Ottawa | Reuters — The Canadian government will not use troops against protestors whose nearly week-long demonstration against coronavirus vaccine mandates has brought traffic in central Ottawa to a halt, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday. More than 200 trucks and other vehicles have been blockading downtown roads in the nation’s capital since last Friday […] Read more
Canada rules out use of troops against truck blockade
More protests planned
Ottawa’s Agriculture Day gathering a sector-wide affair
Agriculture Day celebrations across Canada on Tuesday included a conference in Ottawa with roughly 500 attendees from across the ag sector. Hosted by Agriculture More than Ever, the event aimed to bring together people involved in agriculture, food and agribusiness. “We’re having a gathering to celebrate Canadian agriculture and food and the contributions that we […] Read more
GFO quits Grain Growers of Canada
Grain Farmers of Ontario flags national group's 'governance' and structure
Grain Farmers of Ontario has dropped out of Grain Growers of Canada. The Ontario organization, which represents about 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers in the province, cited a lack of representation in the national policy group. GFO publicly announced its withdrawal in a news release on Thursday, days after it informed the […] Read more
Saputo to shut three dairy plants in East
Quebec dairy giant Saputo hopes to eventually cut about $7 million in annual costs by closing three dairy plants in Eastern Canada before the end of next year. The Montreal company announced Tuesday it will close the former Scotsburn milk plant at Sydney, N.S. in June, the Fromagerie Madame Chevre specialty cheese plant at Princeville, […] Read more
Canola hailed as a model for value-added processing
Farm Vote: Canola Producers chair says processing of commodities should top Ottawa’s to-do list
Reading Time: 2 minutes Value-added processing has created a stronger canola industry in Canada — and there’s nothing to say it couldn’t work in other commodities as well. “We’ve seen a lot of infrastructure put together in Western Canada to lengthen our value chain here domestically,” said Lee Markert, chair of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. “For a long […] Read more
Protect supply management, says Alberta Milk chair
Farm Vote: Tom Kootstra says critics of supply management don’t understand there’s no free market in milk
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta’s dairy industry needs Ottawa to fight for supply management, says the chair of Alberta Milk. “The biggest issue is continued support for our unique production model — supply management — and the potential impact that a trade deal could have on our system,” said Tom Kootstra. That means going to bat for supply management […] Read more
Ottawa funding effort to help farmers grow organic crops
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa and a group of organic food producers are spending $2.2 million to boost organic production on the Prairies. “While the Canadian organic food market has tripled since 2006 from $1 billion to $3 billion, organic production has not kept pace,” Organic Alberta executive director Becky Lipton said in a press release. “This project will […] Read more
Big crops causing big headaches
Reading Time: < 1 minute Bruce McFadden has seen the future — and it looks congested. While Ottawa’s grain-movement edicts have captured headlines, the director of research for Quorum Corp., the federal grain monitor, has been looking at numbers. Big ones. Stats Canada initially estimated Western Canada’s 2014 harvest at 57 million tonnes, which when combined with carry-over, meant a […] Read more
Ottawa extends grain order
Minimum amounts will vary throughout the winter
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa’s new order-in-council extends the mandatory minimum weekly grain handle until March 28. But instead of a flat 536,250 tonnes of grain per week for both CN and CP Rail, the amounts vary. Until, Dec. 20, each railway must move 345,000 tonnes per week. That drops to 200,000 tonnes weekly from Dec. 21 to Jan. 3, rises […] Read more
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