(CBSA via YouTube)

Feds seek feedback on farm worker living conditions

Consultations focused on 'primary agriculture' labour stream of TFWs

Improving and standardizing living conditions for temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada — specifically, those on Canadian farms — is the subject of a new round of federal consultations. Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Tuesday announced consultations are now underway until Dec. 22 with “provinces and territories, employers, workers, worker

CBOT December 2020 wheat with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Dry soils push Chicago wheat higher

CBOT corn, soy futures also rise

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat futures firmed on Monday, hitting almost six-year highs, on concerns about dry conditions across key global growing areas, traders said. But gains were limited as investors stood by after prices have rallied 8.6 per cent so far this month. “The market is just



CBOT November 2020 soybeans with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans rebound from prior day’s plunge

Wheat flat as stronger dollar offsets dryness concerns; corn up on exports to Mexico

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures rose on Tuesday, a day after the market’s largest drop in six months slowed a rash of farmer selling, traders said. Chicago wheat futures rose slightly but were capped by a strong U.S. dollar, while CBOT corn gained on fresh export sales to Mexico. CBOT November soybeans closed


(Dave Bedard photo)

Mexico to phase out use of glyphosate

Farmers to have until 2024 to phase out herbicide

Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico will gradually phase out use of the herbicide glyphosate by the time the current administration ends in late 2024, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday, following a ministerial spat over the product. Acknowledging differences between his agriculture and environment ministries over the herbicide, which is used in



(LIVINUS/iStock/Getty Images)

Mexico to resume sending farmworkers to Canada after safety agreement

Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico will resume sending temporary farmworkers to Canada after the two countries reached an agreement on improved safety protections for labourers on Canadian farms during the coronavirus pandemic, the Mexican government said Sunday. Mexico said last Tuesday it would pause sending workers to farms with coronavirus infections after at least

(CBSA via YouTube)

TFW program to be overhauled after COVID-19 outbreaks on farms

"The piece that's missing is enforcement"

Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada is overhauling its temporary foreign worker program, a government spokeswoman said on Friday, after coronavirus outbreaks on Ontario farms sickened hundreds and led Mexico to demand assurances of proper safeguards. As part of the review, surprise inspections of working and living conditions on farms will immediately increase, Ashley Michnowski, communications


An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

Mexico to stop sending workers to Canadian farms hit by COVID-19

Assurances of worker safety sought, FARMS says

Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico will stop sending temporary workers to Canadian farms that have registered a coronavirus outbreak and that do not have proper worker protections, Mexico’s labour ministry said on Tuesday, although it will not completely suspend the program. The decision came after a coronavirus outbreak in Ontario hit at least 17