WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is congratulated by India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal after the June 17, 2022 closing session of a WTO ministerial conference in Geneva. (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)

WTO strikes global trade deals deep into overtime

Deals reached on food security, health and fishing; formerly defiant India joins consensus

Geneva | Reuters — The World Trade Organization’s 164 members approved a series of trade agreements early on Friday that included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations. The deals were ground out over five days of bargaining at a conference of more than

Biden administration putting up US$2.1 billion to strengthen food system

Reuters – The Biden administration plans to spend more than US$2.1 billion in funding to shore up weaknesses in the country’s food supply system exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will unveil the new funding, designed to enhance competition in food processing


File photo of raw and cooked ground beef. (Lime and Lemon Media photo via Canada Beef Inc.)

Beef sector calls for Health Canada label exception

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association wants ground beef exempted from proposed rules

The cattle sector is less than pleased by a Health Canada proposal that would put a ‘high saturated fat’ label on retail ground beef. The proposal is part of a suite of changes proposed for Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations. As well as adding a front-of-packaging (FOP) label requirement for foods deemed by Health Canada

red wine

Comment: Why you shouldn’t trust research pulling for a single ‘superfood’

Good nutrition is complicated, and a few ‘superfoods’ aren’t going to get you there

You’ve probably read the stories proclaiming that eating blueberries reduces your risk of dementia, or red wine is good for your heart or coffee protects against Type 2 diabetes — or, indeed, many of the other big health claims for a particular “superfood.” But what is the truth in these statements? While we — a


Comment: Food for non-food purposes

Comment: Food for non-food purposes

FOOD SECURITY A shrinking fraction of the world’s major crops goes to feed the hungry

Competition for the world’s important crops — like biofuels, processing ingredients, livestock, meal hydrogenated oils and starches — is sending more of them toward uses other than directly feeding people. A recently published study, of which I was a co-author, found that in 2030, only 29 per cent of the global harvests of 10 major

Yara’s fertilizer terminal at Stockton, California. (Sebastian Braum photo, Yara.com)

Fertilizer maker Yara says world faces extreme food supply shock

Sanctions cut global fertilizer supply 15 per cent, company says

Davos, Switzerland | Reuters — Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara says donors urgently need to close the U.N.’s $10 billion food programme funding gap to avoid a catastrophe as sanctions on Russian fertilizers and Ukraine’s grain export problems have created an extreme global shock. “The world has realized that food can be a weapon and it


File photo of barrels on display in a Nova Scotia vineyard. (Tashka/iStock/Getty Images)

Wastewater regulation eased for Nova Scotia on-farm processing

Nova Scotia has introduced regulatory changes that allow on-farm processing operations to better manage wastewater on their smaller scale. The changes, which took effect May 11, come at the request of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA) — which has said that owners of small farm-level processing facilities shouldn’t be treated the same as

After learning conservation agriculture techniques, Asnakech Zema saw her corn yields increase more than tenfold.

Sustaining hope: Conservation agriculture making gains in Ethiopia

Norway partners with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank to continue to support east-African farmers

Each year, Ethiopian farmers lose 1.5 billion metric tons of topsoil, Frew Beriso said, quoting the number from a 2008 study. As a result, whatever investment of nutrients exceedingly expensive for smallholder farmers — are put into the soil are in vain. Moisture is the other top issue. This year the spring rains are delayed,


Yuri and Oleksiy, farmers wearing body armours and helmets, prepare for field work in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region amid Russia’s invasion, on April 26, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Worsening global food security needs Ukraine, Russia production, UN chief says

Abuja | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday the problem of global food security could not be solved without restoring Ukrainian agricultural production and Russian food and fertilizer output to the world market. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has added to volatility in financial markets, sending commodity prices higher and affecting logistics,

Food literacy in Canada has increased since the start of the pandemic.

Comment: COVID has changed us, but has it really changed the food industry?

Canada’s food landscape has changed as consumers have gained more food literacy

The food industry is gathering now at different trade shows and events. It is the first time in two years that it has come together to figure out what consumers are now thinking, believing, hoping and most important, fearing. Trends, flavours, and tastes have changed since March 2020. But after more than two years of