CN locomotives in Winnipeg. (Photo courtesy CN)

CN to cut management, union jobs

Reuters — Canadian National Railway said on Friday it would cut management and union jobs, as the largest Canadian railroad operator grapples with an economic slowdown. The company will lay off 1,600 employees in the U.S. and Canada, according to a report by the Globe and Mail. The announcement comes amid declining freight volumes as

File photo of cattle on pasture. Several drought-stricken rural municipalities in Manitoba have declared an agriculture disaster, in an effort to kickstart action by senior levels of government. (MikeEntertainment/iStock.Getty Images)

RMs declare ag disaster in Manitoba’s Interlake

Twelve rural municipalities in Manitoba’s Interlake and WestLake regions have declared a state of agricultural disaster due to severe dry conditions. The RMs of Alonsa, Armstrong, Bifrost-Riverton, Coldwell, Ethelbert, Fisher, Grahamdale, Lakeshore, McCreary, Ste. Rose, West Interlake and Woodlands announced the motion in a news release Thursday. The municipalities are calling on the province to


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Railways book higher grain freight revenue for Q1

Canada’s big two railways reported somewhat higher revenue from handling grain during their fiscal quarter ending March 31, despite both companies reporting winter weather woes. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) on April 23 reported grain segment revenue of $380 million for the quarter, up six per cent from the year-earlier period, on about 92,800 grain carloads,

A freighter is loaded with grain from a terminal at Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet. (Maxvis/iStock/Getty Images)

Regulator rips CN’s use of freight embargoes at West Coast

Canadian National Railway has been found in breach of its service obligations on grain and other traffic by a federal regulator aiming to crack down on the company’s use of freight embargoes. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Monday released its determination on “possible freight rail service issues in the Vancouver area” last fall. The regulator


Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

India to reimburse freight for some ag exports

New Delhi | Reuters — India will provide federal support for the transportation of some farm products to make Indian goods more competitive in foreign markets, the government said in a statement Tuesday. The scheme will be applicable for a year, to March 2020. The government will reimburse the freight paid by Indian exporters through

Rains early this week are too late to change the outlook for this year’s crop, but farmers will be looking for more to 
help pastures, dugouts and soil moisture levels recover 
for next year.

Tiptoeing around the dreaded ‘D’ word

The word ‘drought’ is being tossed around in Manitoba’s agriculture industry, but the province isn’t ready to go there just yet

Most of Manitoba is dry for the second year running, but is it a drought? The term fits, according to AAFC. The agency’s national drought monitor says most of eastern Manitoba and the Interlake is in moderate or severe drought, along with land stretching through southern Manitoba from the Ontario border and well into Westman.



Campbell Soup Co. plans to close its 87-year-old Toronto soup plant by mid-2019. (Campbell Soup Co. via BusinessWire)

Moving freight to get more expensive for food companies

Reuters — U.S. food companies called out rising freight costs as a reason for lower profit margins in the holiday quarter, with more pain seen in 2018 as a dearth of drivers and higher diesel prices make it even more expensive to transport products to stores. Hershey, Mondelez International, J.M. Smucker and Campbell Soup said