Southwestern Saskatchewan MP David Anderson (centre), shown here last year visiting Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s research facility at Swift Current, is the federal Tories’ new agriculture critic. (DavidAnderson.ca)

Anderson named federal Tories’ ag critic in shuffle

A vocal critic of the former Canadian Wheat Board single marketing desk for Prairie wheat and barley is now the lead agriculture critic in Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. David Anderson, the MP for the southwestern Saskatchewan riding of Cypress Hills-Grasslands since 2000, was named Thursday as the Conservatives’ critic for agriculture and agri-food by interim Tory

(Monsanto.com)

Climate’s field software en route to Eastern Canada

San Francisco-based ag software firm and Monsanto subsidiary The Climate Corporation is making a run for the border with its Climate FieldView farm data suite. Appearing Wednesday at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, company representatives announced their suite of digital farm data tools, Climate FieldView, will be offered for sale in Eastern Canada this winter, for


Bayer CEO Werner Baumann (l) and Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant on Wednesday announced plans for a friendly merger in which Bayer will buy all Monsanto stock for US$128 per share. (PRNewsFoto/Bayer)

Bayer clinches Monsanto with raised US$66 billion bid

New York/Frankfurt | Reuters — German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer has won over U.S. seeds firm Monsanto with an improved takeover offer of US$66 billion including debt, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time. The $128 a share deal announced on Wednesday, up from Bayer’s previous offer of

(Photo courtesy Nutrien)

Fertilizer merger highlights big-picture concerns

CNS Canada — A multi-billion-dollar merger between two major crop input companies is the latest in a string of consolidation efforts in North America’s agriculture industry, drawing attention again to the possible effects on the value chain. Agrium and PotashCorp announced Monday they plan to combine to create an integrated global supplier of crop inputs,


Andrew Mann, CEO of Adama’s Canadian arm, announced the company’s rebranding from MANA Canada in 2014. (Dave Bedard photo)

Chinese pesticide firm to buy Adama Agricultural

Hong Kong | Reuters — China’s Hubei Sanonda will acquire Israel’s Adama Agricultural Solutions for about 18.6 billion yuan (C$3.67 billion), Sanonda said on Tuesday. Pesticide firm Sanonda, based in China’s central Hubei province, also said it aimed to raise up to 2.5 billion yuan (C$493 million) in a private placement of shares to help

Manitoba Crop Report and Crop Weather report: No. 20

Conditions as of September 12, 2016

Wet weather over the past week slowed harvest progress in Manitoba. The recent weather is also impacting crop quality in spring wheat and barley. Some crops are being harvested at tough or damp moisture levels, requiring aeration or artificial drying to achieve safe storage moisture levels. Soybeans, grain corn and sunflowers are maturing quickly. Silage


(UCCS.ucdavis.edu)

California first state to promise overtime to farmworkers

Sacramento | Reuters — California will become the first U.S. state to require farmers to pay overtime to field workers and fruit pickers under a bill signed Monday by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. The bill would phase in overtime pay for farmworkers from 2019 to 2022. In an industry where a workweek during the harvest

(Dave Bedard photo)

PotashCorp, Agrium make engagement official

The boards of two of the heaviest hitters in Canada’s fertilizer sector have formally agreed to a $47 billion “merger of equals” deal under a new, yet-to-be-named parent company. PotashCorp, the world’s biggest fertilizer company by capacity, and rival Agrium, which is also the world’s biggest crop input retail chain, announced an agreement Monday in



DuPont’s headquarters in Delaware. (DuPont.com)

EU regulators halt Dow, DuPont merger review to gather data

Brussels | Reuters — European Union antitrust regulators have halted their scrutiny of Dow Chemical and DuPont’s proposed merger while the companies provide more information regarding their US$130 billion deal. The European Commission opened a full investigation into the case in August, concerned that the deal to create the world’s largest integrated crop protection and