Rail cars in Vancouver. (Photo courtesy/copyright Canadian National Railway)

Grain groups seek ‘essential service’ status for rail

With Canadian National Railway’s conductors and yard workers headed back to work, several Canadian grain groups now want to head off any future job action in the rail sector. CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference announced separately Tuesday they had reached a tentative agreement ending an eight-day strike by over 3,000 unionized staff. The […] Read more

Louis Dreyfus’ grain elevator at Joffre, Alta., northeast of Red Deer. (LDC.com)

P+H to buy Louis Dreyfus’ Prairie elevators

Updated — Commodities and agrifood giant Louis Dreyfus Co. is stepping out of the grain handling business it built in Canada with a deal to sell its Prairie elevator network. Louis Dreyfus (LDC) announced Wednesday it has an agreement in place to sell its 10 elevators across Western Canada to Winnipeg grain company Parrish and […] Read more


(File photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Appeal court overturns ruling against canola ‘streaming’ contracts

A southeastern Saskatchewan farmer and canola company Input Capital are going back to court now that a ruling last year, which ripped the company’s “streaming” contracts with the farmer as “unconscionable,” has been overturned on appeal. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, in a ruling issued Friday, set aside a 2018 Court of Queen’s Bench “finding […] Read more



A mayfly on water. (SBTheGreenMan/iStock/Getty Images)

Phase-outs planned for clothianidin, thiamethoxam

The remaining two of the big three neonicotinoid insecticides will be phased out of nearly all on-farm use in Canada in the next few years under a proposal from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency. PMRA officials on Wednesday announced 90-day consultation periods on its decisions for both clothianidin and thiamethoxam, following “special reviews” which […] Read more

(CaseIH.com)

Feds scrap ‘conditional’ pesticide approvals

Federal crop chemical regulators this summer will stop granting “conditional” registrations for new pesticides — a practice already largely on the way out, they note. Health Canada, which oversees the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), said Tuesday it plans to stop granting new conditional registrations starting June 1, describing the move as an “important […] Read more


Editors’ Picks: H1N1 hits first U.S. hog

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed the country’s first case of pandemic H1N1 influenza in a hog, following tests on samples collected at the Minnesota State Fair this summer. Samples collected at the fair, held Aug. 27 to Sept. 7 in St. Paul, were part of a University of Iowa and University of Minnesota […] Read more