General

“The correlation between poverty and obesity can be traced to agricultural policies and subsidies.” — Michael Pollan, award-winning U.S. writer and intellectual. It is the ultimate modern paradox. On the one hand, agricultural subsidy stabilizes food supply, has fuelled green revolutions the world over, and has delivered sustainable farming systems. But on the other, it […] Read more

Realized net farm income, the difference between a farmer’s cash receipts and operating expenses minus depreciation, plus income in kind, fell 11.2 per cent to $3.3 billion in 2009, according to Statistics Canada. It was the first decrease since 2006 and was the result of declining program payments, grain, cattle and hog receipts, and increases […] Read more

New federal legislation will lay out cash penalties for provinces, and for the federal government itself, against violations of the provinces’ Agreement on Internal Trade. The Improving Trade Within Canada Act (ITCA), introduced Thursday in the House of Commons, would impose penalties of up to $5 million for non-compliance with AIT obligations, the government said. […] Read more

Federal, state and local subsidies to U.S. farms continue to stymie a meaningful global trade pact and account for well over half of total U.S. farmgate revenues, according to the latest report from a well-known Ottawa trade consultancy. The “labyrinth” of ag programs, worth US$180.8 billion in 2009 according to a “conservatively estimated” number from […] Read more

Ottawa lawyer and former Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) chief Ronald Doering has been tapped to chair a new ministerial advisory board on food safety and other CFIA-related issues. The new board, drawn from a “diverse range of experts from the food, animal and plant health sectors,” is expected to advise federal Agriculture Minister Gerry […] Read more

Funeral services will be held Saturday in Regina for farm journalist, author and former Country Guide editor Don Baron, best known as a vocal critic of regulation in the Prairie grain industry. Baron, according to his obituary Wednesday in Regina’s Leader-Post, died “peacefully” Nov. 13 of unspecified causes. His funeral is scheduled for Nov. 20 […] Read more

A nationwide print and online resource for farmers seeking equipment will join the Farm Business Communications ag publishing house. DirectWest, the phone book publishing arm of Saskatchewan’s Crown-owned phone company SaskTel, announced Thursday it will sell iDeal Publishing Solutions of Ottawa to Farm Business Communications. iDeal publishes seven provincial editions of AgDealer (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, […] Read more

Canada’s four western provinces say they’ve won a renewed interprovincial trade challenge against Ontario’s limits on products blending vegetable oils with dairy. The challenge, launched in March and spearheaded by the Alberta government, is the first to be heard under a new Chapter 17 dispute resolution process for Canadian provinces’ Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). […] Read more

Health Canada and Canada’s biggest food industry association will spearhead a new campaign to educate consumers on the use of prepared foods’ “Nutrition Facts” tables. The federal health department and Toronto-based Food and Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC) said Friday they will roll out a multi-media Nutrition Facts Education Campaign to focus on “increasing Canadians’ […] Read more