General

Skid-steer maker Bobcat Co. and snowmobile and ATV maker Polaris Industries have signed on for a “long-term strategic alliance” that will ultimately include co-development of new equipment. The agreement, announced last week, is meant to “leverage the complementary strengths of both companies to penetrate work-related market segments globally.” “Initially, Polaris will produce and sell highly […] Read more

Getting farmers and their workers to anticipate both the risks in a given task and the equipment they need to protect themselves on that job are the twin goals of Canadian Agricultural Safety Week. The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), working with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), the federal agriculture department, Farm Credit Canada […] Read more

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has issued farmers a gentle reminder that their old Net Income Stabilization Accounts (NISA) will be closed by the end of this month. AAFC began winding down NISA accounts in March 2004 as the program was replaced by the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program. NISA accounts were closed to further […] Read more

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz plans a series of roundtable meetings this week with farmers in four provinces to discuss the design of Ottawa’s new agricultural flexibility program. The government’s budget in January earmarked $500 million to fund an ag flexibility program, which it said will involve working with the provinces to “meet unique regional […] Read more

A new industry outlook report by the Conference Board of Canada finds Canada’s food manufacturers “largely recession-proof,” as people still have to eat, recession or not. Even with a worldwide economic slowdown limiting growth, food firms’ profits are predicted as nearing the record highs seen in 2008, the board said in a release Wednesday. “Demand […] Read more

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture has elected farm leaders from Ontario and British Columbia as its new first and second vice-presidents. Cattle producer Ron Bonnett of Bruce Mines, Ont. was elected first vice-president after being defeated in the CFA’s first contested election for president since 1985. Former Union des producteurs agricoles president Laurent Pellerin is […] Read more

Four railcars of South Dakota sorghum headed north for Canadian buyers may not seem like much, but the U.S. Grains Council considers it the first knock of opportunity. “Realistically, this is a small amount of U.S. sorghum but it is a great beginning,” said Dan Keefe, the USGC’s manager of international operations for distillers’ dried […] Read more

The former head of Quebec’s main farm organization has been elected president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. Laurent Pellerin, who until now was the CFA’s first vice-president, was elected to the post Wednesday during the CFA’s annual general meeting in Ottawa, defeating Ron Bonnett, the CFA’s second vice-president and a former president of the […] Read more

Market receipts for Canadian farmers from the sale of crops and livestock totalled $41.8 billion in 2008, up 14.2 per cent from a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported Monday. When government program payments are included, total cash receipts for 2008 amounted to $45.9 billion, the federal statistics agency said. Receipts for crop producers increased 25.6 […] Read more

A new work plan for the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) — a group of four provinces and seven states looking to reduce greenhouse gases — includes studying whether farming will fit into its plans for a cap-and-trade offset system. The WCI, whose member provinces include Quebec, Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia, along with Saskatchewan as […] Read more