File photo of the produce section at a Canadian grocery store. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Competition Bureau to probe soaring food prices

Retail food prices seen outpacing inflation

Reuters — Canada’s competition watchdog said on Monday it would examine factors impacting soaring food prices and whether more competition in the grocery stores sector could help lower costs for Canadians. Price rises for store-bought food have been outpacing the broader annual inflation rate for 10 consecutive months, and grew 11.4 per cent in September,

Manitoba harvest nears completion

Manitoba Crop Report: Issue 24, October 18, 2022

Overview Harvest progress sits at 90 per cent complete across the province, having caught up to the 5-year average of 91 per cent complete by week 42. Harvest is wrapping up or done in many areas of southern Manitoba, and fall fieldwork, tillage, fertilizer application and drainage is underway. Winter cereal crops appear in good


Volodymyr Fedorchuk, before the war, with some of the garlic he raised on now-occupied territory.

Rebuilding after losing the farm to war

Garlic grower in Ukraine already considering the future after the war is won

Volodymyr Fedorchuk may have lost his farm business because of the war. But he hasn’t lost heart and he’s ready to start new projects. I first met him years ago, at a Ukraine conference on the use of liquid fertilizers held by a well-known American company. It turned out that we were compatriots. His hometown

A man looks through piles of trash on a stream in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Ricardo Arduengo)

Haiti gang blockade causing catastrophic hunger, U.N. says

Situation "close to breaking point," WFP rep says

Miami | Reuters — Haitians are experiencing catastrophic hunger because of gangsters blockading a major fuel terminal, U.N. officials said on Friday, with more than four million facing acute food insecurity. A coalition of gangs has prevented the distribution of diesel and gasoline for over a month to protest a plan to cut fuel subsidies.


Cows that were stranded in a flooded barn at Abbotsford, B.C. are rescued on Nov. 16, 2021 by people in boats and on a jet-ski after rainstorms lashed the province, triggering landslides and floods and shutting highways. (File photo: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)

Drought-stricken B.C. bracing for floods when rains return

Reuters — British Columbia on Thursday warned residents to prepare for flooding when rains eventually return after a prolonged drought exacerbated by climate change that has raised concerns about long-term damage to ecosystems ranging from glaciers to salmon rivers. The usually rainy western province has experienced weeks of record-breaking warm fall temperatures and minimal precipitation

Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow speaks Nov. 24, 2021 in the House of Commons. (Screengrab from supplied video)

Barlow remains ag critic in Conservatives’ new shadow cabinet

Poilievre also names two associate critics for ag file

The federal Conservatives’ point person on agriculture will remain at that post under the party’s new leader. John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, was named Wednesday as the Conservatives’ “shadow minister” for agriculture, agri-food and food security. Pierre Poilievre, who was named Sept. 10 as the official opposition party’s new leader,


(Creativex/iStock/Getty Images)

Manitoba’s harvest 79 per cent complete, report says

Cereal harvest wrapped in most areas

MarketsFarm — Harvest operations across Manitoba were 79 per cent complete as of Tuesday, according to the latest crop report from the provincial agriculture department. That figure was up from 63 per cent the previous week, but two weeks off the five-year average of 89 per cent. Harvest progress was the most advanced in central

Quebec’s Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne speaks to the CAQ’s annual meeting in Drummondville in late May 2022. (Andre Lamontagne video screengrab via Facebook)

Quebec ag minister cruises to re-election

Legault's CAQ scores bigger second majority

Quebec’s incumbent agriculture, food and fisheries minister will be returning to the province’s legislature as part of an even larger government caucus. Preliminary results in Monday’s provincial election put Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) in a solid majority government position with 90 of 125 seats, followed by Dominique Anglade’s Liberals, remaining in official opposition


(Ozo Foods video screeengrab via YouTube)

Meatpacker JBS to close U.S. plant-based foods business

Chicago | Reuters — Brazilian meatpacker JBS is closing its U.S. plant-based foods business, Planterra Foods, after about two years, the company said on Monday. The closure signals increasing troubles in the plant-based protein sector, where U.S. sales are flattening. Colorado-based Planterra sold fake meat under the Ozo brand, but JBS will now focus on