About 4,800 unionized mechanics, clerical workers, excavator operators and truck drivers at Canadian National Railway (CN) will go into the new year without new contracts. Unifor, whose locals have five collective agreements with Montreal-based CN, announced Thursday it’s been “unable to reach a new tentative collective agreement” in negotiations with CN since mid-September. The company […] Read more
Talks fold on contracts for CN mechanics, clerical staff
Canada Bread to buy Saputo snack cake business
Canada’s biggest dairy processor is set to sell its baked goods business to Canada Bread for $120 million cash. Montreal-based Saputo’s baked goods business is billed as Canada’s top producer of snack cakes, sold mainly in the Canadian retail market and “on a small scale” in the U.S. The company’s cakes are sold under the […] Read more
CN overshoots 2013-14 grain handling revenue cap
The Western Grains Research Foundation will get a $4.98 million gift this season from Canadian National Railway, but not out of holiday spirit per se. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Thursday ruled CN, during the 2013-14 crop year, exceeded its maximum allowable revenue from Prairie grain handling by $4,981,915, above its previously set “entitlement” of […] Read more
Ont. to allow land application of greenhouse feedwater
Spent nutrient solutions from Ontario’s commercial greenhouses will be made more easily available to crop growers for land application starting in 2015 under a new provincial regulatory framework. Greenhouse growers in the province are already required by law to safely dispose of the greenhouse nutrient feedwater (GNF) after it’s been used, circulated and reused to […] Read more
B.C. egg farm joins turkey, broiler farms on quarantine list
A 53,000-bird table egg layer operation in the greater Vancouver area is the 10th farm in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland to be confirmed with avian influenza since the beginning of the month. The farm, in the Langley municipality, was investigated Saturday under “suspicion” of avian flu and confirmed later that day to be infected with […] Read more
FNA preparing to push south
Canadian ag input buying group Farmers of North America (FNA) is going North American. Saskatoon-based FNA and its sister supply organization, AgraCity, said Thursday they now have teams on the ground in three states — North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota — to recruit new FNA members. “When the organization began back in 1999, the name […] Read more
Richardson to replace Dauphin elevator
Richardson International has budgeted over $20 million to bring down the old and build the new at its grain elevator site at Dauphin, Man. The privately-held Winnipeg grain firm announced Thursday it will build a new Dauphin high-throughput elevator with 10,000 tonnes of storage capacity, linking into the site’s current steel bin storage space, bringing […] Read more
Que. complying with, appealing AIT ruling on edible oil products
Quebec has amended its rules on sales of vegetable oil-based dairy products, but is still appealing the ruling that led to the amendments, the Saskatchewan government reports. Amendments to Quebec’s Food Products Act last week have loosened laws that have effectively banned sales in Quebec of edible oil dairy substitutes, such as some margarines and […] Read more
Avian flu arrives on more B.C. poultry farms
Federal officials monitoring avian flu outbreaks in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley aren’t surprised to have confirmed another three, maybe four, infected properties. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in a statement Wednesday, two more farms — both close to the initial pair of farms confirmed last week with high-pathogenicity H5N2 avian flu — have […] Read more
Deere chain Cervus buys two Alta. dealerships
Two John Deere farm equipment dealerships in southern Alberta are set to become part of Deere dealer chain Cervus Equipment. Cervus announced Wednesday it’s bought the assets of Deer-Country Equipment, which owns and operates Deere dealerships at Vulcan and High River. The deal “represents a strategic opportunity for Cervus to expand our western Canadian presence […] Read more