The Ontario government has pledged $4 million over four years to help farmers’ market groups encourage and promote direct farm marketing to consumers. The new funding comes from a $56 million allocation in the March budget for “buy Ontario” and “buy local” initiatives, the province said in a release Tuesday. “By helping farmers’ markets and […] Read more
Ont. puts up $4M for farmers’ market projects
CWB posts new midge maps
Weather data and computer modeling will help the Canadian Wheat Board post new daily maps estimating how and when wheat midge will emerge across the Prairies. The CWB announced Wednesday that it will post midge emergence maps on its site every weekday until the end of July. The maps are “the only daily information source […] Read more
Ag secretary named public works minister
Quebec MP Christian Paradis, the federal secretary of state for agriculture, has been named the federal minister for public works and government services. Paradis’ new duties will be in addition to his work on the ag file, assisting Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Wednesday. Secretaries of state rank between ministers of […] Read more
Former AU CEO joins BDC board
The federal government has named former Agricore United CEO Brian Hayward to the board of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). Hayward is now president of Aldare Resources, the Winnipeg business consulting firm he formed in 2007 after the takeover of AU, then Canada’s largest grain handler, by No. 2 handler Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. […] Read more
Sask. food centre chief moves to canola
The manager of Saskatchewan’s provincial Food Industry Development Centre next month becomes executive director of the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission. Catherine Folkersen takes the new post starting July 28, the SCDC said in a release Tuesday. Raised in Ontario but with family roots at Bruno, Sask., Folkersen worked in the University of Saskatchewan’s department of […] Read more
Ont. dealership fined $100K over worker death
An Ontario farm equipment dealership worker’s fatal injuries in a forage harvester will cost the company a $100,000 fine, a provincial court ruled Monday. Weagant Farm Supplies of Winchester, about 50 km southeast of Ottawa, pled guilty Monday in the Ontario Court of Justice in Morrisburg to charges under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety […] Read more
Hagen renamed B.C. ag minister in shuffle
A former British Columbia agriculture minister will take on the portfolio again in a cabinet shuffle Monday by Premier Gordon Campbell. Comox Valley MLA Stan Hagen, who has been Campbell’s minister for tourism, sport and the arts since 2006, takes over from Pat Bell as minister of agriculture and lands. Bell, the Prince George MLA […] Read more
Canada’s 13th mad cow found in B.C.
Few details have been released so far about Canada’s 13th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), found in a cow in British Columbia. Details not yet available Monday in the CFIA’s announcement include the animal’s age, and the area of the province where it was found. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a release […] Read more
Man. pork co-op to shut assembly yard
The Manitoba Pork Marketing Co-op plans to close its St. Boniface hog assembly yard this Friday after 43 years, as it plans a new location on Winnipeg’s outskirts. And in light of lower operating costs as a result, the co-op said it will lower its marketing fee starting July 7. The MPMC, in a release […] Read more
N.B. orchards, vineyards get rehab funding
Tree fruit and grape growers in New Brunswick will get almost $773,000 in federal and provincial funds to pull up old plants and trees and upgrade to varieties that are more productive, more in demand or both. “These investments will allow tree fruit and grape growers to be responsive to marketplace demands by removing varieties […] Read more
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