File photo of a CN locomotive. (Dave Bedard photo)

CN service continues as signals staff strike

Talks continue after IBEW-represented employees stopped work Saturday

Canadian National Railway is reporting “normal” rail operations after its signals and communications workers walked out on strike starting Saturday. Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 750 CN employees across Canada, served the railway with strike notice last Wednesday and started their strike Saturday morning, the company said. IBEW […] Read more

(Baxter Black video screen grab via YouTube)

U.S. cowboy poet and veterinarian Baxter Black, 77

Black appeared on Carson, NPR and in Grainews

U.S. cowboy poet, storyteller and veterinarian Baxter Black, whose work was a fixture for years in farm journals including Grainews, died Friday at age 77, his family reported. Born in New York in 1945, Black grew up in southern New Mexico and graduated from Colorado State University in 1969. He later relocated from Colorado to […] Read more


(Diane Kuhl/iStock/Getty Images)

Dairy farmers seek mid-year increase on farmgate milk prices

CDC to seek stakeholder comment next week

The Canadian Dairy Commission will seek out feedback from industry stakeholders next week on Canadian dairy farmers’ request for a mid-year raise in farmgate milk prices. The CDC said June 2 it had received a request from Dairy Farmers of Canada for the increase “due to the current inflationary environment.” If it’s approved, and if […] Read more

File photo of a trumpeter swan in springtime on Marsh Lake, southeast of Whitehorse. (Scalia Media/iStock/Getty Images)

Northern egg harvesters cautioned over avian flu

High-path H5N1 found in wild birds in Yukon

Residents of Canada’s northern territories who harvest migratory wild birds and their eggs this spring are urged to take precautions as highly pathogenic avian influenza makes its way northward. The Yukon government’s animal health unit on May 27 reported confirmed cases of high-path H5N1 avian flu in two wild waterfowl carcasses. “Spring migration is ongoing […] Read more


Specialty Enterprises’ AG TRK430 132-foot Millennium spray boom in operation. (Specialtyllc.net)

CNH buys spray boom manufacturing capacity

Specialty Enterprises has supplied Case IH with booms

A Wisconsin company that has supplied aluminum spray booms for Case IH sprayer product lines has been brought in-house. CNH Industrial, owner of the Case IH and New Holland brands, announced May 23 it has bought Specialty Enterprises, which is billed as North America’s biggest maker of aluminum spray booms for farm applications as well […] Read more

Lisa Thompson. (LisathompsonMPP.ca)

Ontario ag minister returns in another Tory majority

Lisa Thompson retains seat in election

Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservatives will head back to the legislature with their incumbent agriculture minister at the caucus table. Lisa Thompson, Premier Doug Ford’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs since June last year, easily held her southwestern riding of Huron-Bruce in Thursday’s provincial election by a spread of 15,594 votes over Liberal challenger […] Read more


A view from the Earth Power dealership at Owen Sound, Ont. in 2016. (Earth Power Tractors and Equipment photo via Facebook)

Southern Ontario Kubota dealer chain sold

Robert's, Stewart's buy Earth Power dealerships

A chain of Kubota dealerships in southern Ontario is selling its three links to two separate new owners. Earth Power Tractors and Equipment, owned in partnership by Jim Kelly and Jeff Cook since 2005, said Thursday it has a deal in place to sell its sites at Owen Sound and nearby Meaford to Robert’s Farm […] Read more

(Xinzheng/Getty Images)

China lifts block on Canadian grain firms’ canola exports

Canola from Richardson, Viterra again allowed, officials report

Officials say China has reinstated market access for two major grain firms whose exports of Canadian canola have been blocked from Chinese ports since 2019. Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng and Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, in a joint statement Wednesday, confirmed the decision by Chinese customs officials allowing Richardson International and Viterra to resume canola […] Read more


A low-flying bald eagle off the shore of Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley. (SkyF/iStock/Getty Images)

High-path avian flu reaches Vancouver Island

Saskatchewan extends ag fair ban for birds; B.C. restarts lab testing; FCC to offer flexibility

North America’s latest round of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks has now made its way from one end of Canada clear to the other. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday confirmed Canada’s westernmost case ever of high-path avian flu in domestic birds, finding an H5N1 virus in a small-scale poultry flock in the Regional […] Read more

Red spring wheat. (File photo)

Mildew scrapped as grading factor for No. 3 wheats

Grading changes also planned for canola admixture, splits in peas, excreta in mustard

The Canadian Grain Commission will change its standard samples for mildew in No. 1 and No. 2 wheats, and drop it as a grading factor for No. 3 wheats, effective this summer. The CGC on Monday laid out a list of changes to its grain grading policies and standards for wheat, canola, peas, beans and […] Read more