Antitrust regulators in both Canada and the U.S. have fixed their seals of official inaction on ketchup giant H.J. Heinz’s play for control of Kraft Foods Group. Canada’s Competition Bureau has confirmed that it wrapped its review of the proposed deal and issued its “no action” letter to the companies on Wednesday. A “no action” […] Read more
Canadian, U.S. regulators clear Heinz and Kraft merger
GPS firm buys sprayer boom control maker NORAC
Saskatoon tech firm NORAC Systems, best known today for its automated boom height control systems for field sprayers, is set to become part of a major U.S. GPS systems firm. California-based Topcon Positioning Group announced Wednesday it will buy NORAC for an undisclosed sum, as the latest of Topcon’s recent plays in the precision ag […] Read more
Richardson buying bigger margarine market share
Prairie grain and agrifood firm Richardson International is going long on shortening with a deal for major Canadian margarine firm Golden Gate. Privately-held, Winnipeg-based Richardson is no stranger to the margarine business as the owner of the Canola Harvest brand, having bought Canbra Foods in 1999 and Innovative Foods in 2011. Owned and operated by […] Read more
Some timetables loosen as Ont. neonic limits become law
Ontario’s corn and soybean growers and seed dealers will have slightly more time to manage some of their new duties as the province’s limits on neonicotinoid pesticides become legally binding. Ontario’s environment ministry on Tuesday announced its new provincial regulations — with a handful of changes from the draft legislation first published in March — […] Read more
Premises ID now online for Sask. livestock producers
Saskatchewan’s premises ID (PID) system for livestock producers has officially gone online, the provincial and federal ag ministries announced Monday. While the province’s livestock commodity groups and provincial ag ministry have so far helped about 1,400 producers register their operations, the new system will allow producers to sign up, log in and make changes to […] Read more
CFIA declares B.C. avian flu-free
With three months’ distance from the cleanup at the last of the province’s infected poultry barns, the federal government has declared British Columbia free of highly pathogenic avian flu. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Monday it had notified the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) that B.C. is considered free of notifiable avian influenza, […] Read more
Syngenta rejects Monsanto’s break fee offer
Monsanto’s offer of a US$2 billion break fee if it can’t get regulatory approval for a merger with crop biotech and ag chem rival Syngenta has been rejected. The offer, made in a letter from St. Louis-based Monsanto on Saturday, “represents the same inadequate price, same inadequate regulatory undertakings to close, same regulatory risks and same […] Read more
Time to test all Man. fields for clubroot, province says
Distribution of clubroot spores across Manitoba now suggests it’s time for more widespread testing to keep the disease in check, the provincial ag department recommends. Since the disease appeared in Manitoba in 2009, fewer than five per cent of the province’s farms have so far been tested for the spores that cause the yield-robbing disease […] Read more
Sask. producer car loader firm owners approve AGT bid
Shareholders in a western Saskatchewan producer car loading firm have approved a deal to sell their loading sites to Regina pulse processor AGT Food and Ingredients for $22 million. AGT announced Tuesday it has completed its deal, announced in April, to buy the bulk loading assets from Eston, Sask.-based West Central Road and Rail. The […] Read more
CWB’s chosen suitor weighs West Coast terminal idea
The new Prairie grain player tapped to take a majority stake in the former Canadian Wheat Board is now considering the possibility of its own port terminal. Bunge Canada and Saudi-owned crown corporation SALIC Canada, in their joint venture G3 Global Holdings, have agreed to a separate joint venture with West Coast port logistics firm […] Read more
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