Ag News

National leaders of all federal political parties took part in the first day of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture's AGM.

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh from the NDP, the Green Party’s Elizabeth May, Yves-Francois Blanchet from the Bloc Quebecois and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre addressed CFA delegates.

Pierre Poilievre told delegates that the Trudeau government is increasing the cost of farm production.

Politics took center stage on Monday as the Canadian Federation of Agriculture kicked off their Annual General Meeting.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the group and took time for a question and answer session.

In his address to the group he referenced what he said is misinformation around the government's fertilizer emission reduction target.

The Prairie Grain Development Committee held its annual meeting in Banff last week.

Committees evaluated potential new breeding variety lines and recommended the best of the best for registration.

This year the Pulse and Special Crops Committee recommended 16 new lentil lines, 13 pea lines, 5 faba bean and 5 dry bean lines for registration.

Dr. Glen Hawkins, a Senior Manager and Agronomist with DL Seeds, chairs that committee and says there's some great potential coming forward.

CP's vice president of sales and marketing for grain and fertilizer Joan Hardy says CP continues to move very strong levels of grain for its customers. 

"In February, we moved over 2 million metric tons of Canadian grain and grain products. The second-highest February in our history, very nearly meeting the record that we set in February of 2021. We were within one train load of breaking that February 2021 record."

She notes total grain movement for February 2023 was 2.045 million metric tonnes, compared to 2.058 million metric tonnes in February of 2021.

The Winnipeg-based plant protein company was placed into receivership on Wednesday, March 1st.

The company's lenders Farm Credit Canada and Export Development Canada filed an application for the appointment of a receiver.

In 2019, Merit Functional Foods Corporation was developed as a joint venture between Burcon ( a global technology leader in the development of plant-based proteins) and three other investors.

The goal for Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month (CALM) is to encourages students to learn about and celebrate Canada's agriculture and food story.

To kick things off yesterday, Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced up to $415,000 in support for Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITC-C).

She says to build the next generation of agricultural producers, we must inform and inspire Canadian youth. 

Growers have been busy over the winter evaluating their options when it comes to this year's cropping decisions.

Despite a late start to seeding in 2022, it was a good year for Manitoba's Pulse and Soybean growers. 

Executive Director Daryl Domitruk says soybean acreage was down because of the wet conditions, but we saw some exceptional soybean yields, the dry bean crop had good yield and quality last year, while the pea crop was mixed.

He says farmers are hoping for a decent start for this year.

PIC CEO Bill Gruel says they are now accepting Expressions of Interest for new projects.

He says there are four key areas of focus from genetics development to crop development, ingredients and products.

"We're really looking for projects in what we would call the ingredient and food space. So, ingredient manufacturers that are looking to develop new and novel technologies, or improve the efficiency of existing technologies and working with food companies or industrial feed companies or bioproducts as well."

Dry conditions across many areas of the prairies have had a major impact on farmers and ranchers 

One province that has really taken a hit over the last few years has been Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association board chair Keith Day says they have been working with cattle producers to raise concerns with decision-makers about the challenges that the industry has been facing and continues to face.

A 59-year-old man from Wheatland County is facing a long list of charges.

In November of last year, reports came in regarding a man who was slaughtering sick and injured cattle, selling uninspected meat and then unlawfully disposing of the dead cattle.

Alberta Agriculture Inspections and Investigation Section (IIS), Wheatland County and the RCMP Livestock Investigation Unit (LIU) were involved in the arrest and shutting down of the operation.