BMO in May 2020 announced an agreement to sell its 107-year-old downtown Winnipeg building to the Manitoba Metis Federation for use as a new Metis Nation Heritage Centre. (File photo by Dave Bedard)

BMO regroups ag banking business

Ag-focused national banking team put in place

With COVID-19 serving to “accelerate” changes in the industry, BMO Bank of Montreal says it has reset its farm banking work under the oversight of an expanded national agriculture and agribusiness banking team. BMO announced the new team approach Oct. 14, describing it as “a national team of agriculture banking specialists — team members with […] Read more

Don’t underestimate the value of provide cattle with good quality water.

Do you know what’s swimming in your livestock water?

Good clean water is the most important nutrient

A university professor once told our beef science class that many things that aren’t fish are swimming in most beef cows’ drinking water. As an undergraduate, I envisioned snails and frogs being sucked up by thirsty cows, but soon realized that he was talking about the many undesirable things not visible to the naked eye. […] Read more


The United Nations’ General Assembly Hall in Manhattan. (BWZenith/iStock/Getty Images)

World Food Program seeking billions within six months to avert famine

Pandemic may double hunger worldwide, agency says

London | Reuters — The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will need to raise US$6.8 billion over the next six months to avert famine amid the COVID-19 crisis, the agency said on Tuesday. The WFP, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as […] Read more

Violife’s vegan cheese-substitute lines include cheddar-style slices. (ViolifeFoods.com)

Becel maker Upfield to relocate Ontario plant

Company to make vegan cheese substitutes, other spreads at Brantford

The maker of Becel margarine, Imperial spreads and, most recently, vegan near-cheese Violife plans to boost its Canadian manufacturing capacity with a move from Toronto to Brantford, Ont. The Canadian arm of Amsterdam-based Upfield said Wednesday it has bought a 164,000-square foot industrial building at Brantford and “brings a significant investment involving the purchase of […] Read more


(GFM staff photo)

Dairy cattle traceability system switched on

Lactanet's DairyTrace program now operational

Lactanet Canada’s centralized national system for management of dairy cattle traceability data has formally been plugged in. Guelph-based dairy herd management service provider Lactanet on Monday launched DairyTrace, which it says will operate alongside the traceability module of Dairy Farmers of Canada’s proAction initiative in providing “state-of-the-art traceback capabilities in the event of an emergency […] Read more

Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the southern Pacific for the week centred on Sept, 30, 2020. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

La Nina to bring colder, drier winter

MarketsFarm — There’s a La Nina poised to exert influence on the coming North American winter, according to Drew Lerner, senior agricultural meteorologist for World Weather Inc. in Kansas. A La Nina generates colder-than-normal temperatures, as opposed to the warm temperatures garnered from an El Nino. Both weather phenomenon can be found over the Pacific […] Read more


File photo of a quality control check on fresh peppers in a Canadian vegetable packing plant. (Jeffbergen/E+Getty Images)

Federal program to protect farms, workers from COVID-19 underway

'Highest-risk' farming operations to get priority, Bibeau says

Applications are now open for a federally-administered $35 million emergency on-farm support fund to help limit the impacts of COVID-19 on farms and on-farm workers. Aimed at farm workplaces and employee living quarters, the fund is being managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), but cost-shared with participating producers at a 50-50 level. Money is […] Read more



New Brunswick’s new agriculture minister, Margaret Johnson. (Facebook)

Rookie MLA named New Brunswick ag minister

Blaine Higgs' Tories sworn in as majority government

A politically-active retired New Brunswick schoolteacher is the province’s new minister for agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries. Premier Blaine Higgs, whose new Progressive Conservative cabinet was sworn in Tuesday in Fredericton, appointed Margaret Johnson, the newly elected MLA for the northwestern electoral district of Carleton-Victoria, to handle the ag and fisheries files. In last month’s provincial […] Read more