A composite satellite view of Hurricane Fiona nearing Nova Scotia at about 6 p.m. local time on Sept. 23, 2022. (U.S. National Hurricane Center image, NOAA.gov)

Nova Scotia to bridge Fiona funding gap for farmers

Provincial program offering up to $400K per farm

Nova Scotia farmers who didn’t qualify for federal disaster financial assistance (DFA) in the wake of Hurricane Fiona last September may be able to get in on a new provincial program instead. The province on Thursday announced $3 million for what it calls the Fiona Agriculture Response Gap Funding program, offering up to $400,000 for […] Read more

Mixed greens are gaining popularity in both menus and markets.

Tips on growing leafy greens indoors

First We Eat: Get a head start on salad days of summer

To most of us, salad is the ultimate summer fare. We wait all year for freshly harvested salad greens, making do through fall, winter and early spring with the robust and sturdy greens of those seasons, but summer means salad. We love the tenderness, the crunch, the colours and the very idea of lettuce. It […] Read more


A submerged and abandoned car is seen in floodwaters near a vineyard after winter storms at Forestville, California on Jan. 13, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Fred Greaves)

California rainstorms fade as death toll reaches 20

Drought to remain an issue for much of state

Reuters — The parade of atmospheric rivers that pounded California for three weeks finally faded on Monday, enabling the state to begin lengthy repairs to roads and levees as the White House announced U.S. President Joe Biden planned to survey the damage. The nine consecutive rainstorms that inundated California in succession since Dec. 26 killed […] Read more

Flooding from the Salinas River forces the closure of a road at Salinas, California on Jan. 12, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Nathan Frandino)

California picks up debris from latest storm, braces for next

Also: Why all this rain won't end California's drought

Sacramento | Reuters — Rain-soaked Californians took advantage of a break in a weeks-long deluge to haul away dead trees, restore downed power lines and prepare new stacks of sandbags before another series of storms hits the state beginning Friday. In Monterey County along the state’s central coast, communities near the still-rising Salinas River were […] Read more


A drone photo from the Sampona commune of Madagascar on Feb. 11, 2022, shows Zebu cattle drinking water from a large puddle created from Cyclone Batsirai. The island nation’s south has been experiencing severe drought for the past four years, putting it in danger of what the World Food Programme calls “the world’s first climate change famine.” (Photo: Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis)

Last year tied as world’s fifth-warmest on record, U.S. scientists say

Global CO2 emissions continue to rise

Brussels | Reuters — Last year was the world’s joint fifth-warmest on record and the last nine years were the nine warmest since pre-industrial times, putting the 2015 Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5 C in serious jeopardy, U.S. scientists said on Thursday. Last year tied with 2015 as the fifth-warmest year […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Farm cash receipts on the rise, StatCan shows

MarketsFarm — Farm cash receipts improved 13.7 per cent during the first three quarters of 2022, Statistics Canada reported Monday. From January to September, those receipts reached $66.7 billion. That increase of more than $8 billion was due to higher receipts for crops, livestock and program payments. The report noted crop receipts rose 7.3 per […] Read more


File photo of a suspension footbridge in Thailand. (Tinnakorn Jorruang/iStock/Getty Images)

Canada to boost defence, cyber security in Indo-Pacific policy

New policy document puts focus on 'disruptive' China

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada launched its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy on Sunday, outlining $2.3 billion in spending to boost military and cyber security in the region and vowed to deal with a “disruptive” China while working with it on climate change and trade issues. The plan detailed in a 26-page document said Canada will tighten […] Read more

Wagyu beef on skewers at a Tokyo market. (Michal_Staniewski/iStock/Getty Images)

Feds pledge agriculture office for Indo-Pacific export support

Ottawa aims to tighten ties with region

Updated Nov. 23 — Canada’s latest round of federal efforts to boost economic ties with the Indo-Pacific region will include its first dedicated agriculture and agri-food office in the region. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tour through the region last week included a pledge of $31.8 million over five years for a regional agriculture office, to […] Read more


File photo of steam rising from the top of a grain dryer. (Diane Kuhl/iStock/Getty Images)

New farm fuel carbon tax rule to return to Commons

Further carbon pricing exemptions clear ag committee, with sunset clause added

A bill that would exempt more farm fuels from Canada’s federal carbon pricing scheme has cleared the Commons’ ag committee and returned to the House of Commons to seek a third and final vote. C-234, a private member’s bill sponsored by southwestern Ontario Conservative MP Ben Lobb, appeared before the Commons’ standing committee on agriculture […] Read more

Gurpreet Lidder, along with family members, operates an 80-acre fruit farm
near the B.C. Southern Interior community of Keremeos, producing a wide
range of fruit through farm gate sales as well as to wholesale markets.

Another excellent crop of young farmer nominees

Horticulture, beef and dairy production, along with conventional and organic crops — a year of diversity

A panel of judges will be faced with a difficult challenge in Saskatoon later this month as they look to select two national winners from a field of seven diverse, well-managed farming operations from across Canada. From tree fruit production to grass-fed beef, mixed farming to organic crop production, and dairy farming to potato production, […] Read more