought as of April 30. Communities […] Read more
‘Extreme drought’ expands in Prairies
Southern Manitoba, southeastern Saskatchewan parched
New enterprise blooms on former grain farm and tree nursery
Reading Time: 3 minutes After grain farming and tree farming, Ron and Debbie Cherdarchuk and son Cory Christopher turned to flower farming. And guess how popular you are these days when you have a landscape full of flowers that you’re willing to share? “The internet, and in particular Pinterest, have created digital envy,” said Cory (who uses Christopher for […] Read more
Ocean freight rates at decade highs
MarketsFarm — Ocean freight rates have climbed steadily higher over the past year, recovering from the lows hit at the start of the pandemic in early 2020 to see their highest levels in over a decade. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), a major indicator of shipping rates, hit a high of 3,266 points on Wednesday. […] Read more
Back-to-work rule for Montreal dockworkers clears Parliament
Bill granted royal assent Friday night
A week-long strike by dockworkers at the Port of Montreal is expected to conclude after federal back-to-work legislation passed Parliament Friday evening. Bill C-29, introduced Tuesday in the House of Commons, cleared third reading in the Commons Wednesday and received three readings in the Senate and royal assent Friday. The port’s longshore workers, represented by […] Read more
Schoepp: To sustain is one thing, to regenerate is something else
Sustainable agriculture has been a step forward but it is not the end of the journey
Reading Time: 3 minutes For the past decade the focus on food and farming has been on sustainable systems. To be sustainable means to meet production needs without compromising the future, particularly our future natural resources. To farm sustainably is to ‘do no further harm’ or to maintain the current balance and to accept a level of accountability for […] Read more
Ontario’s RMP rolling out ‘later than usual’
Details pending, Agricorp says
Ontario farmers’ coverage under the provincial Risk Management Program (RMP) won’t be affected by ‘a bit later’ rollout this spring, the program’s handlers say. Agricorp, the province’s farm program delivery agency, reiterated in a statement Tuesday that the RMP “will be available in 2021 (and) program details will be shared with customers as soon as […] Read more
Feds to legislate end to Montreal port strike
Conservatives expected to support Liberals' back-to-work bill
A strike by longshore workers at the Port of Montreal faces federal back-to-work legislation billed Tuesday as the government’s “least desired course of action.” Labour Minister Filomena Tassi on Tuesday announced the introduction of Bill C-29, which “would end the work stoppage at the Port of Montreal and ensure the safe resumption and continuation of […] Read more
Alberta’s Blue Book is the same, but better
Reading Time: < 1 minute While the latest edition of the Blue Book is basically the same, it has a few “refinements.” When the province announced last year it would no longer publish the crop protection guide on fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and seed treatments, the big four crop commissions stepped in. That includes a rewrite (by AgSafe Alberta) of the […] Read more
Montreal longshore workers escalate strike
Strike to move from part-time to full-time on Monday
Exports of containerized crops and other goods and imports of ag inputs may stall as striking longshore workers at the Port of Montreal get set to level up from part-time to full-time work stoppage. The Syndicat des debardeurs du port de Montreal (CUPE Local 375) said Friday its members, who have been striking on weekends […] Read more
CP CEO rules out raising Kansas City Southern bid
CP's first-quarter profit climbs
Reuters — Canadian Pacific Railway CEO Keith Creel said Wednesday the company will not raise its bid for U.S. railroad Kansas City Southern, saying bigger rival Canadian National’s offer is “not a real deal.” The two bidding companies are locking horns to take control of a vast network of railways across North America, with CN […] Read more
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