ALUS Canada has launched its first program in Quebec, with support from a regional arm of UPA. (CNW Group/ALUS Canada)

ALUS program expands to Quebec

The Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) program has made its move into a sixth province with a new project in Quebec’s Monteregie. ALUS Canada, working with the Monteregie branch of Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), formally launched the program Wednesday at its first Quebec location, a farm near St-Jean-Baptiste, south of St-Hyacinthe. ALUS, in […] Read more

Jean-Claude Poissant, shown here at the opening of Maison ACFA in St-Hyacinthe, is the Liberals’ new parliamentary secretary for agriculture. (ACFAreseaux.qc.ca)

Que. dairyman named parliamentary ag secretary

Canada’s agriculture minister will get a Quebec dairyman and grain farmer turned rookie Liberal MP as his new parliamentary secretary. Jean-Claude Poissant, who won the re-formed Montreal-area riding of La Prairie for the Liberals on Oct. 19 by a spread of almost 5,900 votes over Bloc Quebecois contender Christian Picard, was named Wednesday as parliamentary […] Read more


Treated corn seed. (Syngenta.com)

Quebec heading toward neonic limits on crops

The Quebec government is preparing consultations ahead of a wide legislative swath through the province’s pesticide sector, to limit farmers’ use of neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments and certain other pesticides. Environment Minister David Heurtel on Sunday released the province’s pesticide strategy for 2015 to 2018, mapping out the Couillard government’s plans in those years to […] Read more

Quebec Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis. (MAPAQ.gouv.qc.ca)

Quebec plans new legal status for animals

Quebec’s agriculture minister has tabled a new provincial government bill to raise the legal status of domestic and farmed animals in the province beyond that of “furniture.” Pierre Paradis on Friday introduced Bill 54 in the provincial assembly, with the stated goal of enshrining animals in Quebec’s Civil Code as sentient beings — that is, feeling and […] Read more