Saskatchewan has laid out a new set of regulations meant to bring all farm drainage works — including previously grandfathered drains — into compliance in the next 10 years. The regulations, announced Tuesday, will first be applied to pilot projects in the province’s east — in the Souris Basin, near Stoughton, and the Assiniboine Basin, […] Read more
New Sask. farm drainage rules ready for rollout
Canadian chain New York Fries to join Cara
A potato-based staple of shopping-mall food courts across Canada is set to become an arm of the country’s biggest full-service restaurant operator. The numbered owner of New York Fries agreed Monday to a cash deal to sell its entire stake to Cara Operations Ltd., which operates or franchises dining brands across Canada including Swiss Chalet, […] Read more
Canada lifts bans on three states’ poultry, eggs
Travellers entering Canada from the U.S. can now bring in uncooked poultry products and eggs from Indiana, Montana and/or Arkansas. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) during August declared each of those three states free of highly pathogenic (“high-path”) avian flu, following discoveries of infected poultry in those states this spring. Poultry from Indiana had […] Read more
Farm kids: Don’t worry about wages
A new study by Cornell University agricultural economists says family members who work on the family dairy farm make $22,000 less annually than comparable hired managers, but are handsomely compensated with “socioemotional” wealth. “While $22,000 seems like a large penalty, there are non-financial rewards they experience working for the family business,” Loren Tauer, professor at […] Read more
Barley’s genome now two-thirds sequenced
A team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside says it has reached a new milestone in its work on sequencing the barley genome. In a release Tuesday, the researchers said they have sequenced large portions of the genome that together contain nearly two-thirds of all barley genes. Because barley is a close relative […] Read more
Cattle herd still shrinking in StatsCan estimates
The size of Canada’s cattle herd is still in decline and almost a quarter smaller than its peak in 2005, Statistics Canada reports. The federal statistics agency on Thursday released estimates showing the herd at 13 million cattle on farms on July 1 this year, down 2.1 per cent from the same date in 2014. […] Read more
Ardent to buy major Ontario soft wheat mill
The owner of Canada’s Robin Hood flour mills is poised to buy the biggest soft wheat milling operation in the country. Ardent Mills, the joint North American flour venture of agrifood giants Cargill, CHS Inc. and ConAgra, announced Thursday it will buy the former Kraft Milling operation in Mississauga, Ont. from Mondelez Canada for an […] Read more
Ex-Viterra chief to take Ontario’s Hydro One public
The chief executive who morphed Saskatchewan Wheat Pool from a debt-crushed grain handler into Viterra, then oversaw its sale to Glencore, has been tapped to take Ontario’s Crown-owned power utility public. Toronto-based Hydro One on Thursday announced Mayo Schmidt as its new president and CEO effective Sept. 3, replacing Carmine Marcello. “We believe that Mr. […] Read more
Tumour surgery to sideline CN chief
The CEO of Canada’s biggest rail network expects to be off work until late fall for surgery and radiation treatments on a precancerous tumour. Canadian National Railway’s (CN) chief executive Claude Mongeau said Wednesday he expects to have surgery either near the end of this month or early in September, to remove a rare type […] Read more
PHOTOS: Guenther: A few photos from my summer travels
It’s easy to see that Lisa Guenther takes her job as field editor to heart. If driving the provincial highways and rural roads to interview farmers and attend field days earned her “air miles,” there’s a good chance she’d be flying for some time. In this photo gallery, Guenther shares a few photos from some of her travels […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
