Canadian beef producers have scored access to a long-closed market as Jamaica will again take Canadian product. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Trade Minister Ed Fast announced Monday that Jamaica has approved all imports of beef from Canada, effective immediately. The country closed its ports to Canadian beef in 2003 after the discovery of Canada’s […] Read more
Jamaica re-opens to Canadian beef
Agrium crop input arm buys fertilizer additive maker
A Texas company making biochemical additives for the crop fertilizer market has become an arm of Agrium’s Loveland crop input business. Loveland Products announced Tuesday it’s bought a controlling stake in Agricen, the Dallas-area firm that makes Loveland’s Accomplish LM and Titan PBA products. Both products, sold in the U.S., include “biochemical-based” ingredients used to […] Read more
N.S. sets up wine development board
Grape growers and wine producers in Nova Scotia have got a new advisory board to bring their ideas and issues to the provincial government. The province on Tuesday named nine members, including Agriculture Minister Keith Colwell as chairman, to a new Nova Scotia Wine Development Board. Nova Scotia’s wineries sold almost $16.7 million in wine […] Read more
FCC again extends loan plan for young farmers
Canada’s federal farm lending agency has held over its Young Farmer Loan program for a third year and again boosted the program’s budget commitment. Farm Credit Canada said Thursday it will continue the program, which grants loans to eligible producers under age 40 for up to $500,000 to buy or improve farmland and buildings. The […] Read more
Manitoba names new chief vet
The Manitoba government has tapped another federal veterinarian to lead its animal health and welfare, food safety and livestock biosecurity programs. Dr. Megan Bergman, most recently the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s regional director for Manitoba, was named Tuesday as the province’s chief veterinary officer, replacing Dr. Wayne Lees. Bergman graduated from Saskatoon’s Western College of […] Read more
Viterra plans new Red River Valley terminal
The site where Canada’s biggest grain handler crushes Red River Valley canola will soon also move the valley’s grain. Viterra announced Tuesday it plans to build a 30,000-tonne capacity high-throughput grain terminal near its canola crush plant at Ste. Agathe, Man. The site, which has access both to Canadian National (CN) and BNSF rail lines, […] Read more
Burger King, Tim Hortons reach deal on marriage
Two days after confirming their talks on the idea, Canada’s biggest quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain and the world’s second-biggest burger chain have lined up their US$15.5 billion merger deal. Burger King Worldwide and Tim Hortons on Tuesday announced a “definitive agreement” to combine the world’s fourth- and eighth-biggest QSR firms into the No. 3 spot, […] Read more
Bloc Quebecois’ ag critic quits party
The Bloc Quebecois’ critic for agriculture has quit the party to sit as an independent MP in the House of Commons. Andre Bellavance, the Bloc MP for Richmond-Athabaska since 2004 and a candidate in the party’s leadership contest in May, also confirmed to Quebec media he will not run in the next federal election, to […] Read more
Burger King throne would move north in Timmy’s merger
The world’s second-biggest burger chain is in talks with Canada’s biggest quick-service chain on a merger into a new Canadian-based company. Burger King Worldwide and Tim Hortons confirmed their talks Sunday, following a report in that day’s Wall Street Journal. The U.S. paper reported the Miami-based burger firm plans a “tax inversion” deal to move […] Read more
Big Rock Brewery founder Ed McNally, 89
The lawyer and farmer who founded Calgary’s Big Rock Brewery has died at age 89. Ed McNally, who founded what’s now Canada’s second largest Canadian-owned brewery in 1985, had retired as the company’s CEO in 2012, remaining its “chairman emeritus.” The cause of his death late Tuesday was not released. “Ed leaves behind a legacy […] Read more