Economy Archives - Page 11 of 15 - Manitoba Co-operator

Serving up an unpalatable minimum wage

The effects of artificial intelligence and the rise of the digital world will force us to rethink  how we produce, process and distribute food

By Sylvain Charlebois June 21, 2017

Governments jumping on the $15-an-hour bandwagon are missing an opportunity to look at how the next technological revolution will affect our food systems. And that’s a shame. The minimum wage is rising in many parts of the country. Recently, Ontario announced it would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, to match Alberta. In

Opinion

Multinationals face new pressures in grocery stores

Consumers increasingly want fresh, unprocessed food. The middle of the store now sees less traffic and that’s clearly affecting sales for most grocery products

By Sylvain Charlebois June 12, 2017

Skippy peanut butter and Dad’s chocolate chip cookies are gone from the Canadian marketplace. If you feel sad about seeing these iconic brands go, brace yourselves. It’s just the beginning. Within days, two major U.S.-based food multinationals pulled well-known brands from the Canadian market. Mondelez International discontinued the iconic Dad’s cookies and Hormel Foods pulled

Comment/Feedback, Opinion

From farm to fork, brought to you by artificial intelligence

With AI, yields can be improved and grocers can understand consumers — and predict  their behaviour — better than consumers know themselves

By Sylvain Charlebois May 23, 2017

Many Canadian consumers have noticed that lettuce and celery prices have skyrocketed recently. Such fluctuations happen all the time. But artificial intelligence is about to change that. AI has us on the cusp of a revolution in how we make decisions and how we manage virtually every aspect of our daily lives. The agri-food sector

Canadian dollar – monthly average 1971-2016.

Crops, Livestock, Markets

Separating your commodity and currency decisions

Currency fluctuations can be almost as significant as changing prices for your farm products

By David Derwin May 3, 2017

Since we live in Canada, while almost all commodities are traded around the world in U.S. dollars, the Canadian dollar/U.S. dollar exchange rate will have an impact on your farm revenues. And since it directly or indirectly affects almost 100 per cent of your revenues, the Canadian dollar/U.S. dollar exchange rate can and should be

Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Too small to bother?

By Gord Gilmour April 13, 2017

There’s been lots of talk in the news lately about financially troubled corporations and how their plights are handled by governments. For example, the Quebec-based aerospace and mass-transit company Bombardier has been the subject of controversy after it proceeded to give 50 per cent pay increases to senior executives shortly after receiving yet another taxpayer-funded

The U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego to the left and Tijuana to the right contrasts the differences in development between the two nations.

International news

Trump trade adviser strikes conciliatory tone on Mexico

Canada has worried about being sideswiped during NAFTA uproar

By Reuters April 3, 2017

One of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most protectionist trade advisers has struck a more conciliatory tone with Mexico, saying he wanted the two countries and Canada to form a regional manufacturing “powerhouse” with stricter rules of origin. White House National Economic Council director Peter Navarro’s comments Mar. 15 on Bloomberg News helped boost Mexico’s peso

Mexico appears poised to use a similar strategy in U.S. trade disputes as the one that paved the way for its trucking industry gaining access to the U.S.

International news

U.S. farm heartland lobbies to steer Trump away from Mexico trade war

The country is a big agriculture trade partner and the two products likely to be hardest hit are pork and cheese

By Alexandra Alper, Jason Lange April 3, 2017

Farmers in the U.S. agricultural heartland that helped elect Donald Trump are now pushing his administration to avoid a trade dispute with Mexico. They fear retaliatory tariffs that could hit over $3 billion (all figures U.S. funds) in U.S. exports. The value of exports at risk is based on a Reuters analysis of a tariff

Crops, Livestock

Non-tariff trade barriers remain major obstacle

They’ve become a favourite tool to block trade now that tariffs are out of fashion

By Alex Binkley March 27, 2017

While tariffs on agri-food products are declining around the world, non-tariff trade barriers are sprouting up like weeds, the Commons agriculture has been told. “While we are seeing progress in lowering tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers are frequently waiting, or newly created ones are set in place to be the next wave of protectionism that we

Opinion

Food prices are… falling?

By Owen Roberts March 27, 2017

I stopped in my tracks recently when I heard food prices actually dropped last year. It was nonsensical… how could an essential such as food be going down in price, with the cost of living marching forward? “It’s true,” says Mike Von Massow, a University of Guelph agriculture and food economics researcher. “The price of

Crops, News

China should be focus of food trade efforts

The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance says China is our biggest and best bet for future growth

By Alex Binkley March 22, 2017

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay departed on a trade mission to India and Vietnam in late February, just as farm export groups called for more attention on China. The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance says in a new report that China purchased $5.6 billion worth of Canadian farm and food exports in 2016 and has become the

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: Chicago cattle futures climb on post-Thanksgiving trade

U.S. grains: Corn futures set June high on US export demand

California researchers create nitrogen-fixing wheat

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