(PortMetroVancouver.com)

Officials aim to forge ahead with TPP as Canada wavers

Tokyo | Reuters — As trade officials gather in Tokyo this week to try and forge ahead with a trade pact that U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned last year, the new 11-member club risks getting bogged down by resistance from Canada. The member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), also

(Liberal.ca)

Most of farm file’s handlers to return to Commons

Most federal parliamentarians with experience in the agriculture and agri-food portfolio will be back in the House of Commons under a new majority Liberal government. As of Tuesday morning, prime minister-elect Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were elected or leading in 184 of 338 seats, for a decisive majority following Monday’s federal election. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives return


Wheat seedlings growing in Petri dishes

Balance needed in agri-food research in Canada

Agri research in Canada is hamstrung by a shortage of financial and human resources

The pursuit of basic science in agriculture and agri-food has been squeezed out of federal priorities in recent years, speakers told an Agriculture Institute of Canada conference. “Funding remains a challenge for us,” Robert Gordon, dean of the Ontario Agriculture College (OAC), told the delegates to the AIC conference, which was crafting a research policy

Editorial: Who is confused? How consumers view agriculture

Editorial: Who is confused? How consumers view agriculture

The final report to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada from a series of consumer focus groups it commissioned last year is enlightening, but not because of what it tells us about how domestic customers view this country’s agriculture sector. Rather it speaks volumes about the people asking the questions. The final report “Modern agriculture and agricultural


Innovation report raises potential of traditional industries

Traditional industries are a major economic driver yet they are largely ignored in public policy making

The agri-food sector should consider joining forces with the fisheries, mining, forestry and energy industries to remind Canadians how important the country’s original economic building blocks remain. The forestry, mining and energy sectors generate about 11 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product, says a new report from the Public Policy Forum. Add in

Farm groups applaud start of trade talks with Japan

Farm and food industry groups were quick to praise the launch of negotiations for a Canada-Japan free trade deal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda. Japan is the third-largest economy in the world and is Canada’s second-largest agriculture market. The market is worth almost $4 billion for Canadian farmers and


Harvest Cattails To Divert Phosphorus, Says IISD

Phosphorus in run-off water is turning Lake Winnipeg into the “most eutrophic” of all the large lakes on Earth. But on the other hand, phosphorus is a valuable nutrient that is arguably more strategically important to modern economies than crude oil. But what if the cattails in Netley Marsh were harvested and pelletized into solid

New Chair, Directors For Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council

The Mani toba Rural Adaptation Council is looking to expand its mandate and find new ways to serve rural Manitoba, says the council’s new chair. “I think we can take the talent that’s around the table, and do an awful lot more for Manitoba,” said Shelley Curé, a dairy producer from St. Pierre- Jolys, who


Canada’s Food System Needs An Overhaul

The federal and provincial governments should encourage farmers to ramp up production this year to take advantage of strong prices but also help ease tight world stocks of grain and other commodities, says the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. They issued reports in early February urging gover nments

In Brief… – for Dec. 2, 2010

Volatile markets: Wheat values generally dropped $1 to $4 per tonne in the November CWB Pool Return Outlook (PRO). The exception is No. 1 CWRS 14.5, No. 1 CWSWS and feed wheat, which have all increased slightly from October. Durum is up between $1 and $6 per tonne. Malting barley is down $7. The board