Buhler relaunches Versatile tractor brand

A storied brand name in the Canadian farm tractor business is coming out from under other companies’ logos for the first time in about 20 years. Winnipeg’s Buhler Industries, makers of the Buhler Versatile and Genesis tractor lines, officially announced Thursday that Versatile will be the only brand associated with Buhler’s tractor division, which until […] Read more

Ag drops back in Scotiabank commodity index

Scotiabank’s agricultural commodity price index lost “significant ground” in September alongside “broad-based” declines in wheat, barley, canola and livestock prices. The bank’s Scotia Economics wing reported on Tuesday that its overall Commodity Price Index lost ground for the second consecutive month in September, dropping back 6.8 per cent month over month. While still 24.5 per […] Read more


Farmland values keep rising: FCC

Values of Canadian farmland on average kept rising in the first half of 2008, with a percentage increase of 5.8 per cent over the second half of 2007, Farm Credit Canada said in its latest Farmland Values report. Based on its list of 245 benchmark properties across the country, the federal farm finance agency said […] Read more

Expect changes to organic standard: OMAFRA

Canada’s organic farmers will want to watch for revisions to the planned “Canada Organic” standard between now and its delayed implementation at the end of June next year. Hugh Martin, organic crops production program lead for Ontario’s ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs (OMAFRA) in Guelph, said in a newsletter to organic producers this […] Read more


Ag incumbents in, farm leaders out

Barring a major shuffle of cabinet and critic responsibilities, Tuesday’s federal election will have changed little in terms of who handles the agriculture and agri-food file in Ottawa. But Tuesday didn’t go nearly as well for a number of well-known farm leaders looking to break into the federal political scene. In unofficial results Tuesday night, […] Read more

Farm Business Communications earns 11 at CFWF

Farm Business Communications came away with 11 national awards Saturday at the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation awards banquet in Courtenay, B.C. The Farm Business Communications division, based in Winnipeg and owned by Vancouver’s Glacier Ventures International, operates this website and is publisher of Country Guide, Grainews, Canadian Cattlemen, the Manitoba Co-operator, Alberta Farmer Express and […] Read more


Canada’s farms still largely Tory blue: poll

A new poll by Ipsos Forward Research before the Oct. 14 election puts Canadian farmers’ support for the federal Conservatives at 59 per cent overall, well ahead of the pack but still down six points from 2006. The poll, conducted online from Aug. 22 to Sept. 6 with 856 members of “Producers’ Perspectives: The Ipsos […] Read more

Bloc eyes income stability in ag platform

Tax breaks, boosts to ag income stabilization and, as expected, a defense of supply management are among the planks in the Bloc Quebecois’ agricultural platform for the Oct. 14 federal election. Joined by six other Bloc candidates, party leader Gilles Duceppe and the BQ caucus’ ag critic, Andre Bellavance, outlined the party’s ag platform Friday […] Read more


NDP goes green in ag platform

Funding for organic farming, “green” farming, farmer co-ops and farm safety nets are on Jack Layton’s to-fund list in the New Democratic Party’s new agriculture platform. NDP leader Layton released the party’s full platform Sunday in Toronto, with just over two weeks before a federal election. Among other points, the NDP’s platform proposes a series […] Read more

Credit crunch not yet hitting Canadian ag

(Resource News International) — Western Canadian farmers looking to buy some new land, improve their equipment or simply make ends meet until the next year’s harvest don’t yet appear to have run into problems securing credit. However, an executive with federal ag lender Farm Credit Canada said Monday, if the global financial crisis escalates or […] Read more