Canada’s Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (l-r) meet with media July 11 in Kyiv. (PMO photo by Adam Scotti)

Ukraine free trade deal signed, goes to vote

A free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine that’s expected to benefit Canada’s livestock sectors, among others, goes to the two countries’ parliaments for approval after its signing Monday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland signed the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) Monday in Kyiv. CUFTA negotiations wrapped last July under the

Kazakh leader evokes Ukraine as land protests spread

Almaty | Reuters –– Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, facing a growing wave of protests against planned changes to land ownership, evoked the image of war-torn Ukraine on Sunday as he called for national unity. Speaking at an event in Almaty to mark the annual May 1 Unity Day celebrations, Nazarbayev highlighted Ukraine, where street protests



(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill joint venture to build grain terminal in Ukraine

Kiev | Reuters — U.S. agriculture giant Cargill and Ukraine’s MV Cargo said they would build and operate a grain terminal at Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Yuzhny under a US$100 million joint venture agreement signed Wednesday. The terminal, near Ukraine’s biggest port city of Odessa, will have an annual loading capacity of five million


(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill to stop selling seed, inputs in Black Sea region

Chicago | Reuters –– Cargill will stop selling seeds, fertilizer and crop chemicals to farmers in the Black Sea region, as the global trader continues to cut back operations in the face of sliding commodity prices. The 150-year old company, one of the world’s largest privately held corporations, is in the middle of a restructuring

Motherland Monument, Kiev. (CIA.gov)

Packers approved to move beef, pork to Ukraine

Inspectors have approved 15 Canadian beef and pork processing plants to export to Ukraine, more than doubling the number of Canadian meat plants able to ship to the country. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday announced Ukraine has, essentially, approved beef and pork exports from any Canadian federally-registered establishment



Russian harvesting technology has advanced beyond that illustrated in this Soviet-era poster.

Black Sea in it for the long haul

The Former Soviet Union, once Canada's largest wheat customer, is now its largest competitor

Black Sea wheat exports are projected at an all-time high this year, and there is good reason to have confidence in this forecast. During the 2015/16 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the states of the former Soviet Union excluding Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia (FSU-12) will export a record 45 million


William Gregor

Agricultural Hall of Fame: William Gregor

The Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame inducted eight new members in July 2015. Here is one of the new inductees

William (Bill) Gregor was born on January 1, 1926, to parents who emigrated from Ukraine and settled on a farm north of Roblin, Manitoba. He received his education at the nearby Hillcrest School. In 1954, Bill married Loreen (nee McKinnon) and together they raised two children — a daughter, Carla, was born in 1956 and