General

An interest-free period has been extended for farmers in six provinces to pay back overpayments they received through CAIS or AgriStability. Interest will not be charged on outstanding overpayments until Jan. 1, 2010, a one-year extension from the previously announced date of Jan. 1, 2009. Monday’s announcement applies only to eligible farmers in British Columbia, […] Read more

Co-operatives in rural Canada got loans and credit in 2007 much more readily than their urban counterparts, a new Statistics Canada survey shows. Overall, StatsCan’s survey shows the “vast majority” of co-operatives got all that they requested in new or additional loans, lines of credit or credit cards, but about 20 per cent of co-operatives […] Read more

Prices farmers received for their commodities were down 1.2 per cent in September from August 2008, as both the crops index and the livestock and animal products index fell, according to Statistics Canada. On a year-over-year basis, StatsCan said Wednesday in its farm products price index (FPPI) update, prices received by producers for crops were […] Read more

Canada’s farm population is continuing to get smaller and older according to a recent report by Statistics Canada, based on the 2006 Census. The farm population fell 6.2 per cent from 2001-2006, and now accounts for just 2.2 per cent of all Canadians, compared to 31.7 per cent in 1931, when it was counted for […] Read more

Above-average crop prices, a lower loonie and easing cost pressures are expected to mean “another good year,” from where TD Economics sits, for Canada’s ag sector overall in 2009. This despite the “growing likelihood” of a global economic recession next year, TD Economics forecast in a report released Monday on prospects for Canada’s ag sector […] Read more

(Resource News International) — Not all distillers’ grains are created equally — and the buyers who use the co-product of ethanol in animal feed are willing to price accordingly. Because ethanol production is not an exact science and ethanol plants are not uniformly constructed, nutrient and quality variation in distillers’ grains is always a concern […] Read more

Improved income from primarily crop-producing provinces carried the country’s farmers to an overall increase in realized net farm income in 2007. So say the stats on farm income released Monday by Statistics Canada, pointing to realized net farm income of $2.2 billion, up $1.2 billion or 125.4 per cent from 2006 levels and a rebound […] Read more

Increases in commodity prices and the value of Canada’s dollar, tied to a drop in import prices, boosted purchasing power for most provinces in the last five years, according to Statistics Canada. In a new report released Tuesday, the federal statistics agency found that for all provinces except Prince Edward Island, real gross domestic income […] Read more

Small businesses such as farms are expected to take greater advantage of Canada’s scientific research and experimental development tax credit (SRED) through a streamlined application process. The Canada Revenue Agency on Monday announced a list of changes to the application process, including a more “user-friendly” format for submitting information on a potentially eligible research or […] Read more

Supermarkets in Canada appear to have taken price hikes to “bold new levels” during the third quarter of 2008, but they shouldn’t expect wider margins to last, according to the George Morris Centre. A “think-piece” released Thursday by senior market analyst Kevin Grier points to a seven per cent increase in Statistics Canada’s consumer price […] Read more