(File photo)

Ag journal Small Farm Canada under new ownership

Victoria-based publishers retiring

Online ag information company Farms.com has picked up farm journal Small Farm Canada and its sister publication for the mobile heavy-duty repair sector, Service Truck. Farms.com, which operates out of offices at Guelph, Ont. and Ames, Iowa, announced Thursday it has bought the two titles from Victoria-based Southern Tip Publishing, whose partnership group is retiring

Southwestern Ontario MP Lianne Rood will be the federal Conservatives’ new agriculture critic. (Video screengrab from LianneRood.ca)

Conservatives look to southern Ontario for new ag critic

O'Toole promotes deputy critic Lianne Rood to first chair

The federal Conservatives’ new leader has gone to the other side of Toronto to find his new critic for agriculture and agri-food. Lianne Rood, the rookie MP for the riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, was named Tuesday by fellow southern Ontario MP Erin O’Toole to replace southwestern Alberta MP John Barlow as the Conservatives’ shadow minister for


Editorial: Surplus food purchases symbolic of broader discussion

On the surface, the $50-million Surplus Food Rescue Program recently launched by the federal government is simply a sensible response to highly unusual circumstances. The government is buying up surplus fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and seafood from farmers and fishers who would normally supply the foodservice sector and distributing it to Canadians suffering from food

(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Seed groups weigh options as CSGA rejects merger

Grower group's membership calls nay on Seeds Canada amalgamation

The boards of five national seed sector groups planning a major merger are considering their next move after a less-than-unanimous vote on the proposal. Members of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) and Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) had

Vermilion Growers' facility under construction in July 2020.

Innovation on the vine

TECHNOLOGY From floors to climate managementsystem, Vermillion Growers is building for efficiency

Vermillion Growers in Dauphin thinks it’s time for Manitoba to step up its game on commercial greenhouses, and they’re just the people to make it happen. The final vision of what will, by next year, be the province’s largest commercial vegetable greenhouse, built from the ground up for sustainability and efficiency, may still take some


File photo of the Confederation Building, home to Newfoundland and Labrador’s House of Assembly, in St. John’s. (Benkrut/iStock/Getty Images)

Newfoundland to revamp ag oversight in shuffle

MHA Elvis Loveless to handle ag and fisheries files

Newfoundland and Labrador’s new premier plans a “realignment” for several of the provincial government’s departments — including a slightly different home and a new minister for the agriculture file. Dr. Andrew Furey, who was sworn in Wednesday to replace Dwight Ball as premier, announced a new cabinet the same day for the province’s Liberal minority

Officials at the Aug. 13, 2020 rollout of the federal surplus food program included (l-r) Julie Marchand of Food Banks of Quebec, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, Claude Dulude of Nutri Group, Marie-Jose Mastromonaco of Second Harvest, Tania Little of Food Banks Canada and Serge Lefebvre of Nutri Group. (Photo courtesy Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Feds line up projects for surplus food program

NGOs backed to gather, distribute 12 million kg of food

The federal government has lined up eight projects to source and distribute perishable produce, meat, eggs and seafood piling up across Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the federal pandemic response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early May that Ottawa would budget $50 million for a food surplus purchase program. The

Conditions reported to AAFC’s Canadian Drought Monitor as of July 31, 2020. (Agr.gc.ca)

Most of Prairies to see little rain

MarketsFarm — Warm and dry weather that has generated little precipitation across the Prairies is expected to continue in most areas, aside from southern Manitoba, according to two meteorologists. “Looks like the overall pattern isn’t going to be changing too much,” Scott Kehler of Weatherlogics said. “What you see is what you’re going to get,”



(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Nutrien cuts profit forecast on weak ammonia prices

Reuters — Canadian fertilizer maker Nutrien on Monday cut its annual adjusted profit forecast as weaker-than-normal industrial demand held back prices for ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate. The company cut the top end of its 2020 adjusted earnings per share forecast to $1.90 from $2.10 earlier, while retaining the lower end at $1.50. Even as