General

Having bought time from its lenders, organic and natural grocery chain Planet Organic has posted increased sales but a deeper net loss in its fiscal 2009. The Edmonton company, which operates Planet Organic Market, Sangster’s, Healthy’s and Mrs. Green’s Natural Market stores in Canada and the U.S., on Wednesday reported a net loss of $3.31 […] Read more

The company billing itself as Canada’s biggest provider of rural broadband plans to buy space on a new high-throughput satellite to boost its service speed and add capacity for more users. Woodstock, N.B.-based Barrett Xplore announced an agreement “valued in excess of US$100 million” to buy and operate over 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) of […] Read more

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Prices Canadian farmers received for their commodities fell 10.9 per cent in August from the same month a year earlier, as both the crops index and the livestock and animal products index fell. The prices producers received for crops in August were 10.2 per cent lower compared with August 2008, Statistics Canada reported Thursday with […] Read more

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has announced a funding boost for food security programming and research as part of its new Food Security Strategy. CIDA will focus its food security efforts on three priorities: sustainable agriculture development, food assistance and nutrition, and research and innovation, the federal aid agency said in a release Friday. […] Read more

Several Canadian ag industry leaders will be hitting the road for a series of information-sharing mini-tours over the next several months. Farm Credit Canada has scheduled this fall and winter’s series of FCC Learning Tours, which the federal ag lender said are “designed to discuss issues important to agriculture, and deliver practical solutions.” Registration and […] Read more

Still-rising food prices all across Canada helped limit a decline in consumer prices last month compared to September 2008, Statistics Canada reports. The federal statistics agency said Friday that the primary upward pressure on its September 2009 consumer price index (CPI) came from food prices, which rose 2.8 per cent in the previous 12 months.  […] Read more

The Agricultural Institute of Canada (AIC) has convened an influential 10-m ember Advisory Council to help establish a unifying voice for science and agriculture in Canada. “Agriculture and the related sciences and industries can provide solutions to many of the most pressing challenges of the 21st Century, but few Canadians understand this,” said Myles Frosst, […] Read more

The federal government has updated and improved its community information database, in an effort to bolster regional economic development. The Community Information Database (CID) is available free online (www.cid-bdc.ca) and contains 1996, 2001 and 2006 census data which provides a wide range of information, such as population, age, income, employment rate, education, immigration and citizenship, […] Read more

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is again holding a series of annual seminars for professionals that advise farmers. The Farm Tax and Business Seminar for Professional Advisors seminar will be offered in 11 locations across the province this fall. The seminar is also offered as a ‘Webinar” for those interested […] Read more