Malt barley outlook promising, but harvest quality will be key

CNS Canada – Many questions remain about Western Canada’s malt barley crop, but many analysts appear to expect at least an adequate harvest. Quality concerns and yield reductions will hit farmers in southern areas, but for those with good quality, prices should remain at least steady for the medium term. While analysts cautioned that forecasts[...]

Toronto juice firm backed for 'cold pasteurization'

A Toronto organic juice processor that bills itself as shunning conventional pasteurization for its products has picked up federal funding to develop a "new-to-Canada" way to extend their shelf life. The federal government on Friday announced a "repayable investment" of up to $6.3 million from the AgriInnovation program for Greenhouse Juice Co. to set up[...]


Phosphorus program aims to reduce Lake Erie nutrients

Chatham, Ont. -- Henry Denotter's farms near Kingsville, Ont. are close to the Wigle Creek, which flows into Lake Erie and takes with it any residues it pulls from nature and farmers' fields. The Wigle Creek subwatershed, west of Leamington, has turned into ground zero in long-term research on how farmers can reduce phosphorus running[...]

Soil health sensor project largest in North America

A new $2-million soil health research project aims to figure out the impact of different cropping systems on the environment. Research will also be conducted on crop productivity relating to soil health. The result should be new knowledge on productivity of traditional cropping systems versus those with cover crops. The project, at the new Soil[...]


Cellulosic sugar co-op looking for farmer investors

The Ontario-based Cellulosic Sugar Producers Co-operative is now ready to sign up farmers to supply 55,000 acres of wheat straw and corn stover to a new plant the co-op will partly own in Sarnia, Ont. The co-op will be supplying the biomass to a proposed $70 million Comet Biorefining plant to be built in Sarnia.[...]

Ontario soybeans, corn suffer under ‘heat dome’

Commodity News Service Canada – While Saskatchewan and Manitoba farmers wish the rain would go away, some Ontario farmers are wishing it would pour. “We’ll trade some nice, hot, dry, sunny weather for your water and rain,” said Jeff Barlow, a director with Grain Farmers of Ontario who farms in the southern part of the province.[...]


Triclosan not a threat to food chain: study

The University of Guelph and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association say that Triclosan does not pose a threat to the food chain or the environment. Triclosan is one of the most commonly used antimicrobials in personal health care products, such as soaps, shampoos and other sanitation goods. The study funded by the OSCIA[...]

N.L. agrifoods file moves to new minister

Newfoundland and Labrador's Forestry and Agrifoods Agency, which oversees public policy for the province's livestock, crops and agrifood sectors, is again getting new management. Oversight for the agency, first set up in 2007 by then-natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale, had been moved in March from the natural resources department to the fisheries and aquaculture department. However,[...]


USDA probes release of incorrect data that pressured crop prices

Chicago | Reuters -- A U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) unit is reviewing its procedures after posting incorrect crop data online on Wednesday, an error that temporarily pressured grain prices. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) inadvertently issued the wrong data on crop acreage around 5 a.m. CT and posted corrected data four hours later. The agency[...]

P.E.I. Liberals in need of ag minister after win

Wade MacLauchlan's Liberals scored another majority in the Prince Edward Island legislature in Monday's election, but will need to find a new agriculture minister. George Webster -- who'd held the post from 2009 until Monday, stepping down temporarily in 2009 to recover from a mild heart attack -- opted not to run again in his riding[...]