Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay pledged up to $4.3 million over five years, which will be matched with $4.0 million from industry partners and the provincial agricultural departments of PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

According to an Oct. 4 news release, the funding will allow ECODA to develop new agronomic technologies, improved cropping systems and adaptive varieties while aiming to the industry’s long-term sustainability. Projects will focus on crops like soybeans, canola, camelina, mustard and pulses.

Eastern Canada accounts for 14 per cent of all oilseed acres and 22 per cent of total Canadian production.

“This support will help farmers stay ahead of challenges like climate change, while keeping their crops healthy and their farms productive,” MacAulay said.

ECODA  said in the press release that the funding will help add value to the sector.

“ECODA is pleased to coordinate the work of researchers, growers, value-added businesses, and exporters, working together to increase the economic value of sustainable Canadian oilseed supply chains,” said ECODA president Rory Francis.

—Updated Oct. 5.

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The winter forecast features a mild start to the season, with a delay in the arrival of consistent cold weather for most of the country. However, the forecast adds that January and February could bring a dramatic pattern change.

“The current El Niño event and ocean water temperatures across the Pacific Ocean are giving us a pattern that is unlike anything that we have ever seen before,” said Chris Scott, chief meteorologist at The Weather Network.

“Therefore, we believe that the upcoming season will deliver some curveballs that will set this winter apart from typical El Niño winters. While mild temperatures should continue to dominate across Western Canada, it appears to be a different story for the eastern half of Canada where winter is expected to make more than just a token appearance.”

El Niño is associated with warmer-than-normal ocean water temperatures in the tropical region of the Pacific Ocean to the west of South America. This has an impact on the global jet stream pattern.

Alberta

A relatively mild winter is expected across Alberta, including Edmonton and Calgary, with above-normal temperatures and below-normal snow totals, according to The Weather Network. There will still be periods of high-impact winter weather, but mild Pacific air is expected to be more prevalent than arctic air.

During mid- to late winter, a cold pattern is forecast to develop well to the east of Alberta. If the focus of the cold weather shifts further west than currently expected, then Alberta could end up seeing a more active pattern (potentially more snow) and periods of more significant cold weather.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba

A milder than normal winter is also expected across the region, especially across western Saskatchewan, as Pacific air will spread into the region from the west. However, there will still be periods of severe cold, especially during January and February across eastern parts of the region, including Winnipeg. However, frigid conditions are not expected to be as persistent as they are during a typical winter.

Below-normal snowfall is expected across western Saskatchewan, but eastern parts of the province and Manitoba are expected to see near-normal snow totals.

Ontario

A mild start to winter is expected in Ontario, with less snow than normal during the weeks leading up to the holidays, especially in southern parts of the province including London, Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa.

While a strong El Niño would typically result in a milder pattern in the province for most of January, The Weather Network expects a colder scenario is more likely this year. When the colder weather arrives, the Great Lakes will be wide open, so the traditional snowbelt areas should eventually see an abundance of lake-effect snow.

The primary storm track for the season is expected to be well south of the border but close enough to bring near-normal snow totals to the southernmost parts of Ontario. However, a slight shift north or south would have a major impact on the final totals.

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The latest long-range seasonal forecast from Environment Canada, released Tuesday, calls for a 40 per cent chance of above-normal temperatures from November through January across most of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with an even higher probability of warmer weather across the rest of the country. Only a small pocket of southern Saskatchewan was not forecast to experience above-normal temperatures.

Longer-range outlooks going into February/March/April call a high probability of warmer temperatures for all of Canada.

Precipitation is expected to be normal across most of the country heading into the winter months, with a drier bias in northern Saskatchewan and parts of the Peace River region.

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Hilton Food Group announced Thursday it plans to open a new manufacturing plant in that region to supply Walmart Supercentres in Canada with “a range of protein products” starting with beef, lamb, pork and seafood.

London-based Hilton won’t yet say exactly where or when it expects to have that plant up and running, but has targeted 2026 to start production.

A company representative said via email that at the time of its launch, the Canadian plant will “primarily focus on burgers, meatballs, sausages and marinated products,” processing and packaging them on-site.

As for the meats’ origin, the Hilton rep said “we are aiming towards Canadian sourcing whenever possible, in line with Walmart’s current sourcing strategy.”

Hilton said it will lease a facility and make its major “principal expenditure” in that site and equipment starting in 2024 and continuing “throughout 2025.”

Hilton said it would operate in Canada through a new subsidiary, Hilton Foods Canada, and will debt-finance the new operation, adding its “leverage is expected to remain at comfortable levels during this investment phase.”

Hilton described the deal with Walmart as “long-term” and “a significant step forward” for both companies in meeting increasing consumer demand across Canada for “high quality, good value and increasingly sustainable protein products.”

‘Consistent’

Walmart Canada last year announced it would increase its beef buy from certified-sustainable Canadian cattle producers by one million pounds, up from 1.5 million in 2021.

Walmart’s U.S. parent has taken an increasingly hands-on approach to meat sourcing in recent months. Walmart in June said it will invest US$257 million to open its own case-ready beef plant southwest of Kansas City in 2025.

That plant would be supplied with Angus beef by Sustainable Beef, a Nebraska cattle company in which Walmart took a minority stake in 2022. Sustainable Beef plans to put up a beef packing plant at North Platte in western Nebraska, to open by late 2024.

As for the Canadian further-processing plant, “this agreement further extends our global footprint and will be our first manufacturing facility in North America,” Hilton Foods Group CEO Steve Murrells said in Thursday’s release. Hilton today has 24 packing, processing and distribution plants across Europe and in Australia and New Zealand.

Murrells described the deal as “another sign of the strength of our customer offer, as well as growing consumer demand for high-quality, affordable protein products, which we can deliver through our scale, international experience and supply chain expertise.”

Sam Wankowski, chief merchandising officer for Walmart’s Canadian arm, said the retail chain is “strengthening our delivery of quality products at low prices and with more sustainable packaging to Canadians, while still continuing to support Canadian farms and ranches.”

Working directly with Hilton “will ultimately provide Canadians with fresh, consistent Walmart-brand protein in the sizes and cuts they’re looking for,” Walmart Canada’s vice-president for food, Sourabh Malik, said in the same release.

‘Trade barriers’

The British processor’s planned entry to Canada comes as Canadian beef sector organizations ramp up a campaign calling on the federal government to postpone approval for the United Kingdom’s entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) free trade bloc.

Groups including the Canadian Cattle Association, Canadian Meat Council and National Cattle Feeders’ Association last week launched a campaign dubbed “Say No To A Bad Deal.”

They’re asking Ottawa not to approve U.K. access to the CPTPP until it can reach a separate bilateral free trade pact with the U.K., which lifts “technical, non-tariff trade barriers” now keeping Canadian beef out of the British market.

The U.K.’s entry to the CPTPP bloc would allow it to export over $50 million of meat products into Canada, “while Canada will be unable to export any meat products into their market,” the CCA said in a release Sept. 12.

The CCA and CMC, along with the Canadian Pork Council, had already said earlier this year they would oppose CPTPP access for the U.K. and, “failing that, we are asking Parliament to ensure producers and processors for both products are fairly compensated for the damages and losses that will result.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Lee is expected to weaken into a strong tropical storm before making landfall in southwestern Nova Scotia as a strong tropical storm late on Saturday, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said.

Even so, the storm has the potential to dump as much as four inches of rain and produce winds of up to 97 km/h in some spots, prompting U.S. and Canadian officials to urge residents to prepare for possible flooding and power outages.

“Please plan ahead to stay indoors if possible on Saturday and check on your loved ones and neighbors,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement to the city’s 650,000 residents.

Some eight million Americans in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine were under a tropical storm warning, with conditions in those states expected to deteriorate on Friday and into Saturday, the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) said.

In Canada, more than one million people in Nova Scotia and eastern New Brunswick were also under a tropical storm warning as the massive storm crawls northward over the open waters of the Atlantic.

“Heavy rainfall rates and potential gusty winds are our largest concern for inland areas, with the addition of high surf and minor inundation along the coast,” the NWS said on Facebook on Friday.

Some spots, such as Cape Cod in Massachusetts and eastern Halifax County in Nova Scotia may see storm surge of up to three feet, forecasters said.

As of Friday morning, the storm was about 785 km southeast of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket as it moved north at about 26 km/h. It was expected to pick up speed and weaken through the day, the weather service said.

Lee is the latest storm in what is proving to be a busy hurricane season that has featured a higher-than-average number of named storms.

Just two weeks ago, on Aug. 30, Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast. As it moved north, the powerful storm dumped heavy rains across Florida and southeastern Georgia, flooding numerous communities and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

— Reporting for Reuters by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago.

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As of June 30, about 60 per cent of the country was abnormally dry to being in a moderate drought, with 76 per cent of Canadian farmland in that predicament.

Most of the Prairies had dry conditions of some sort, with a large part of southern Alberta in severe to extreme drought. As well, the drought monitor pinpointed a second pocket of severe drought in Manitoba west of Winnipeg; otherwise the province was abnormally dry to moderate drought.

“Overall, drought conditions continued to expand and increase in severity throughout the region,” the report noted of the Prairies. It said temperatures were 3 to 5 C above normal on the eastern half while the western half was 1 to 2 C above normal.

Some parts of Alberta saw drought conditions improve following a two-day rainstorm that brought flooding to areas west of Edmonton. Otherwise, the province continued to receive below-normal precipitation.

In Saskatchewan, the vast majority was reported to be abnormally dry with a large part of the province’s west rated as being in a moderate drought. There were also two pockets of normal conditions: one northeast of Saskatoon, the other south of Regina.

As with its Prairie neighbours, British Columbia was in abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions, with a sizeable pocket of severe to extreme drought in the province’s central area.

While northern Ontario was in abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions, the south was almost entirely normal. Only a narrow portion north of Windsor that extended along the east shore of Lake Huron rated abnormally dry.

The normal conditions reached eastward, almost to Quebec City where soil moisture levels were not as good. From the capital, Quebec was abnormally dry to moderate drought on either side of the St. Lawrence River, with some areas in severe drought.

In Atlantic Canada, much of New Brunswick was abnormally dry, as were parts of Nova Scotia, with Prince Edward Island in moderate drought. More than half of Newfoundland and Labrador was abnormally dry, with some areas in moderate drought.

One positive in the report was that no region of Canada was in an exceptional drought in June.

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The government department is calling for normal temperatures across all the agricultural areas of the three Prairie provinces — aside from the northernmost reaches of Alberta’s grain growing area into the Peace River district, where there’s a 40 per cent chance of below-normal temperatures.

Precipitation is expected to be normal across most Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan, with a 40 to 50 per cent chance of above-normal moisture in Alberta and northern Saskatchewan.

Most of Eastern Canada, from Ontario through the Maritime provinces, are forecast to see above-normal temperatures over the next three months.

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Fiona powered up to a Category 4 storm on Wednesday, packing winds as high as 215 km/h, as it moved northward after carving a destructive path through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Hurricane-force winds are expected to reach Cape Breton, which has a population of about 100,000, by Friday and continue north over the weekend, Environment Canada said in an alert.

“This storm is shaping up to be a potentially severe event for Atlantic Canada,” the alert said. It was issued for much of Atlantic Canada, along with parts of southern Quebec.

Hurricanes are common in Atlantic Canada, with three to four storms entering Canadian waters on average each season and about half of those making landfall.

“We are really expecting damaging winds, possibly damaging storm surge, coastal flooding, flooding rains,” Environment Canada meteorologist Jill Maepea said.

“This is expected to be a very large system,” Maepea said, adding that authorities are anticipating several days of power outages in areas hardest hit by winds.

Parts of Cape Breton islands and eastern Nova Scotia have had rainfall throughout the summer, making them more vulnerable to flooding, she said.

Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday and has since caused devastating flooding and landslides on the island, a U.S. territory. Over the following two days, the storm gathered steam as it barreled into the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

About 40 per cent of Puerto Rico’s 3.3 million residents were still without water and three-fourths were lacking power on Wednesday, as authorities tried to determine the scale of the destruction.

— Reporting for Reuters by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa.

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The latest seasonal forecast from Environment Canada, released Friday, calls for a 50 to 90 per cent chance of below-normal temperatures from January through March for the four western provinces.

Meanwhile, in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, the probability of above-normal temperatures ranges from 40 to 70 per cent in the southern regions, while northern Ontario, northern Quebec and Labrador could see below normal temperatures.

As far as precipitation is concerned, most of the agricultural regions of the country are forecast to see a slightly above normal probability of precipitation, with only a few pockets of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta expected to see normal moisture.

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That’s based on an average cost of 15 to 20 cents per pound, a spokesperson told the Co-operator.

However, that’s a fraction of the hay they have available, and far less than farmers need in Western Canada, said CFA president Mary Robinson.

“The shortage well exceeds our capacity,” she said. “We’re never going to be able to move enough hay to save every animal in Western Canada.”

Federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced up to $3 million in federal funds to the pro­ject in a news conference with Robinson on Dec. 15. This adds to the $1 million the feds gave in September.

At that time, Hay West, which the CFA is co-ordinating, had moved about 5.6 million lbs. of hay from the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario to the Prairie provinces. Of this, about 40 per cent went to Manitoba, 40 per cent to Saskatchewan, and 20 per cent to Alberta, Robinson told media.

Hay West was stalled because of lack of funds for about a month, said Robinson. She added it would hopefully start rolling again that day.

Eastern farmers have donated or pledged 100 million pounds of hay. Even that would not meet the entire hay deficit in Western Canada, Robinson said.

The CFA is focusing on sending hay to farms that have water and valuable breeding stock, said Robinson. They’re seeking to mitigate losses and keep the herd as robust as possible for future recovery.

The federal government with the governments of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario have already pledged up to $825 million in AgriRecovery funding for drought relief.

Bibeau told media that the additional cash is about making feed available. Canadian hay tends to flow north and south, not east and west, she said. The funds will cover the increased freight costs.

People in Western Canada have no other options, said Robinson. They have no other inventory to choose from.

Hay West is also important as a “heartwarming exercise” given the mental health implications of what people have been through, she said.

Robinson put out a plea for further private, public and corporate donations and said she’d continue to seek more funding to ship hay.

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