It can be easy to think about Canadian grain, canola, soybeans, or meat as just commodities — a product bought and sold, traded, and shipped. And that's true, of course, but those commodities are also eventual meals for Canadian customers, even if those customers live in places such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, or the Philippines.... Read More
Category: Food
Imagine representing the entirety of retailers that do business in Canada. That's the role of the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), led by president and chief executive officer Diane Brisebois. RCC represents 45,000 retail businesses and online merchants, and food is no doubt a big part of that. "Food, on its own, represents more than... Read More
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture is calling on the federal government to resolve the issues with railway blockades, as agriculture sits on a "tipping point" of lost revenue, lost trade, and potentially an animal welfare issue, as propane, once again, is not making its way east. In Quebec, 85 per cent of poultry barns are... Read More
You need only read the titles of his books to know Timothy Caulfield is no stranger to calling out misinformation. Caulfield is Canada's Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, as well as research director of the Health Law Institute at the... Read More
Think about the food future you would like to curate. That's the challenge Michiel Bakker, Google's director of global programs for real estate and workplace services, gave to Canada's Agriculture Day attendees at Ottawa, Ont., this year. "So think about 2050 — what is your dream of what your food future should be from a... Read More
For a company that proclaims its loyalty to Canadian ranchers on the back and sides of its transport trucks, navigating a foray into the plant-based market is going to be somewhat tricky. McDonald's marketing director Jean-Guillaume Bertola fully understands that the company has to strike a balance between adapting menus based on changing consumer preferences,... Read More
Montreal-based dairy processing giant Saputo has announced plans to close facilities at Trenton, Ont., and Saint John, New Brunswick. The company says the closures are "aimed at improving its operational efficiency and right-sizing both its manufacturing footprint and sales force in Canada." The Trenton plant is scheduled to be shut down in September of this... Read More
If 2019 was the year of plant-based protein, perhaps 2020 can be the year of celebrating choice. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, with Dalhousie University, recently spoke at the CropSphere conference at Saskatoon, Sask., about food choices, plant-based protein, and consumer trends. Overall, he says, plant protein made a huge splash in 2019 as evidenced by several... Read More
How is agriculture and food production impacting the planet? Many naysayers believe our farming and food system is taking its toll, linking agriculture to 10 to 15 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, while painting it as a resource hog that gobbles up 40 percent of the earth's land base and 70 percent of its... Read More
The customer is always right, but who is the customer? If you're a grocery store or a coffee shop trying to stay on-trend, is it consumer opinion that matters most, or those of your shareholders, as the pressure for profits rises? "The demands of the average consumer are pretty intuitive — they want affordable, tasty... Read More