Historic global trade deal on ice as Cuba holds out

Ministers appeared close to sealing the world’s biggest trade reform for two decades early on Saturday but a last-gasp objection from Cuba forced an overnight halt, leaving the World Trade Organization four votes short of a final victory. Earlier a major obstacle was overcome when India, the most vocal holdout, endorsed a draft text presented […] Read more

Global food prices seen flat in November

Global food prices were little changed in November after a rise the month before, but were down 4.4 per cent from a year earlier, the United Nations’ food agency said on Thursday, forecasting stable or declining prices in coming months. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which measures monthly price changes for a […] Read more


Kubota makes play for Canadian hay tools market

Canadian hay growers in the market for new mowers, rakes or spreaders will see a new player on some dealer lots next year. The Canadian arm of Japanese ag equipment maker Kubota has announced it will launch a new line of Kubota-branded hay tools in Canada in 2014. Norwegian farm equipment manufacturer Kverneland, which Kubota […] Read more

January-to-September farm cash receipts up: StatsCan

Manitoba’s recovery from a 2011 drought, improved potato marketings in New Brunswick and changes in payment timing for Prairie wheat have helped boost farm cash receipts in the first three quarters of this year, Statistics Canada reports. Farm cash receipts for Canadian farmers totalled $39.9 billion between January and September, up 1.9 per cent from […] Read more





Brazil confirms spike in Amazon deforestation

Deforestation in the Amazon increased by nearly a third over the past year, according to Brazilian government figures released Thursday, confirming a feared reversal in what had been steady progress over the past decade against destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. Satellite data for the 12 months through the end of July showed that deforestation […] Read more

Farm Business Communications earns online honours

The web arm of Canadian Cattlemen magazine and the mobile app for Grainews were among the winners at the fifth annual Canadian Online Publishing Awards announced Wednesday in Toronto. CanadianCattlemen.ca earned a silver award for best overall companion website in the Blue (business-to-business, professional association, farm, scholarly) division at the COPA show. Grainews Mobile, meanwhile, […] Read more


Ritz announces proposed changes to Plant Breeders Rights Act

Canada intends to sign onto an international convention to give increased variety protection to plant breeders, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told the Canadian Seed Trade Association’s semi-annual meeting in Winnipeg on Wednesday. Ritz said the government plans to sign on to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants convention (UPOV […] Read more