Frankfurt | Reuters — Shareholder advisory groups are divided over whether to endorse the management and directors at German drugs and pesticides company Bayer, according to recommendations submitted by proxy voting firms. Bayer is due to host its annual general meeting on April 28 but the company still faces potentially huge litigation risks stemming from […] Read more
Proxy advisers split over endorsing Bayer management
Chemical giant to host AGM April 28
Producers urged to contact AFSC about unharvested acres
The crop insurer understands that many farmers will need a quick decision, says Alberta Wheat chair
Reading Time: 2 minutes The province’s crop commissions are urging producers to call their local Agricultural Financial Services Corporation office to get their unharvested acres examined. “The message from AFSC was that they were going to be flexible and work with farmers of unharvested grain,” said Alberta Wheat chair Todd Hames. “We would encourage farmers to be pro-active in […] Read more
Cold spring weather expected for Prairies
MarketsFarm — Temperatures in the Prairie provinces are expected to be colder than average this spring. “There’s no indication that temperatures will be above normal,” said Bruce Burnett, director of markets and weather for MarketsFarm in Winnipeg. Low temperatures will likely cause issues for seeding in areas of the Prairies that have received late-spring snowstorms. […] Read more
Canadian, U.S. farms face crop losses on foreign worker delays
Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labour is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more
How COVID-19 is upending global food supply chains
Cows fed strawberries in India, watermelons rot in U.S., okra not reaching Canada
Satara/Singapore/London | Reuters — In the fertile Satara district in western India, farmers are putting their cattle on an unorthodox diet: Some feed iceberg lettuce to buffalo. Others feed strawberries to cows. It’s not a treat. They can either feed their crops to animals or let them spoil. And other farmers are doing just that […] Read more
Ontario drops weed from essentials list
Officials call for further intervention
Reuters — Ontario’s government on Friday removed cannabis from a list of essential businesses allowed to operate during the lockdown, as part of its efforts to further restrict contact amid a deepening coronavirus crisis. The move comes after health officials projected 80,000 COVID-19 coronavirus cases and about 1,600 deaths by month end under current policies, […] Read more
COVID-impact on research efforts to be minimized
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ag research will be impacted by the pandemic as universities and federal research centres implement social distancing measures. While AgCanada has closed its facilities to the public, essential work is ongoing. Essential work includes germplasm maintenance, livestock care and insect colony care. Maintaining germplasm means that advances will not be lost. Alberta Wheat and Alberta […] Read more
Add COVID-19 to your safety plan for spring seeding
More cleaning and less sharing of equipment are sensible moves these days
Reading Time: 2 minutes Plan how to stay safe while seeding during COVID-19. Start, of course, by minimizing contact, said Jody Wacowich, executive director of AgSafe Alberta. “If you have a large group, maybe have them come at different points during the morning, so they’re not all together,” she said. But having safety conversations, in one form or another, […] Read more
Saskatchewan crop insurance deadline pushed to mid-April
Governments offer farmers 'flexibility'
The month-end deadline for Saskatchewan farmers to finalize contracts with the provincial Crown crop insurance agency for 2020 has been moved to April 13. Provincial Agriculture Minister David Marit and federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced the extension on farmers’ deadline to “apply, reinstate, cancel or make changes” to crop insurance contracts. “We […] Read more
Global grain production to increase, IGC predicts
MarketsFarm — The International Grains Council (IGC) issued projections Thursday calling for a slight increase in total global grain production for the current marketing year and for 2020-21. The U.K.-based council forecast world production at 2.175 billion tonnes, which would be an increase of three million tonnes from its February report. The IGC said that’s […] Read more
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