Quebec grocer and social movement group team up to deliver CSA produce

The Quebec-based Metro supermarket chain is partnering with the social change organization Equiterre for a pilot project supporting Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). From June to November three of the chain’s stores – in Granby, Joliette and Trois-Rivieres – will serve as a drop off point for produce baskets from operations that are either certified organic […] Read more

East meets West on renewable energy projects

Quebec’s La Coop fédérée has signed an ownership agreement with the most advanced biomass company in Canada, Prairie Bio Energy Inc. (PBE Group). This agreement will make La Coop fédérée the owner of 50 per cent of all intellectual properties possessed by PBE Group. This new partnership will allow La Coop fédérée to become a […] Read more


Small farm, big city

A small farm in the country’s largest city has gotten a new lease on life. Toronto media are reporting a new deal that will keep Riverdale Farm open to the public. It’s a farm and interpretive centre that’s been a long-time draw for young families in Toronto and its future was unclear in light of […] Read more

Ag proficiency in Africa needed to feed world

Helping Africa’s smallholder farmers to increase production and to succeed in farming on their own terms may be key to global food security, an industry expert says. Speaking here Tuesday at the 2012 BASF Agricultural Solutions Media Summit, Chris Mallett, corporate vice-president for research and development with U.S.-based agrifood giant Cargill, said agricultural production must […] Read more


Single CFIA safety model proposed for all food groups

A proposed new food safety model that would "standardize" Canada’s approach to federal food inspection across all commodities and products has been laid out for stakeholder comment. The federal government on Friday released a discussion document proposing a "more effective and efficient food inspection system" that would "standardize requirements and procedures across all food, based […] Read more

Former Sask. ag critic named ag minister in shuffle

Former Sask. ag critic named ag minister in shuffle

Regina-area rancher Lyle Stewart, a former Saskatchewan Party agriculture critic, has been named Saskatchewan’s new agriculture minister in a near-complete cabinet shuffle. Premier Brad Wall’s shuffle on Friday marks a return to cabinet for Stewart, who represents the riding of Thunder Creek and farms and ranches with his family at Pense, about 30 km west […] Read more


Canola, cattle lead rise in gross farm revenues

Farm cash receipts for Canadian farmers totalled $14.4 billion during the first quarter of this year, up 16.9 per cent from the same period in 2011, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday. Farm cash receipts, which include crop and livestock revenues plus program payments, increased in every province except Prince Edward Island (down 2.5 per cent). Increases […] Read more

PotashCorp to cut staff at U.S. phosphate plant

Saskatoon’s PotashCorp plans to cut about 15 per cent of the workforce at its phosphate mine and fertilizer and feed supplement plant in North Carolina through "voluntary separations" and layoffs. "As a company, we never take these decisions lightly," Steve Beckel, general manager of the company’s plant at Aurora, about 70 km southeast of Greenville, […] Read more