Updated, Sept. 30 — With livestock producers’ needs at top of mind, 10 more student seats at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan will be spoken for starting next year. The college and the Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments on Thursday announced the two provinces will each step up their funding […] Read more
Saskatchewan, Manitoba to boost vet college seat quotas
Each province adding five subsidized seats at WCVM
Manitoba to cut Crown forage lease rates
Previous years' forage conditions a factor, province says
The rents paid by Manitoba producers using Crown lands to produce perennial forages will be cut in half next year and by smaller amounts the following two years. Provincial Ag Minister Derek Johnson on Wednesday announced the forage lease rent on agricultural Crown land will be reduced by 50 per cent in 2023, 33 per […] Read more
B.C. to back Indigenous food system projects
New program taking applications starting Monday
A new British Columbia program will provide up to $80,000 each for projects in agriculture, food processing or other sectors to improve food security in that province’s Indigenous communities. The province on Wednesday rolled out a new Indigenous Food Systems and Agriculture Partnership Program, which is set up to take applications starting Monday (Sept. 26) […] Read more
Sollio to exit southwestern Ontario grain handling
Country elevator assets to be sold after harvest, co-op to focus on ag retail
One of Canada’s biggest ag co-operatives is moving ahead on plans to “optimize assets” by shedding its stake in grain handling in southwestern Ontario and focusing more closely on retail ag inputs. Sollio Agriculture, the agribusiness arm of Quebec-based Sollio Cooperative Group, on Tuesday announced it will start “an orderly wind-down” of its Ontario Grain […] Read more
Avian flu returns to southwestern Ontario
More cases also turn up in western provinces
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has circled back to Ontario for the first time in four months with an outbreak in a commercial poultry flock in Oxford County. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Friday confirmed the outbreak at a farm in the township of Zorra, about 20 km east of London. Details on the […] Read more
Avian flu circles back in Western Canada
All western provinces book new cases in commercial birds
A relatively quiet summer for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada has turned for the worse, with outbreaks on commercial poultry farms in all four western provinces in the past week alone. Cases of high-path avian flu in domestic birds in Canada confirmed and reported by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since Aug. 31 include: […] Read more
U.S. rail embargoes may stymie some Canadian rail traffic
CN halts most cross-border traffic; CP also monitoring situation
Mindful of the potential for snarls on their own tracks, Canada’s big two railways are monitoring talks between a clutch of major U.S. railways and several of their labour unions to avert strikes and/or lockouts that may begin as early as Friday. As of Wednesday, three unions out of the 12 representing unionized rail workers […] Read more
Ontario halal processor to buy poultry packing capacity
Amir Quality Meats taking up Wellington Poultry
An Ontario meat processor specializing in the halal market has a deal in place to boost its capacity by buying a nearby chicken and specialty fowl packer. Amir Quality Meats, which operates a federally registered HACCP-certified boning and cutting plant at Brampton, has an agreement in place to buy the processing plant and “associated supply” […] Read more
Aurora buys control of major B.C. hothouse veg firm
Bevo Farms to take over Aurora Sky cannabis production site
A major player in B.C.’s greenhouse vegetable sector is about to expand its operations into an Alberta cannabis grow facility — backed by a major investment from the plant’s owner. Aurora Cannabis on Aug. 25 announced a subsidiary is buying a 50.1 per cent stake in Bevo Agtech, the parent of vegetable and ornamental plant […] Read more
Saskatchewan’s livestock vet loan plan expanded to bigger centres
Urban vet clinics' work with rural producers noted
Saskatchewan’s program to forgive provincial student loans for veterinarians and vet techs serving livestock producers at rural clinics will now also cover those doing the same work out of bigger communities. The province’s Loan Forgiveness for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technologists program was first announced in April last year, offering forgiveness of 20 per cent of […] Read more
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