Maple Leaf Foods closes $70 million private placement

Maple Leaf Foods has raised $70 million through a ‘private placement’, rather than issuing new stock. The embattled meat packer has suffered recently due to a listeriosis outbreak traced back to their sandwich meat operation that sickened many Canadians and caused a handful of deaths. The move to raise private money resulted in the sale […] Read more

Interest break extended on CAIS repayments

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


Rural co-ops get better credit: survey

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

StatsCan sees crops, livestock prices down

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



TD forecasts “another good year” in farming

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


Consistency in distillers’ grains earns premiums

(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

Farmers’ net income up in 2007

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


Provinces’ buying power rose with commodities

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

SRED tax credit filing simplified: CRA

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