A Ben + Florentine restaurant in Ange-Gardien, Que. The breakfast-focused chain, now part of Imvescor, opened its 50th restaurant in November. (BenEtFlorentine.com)

Canadian fast-food, dining firms plan merger

A restaurant firm with well known brands in Eastern Canada’s casual dining market is set to merge into a neighbouring firm behind the franchises populating many of Canada’s mall food courts. Montreal-based MTY Food Group announced Tuesday it has a cash-and-stock agreement in place to pick up all outstanding common shares of another Montreal firm,

(GNB.ca)

New Brunswick deputy ag minister retiring

New Brunswick’s assistant deputy minister for agriculture will act as the lead bureaucrat for agriculture in the province after the current deputy retires. Premier Brian Gallant on Wednesday named Cathy LaRochelle, assistant deputy minister for both the provincial department of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries and the department of energy and resource development, as acting deputy


Mark and Yanara Peters say a community potato giveaway has been fun and fulfilling.

Building their community one potato at a time

Mark and Yanara Peters are turning a potato giveaway into an annual event in Portage la Prairie and beyond

How does it feel to give away 35,000 lbs. of potatoes in just under five hours? “It was awesome… a lot of fun,” recalls farmer Mark Peters with a wide smile. Peters and his wife Yanara, of Spruce Drive Farms, grow certified seed potatoes 12 miles northwest of Portage la Prairie. On Saturday, October 14,

Catedral Metropolitana de la Asuncion de Maria, Mexico City. (CIA.gov)

Canada, Mexico to rebuff U.S. over NAFTA goals

Mexico City | Reuters — Canada and Mexico will rebuff the United States over its demand for tougher NAFTA automotive content rules, top officials said on Monday as negotiations to renew the treaty bogged down with only a few months to go. U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to quit NAFTA, which has reshaped the


The ingredients in the potato soup recipe below are good sources of vitamin C and the mineral potassium.

Warm yourself with some soup

Soup is high in liquid, which means it usually is lower in calories than other foods

Mom, now my hands will smell like onions!” my older daughter said as she chopped a particularly fragrant onion we had grown this summer. She has been my long-term vegetable chopper, even when we have gadgets that will do the work for us. We had onions, bell peppers and potatoes to chop as we tried

(Video screengrab from CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Trade talks a dicey situation, Coyne says

Winnipeg | CNS Canada — With Canada in the midst of negotiations for two different trade agreements, the North American Free Trade Agreement and Trans-Pacific Partnership, trade concerns are getting muddled, according to Andrew Coyne. “We need to be conscious of diversifying our trade interests beyond just North America. It would be extremely foolish that


Western bumblebee. (Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. study links bumblebee declines to fungicide use

A new look at the environmental factors around declining bumblebee populations and ranges points to a less-than-usual suspect: fungicides. “Insecticides work; they kill insects. Fungicides have been largely overlooked because they are not targeted for insects, but fungicides may not be quite as benign — toward bumblebees — as we once thought,” Scott McArt, assistant



It was a tough growing season and potato harvest but in the end, growers saw good yields.

Good potato yields despite challenging year

A dry summer required a lot of irrigation 
and was followed by a dry fall that 
delayed digging

Many Manitoba potato growers faced nail-biting times this autumn as they struggled to get the crop off. In the end, however, yields are expected to be similar to last year. Dave Sawatzky, manager of Keystone Potato Producers Association, said he predicts yields will roughly be on par or slightly better than 2016’s harvest, when Manitoba

Provincial harvest nearly complete, fall field work in progress

Manitoba Crop Report and Crop Weather report for October 16 (FINAL)

Harvest in Manitoba is nearing completion. Harvest of cereal crops, field peas, and canola is essentially complete. Soybean and flax harvest is close to complete, grain corn and sunflower harvest is ongoing. Germination and stand establishment of winter cereal crops is good; seeded acres are down across the province. Fall field work including tillage, soil