Canada Post and its unionized staff have agreed to set up a system in which workers would volunteer to move live animals, such as day-old chicks or bees, during a strike or lockout. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said Tuesday it has a new agreement with the Crown corporation to move and deliver social
Postal workers pledge to move bees, chicks if striking
Alberta sacks AFSC board over top brass’ expenses
Alberta’s government has dismissed the board of its farm financing and crop insurance agency following an internal probe into “expense and procurement practices” for senior executives. Three unnamed senior executives at Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) have also been “relieved from active duty,” the province said in a release Monday. The province on Monday named
Tough times south of the border
North Dakota average farm profit was $28,600, compared with $76,404 in 2014 and $133,466 in 2013
Record spring wheat yields, the second-highest annual profit for cow-calf producers, an increase in government payments and lower crop production costs. Sounds like the start of a good-news story for our neighbours south of the border, but North Dakota State University says last year’s profit for farmers in the state fell to the lowest level
Non-crop plants source of most pesticide contamination of bees
One of the most common sources of pollen contamination is home pest control products
Urban landscapes may bear more responsibility for exposing bees to pesticides than previously thought. A recent study from Purdue University, published in the academic journal Nature Communications, found honeybees gathered the vast majority of pollen from non-agriculture crops and were being exposed to both agricultural and domestic pesticides. Entomologist Christian Krupke found pollen samples contained
Olymel buying Quebec sausage maker
Quebec’s Olymel plans to consolidate its sausage business into a next-to-new processing plant, after making a deal to buy the plant’s owner. Olymel, the meat packing arm of La Coop federee, announced Tuesday it will buy Trois-Rivieres processor La Fernandiere for an undisclosed sum. La Fernandiere will “remain an autonomous entity” within Olymel, the company
‘Bale as you combine,’ and the Virden Auction mart opens
Our History: June 1961
The Welger combine-attached balers advertised in our June 1, 1961 issue were “proven under Canadian conditions” and would “fit most self-propelled combines and are making extra money for hundreds of enthusiastic growers.” The bales could go to the Stramit strawboard factory in former air force hangars in Carberry, which had its official opening the previous
B.C. pension funds to get piece of Glencore ag unit
The investment firm for British Columbia’s public-sector pension funds is set to buy just under 10 per cent of the agricultural arm of commodities firm Glencore. Swiss-based Glencore announced Thursday it has a “definitive” deal to sell 9.99 per cent of its “Glencore Agri” business for US$624.9 million cash to the B.C. Investment Management Corp.
CN promotes CFO as CEO resigns
Canadian National Railway’s (CN) chief financial officer Luc Jobin will become its chief executive on July 1, as incumbent CEO Claude Mongeau steps down for health reasons. Mongeau announced Tuesday he will resign as CN’s CEO at the end of June, after leading the railway company for six and a half years. “I was filled
Moose on the move from forests to farmland
Sloughs provide shelter from the heat and fields provide good grub
A four-year University of Saskatchewan study has tracked the migration of moose from northern boreal forests to farmlands farther south. “Thirty years ago, seeing moose in the farmland of Saskatchewan would have been very rare but over time they have expanded to these new areas,” said Ryan Brook, a wildlife biologist with the university’s department
Strike ends at Rogers’ Montreal sugar refinery
Workers at Rogers Sugar’s Montreal refinery have voted to ratify a new five-year agreement and will return to work “within the next few hours,” ending their strike, the company said Sunday. The plant, which has about 200 unionized workers, represented by le Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs de Sucre Lantic (FC-CSN), will resume “all production
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