The federal government will extend the Agri-Food Pilot until May 14, 2025. Launched in May 2020, the pilot program is designed to facilitate the transition of agricultural and food industry workers to permanent residency in Canada. Recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce is key to success for Canadian farmers and food processors, the government says.... Read More
Category: News
Alberta has declared a state of emergency as several wildfires burn across the province. As of late Sunday night, nearly 30,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. The province says there are currently 88 active wildfires in the Forest Protection Area, 25 of which are classified as out of control. (Editor's note: this number... Read More
A European corn borer (ECB) population in part of eastern Canada appears to have developed resistance to a Bt protein commonly used in North American corn hybrids for preventing damage from the pest. On April 27th, the Canadian Corn Pest Coalition reported a sample of ECB collected near Truro, Nova Scotia, showed reduced susceptibility to... Read More
Last year, spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food set out to better understand the impact of international volatility on grain and other commodity markets and the possible need for global aid. Following that process, the Committee then decided to look further in to global food insecurity, by starting... Read More
Several government departments, consultations, and decisions are converging to clear a path for gene-editing technology to be approved as a breeding technique for conventional crops. That's right, if the last hurdle can be cleared — approval of gene-edited plants for livestock feed — a variety or cultivar produced with gene-editing techniques would be considered non-novel... Read More
The Flax Council of Canada has a new president, as Rick Mitzel has been named to the post, effective immediately. Mitzel replaces Wayne Thompson, who has moved on to serve as executive director at the Western Grains Research Foundation. Mitzel will continue his role as executive director of Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission and CEO of... Read More
If a farm has the capacity to buy land, it's often stymied by the lack of land for purchase, not an unwillingness to take on the work or the debt. It's still surprising to learn that about 40 per cent of land being farmed in Canada is being rented, according to Farm Credit Canada (FCC).... Read More
Statistics Canada is reviewing the timing of its traditional April seeding intentions report, after making a major change to the way it compiled data for the report this year. The seeding intentions report for 2023, released last week, was based on a farmer survey conducted from December 12, 2022, to January 14, 2023. Historically, the... Read More
Capturing carbon is one thing, but as many farmers are aware, quantifying the amount of carbon being sequestered can be a tricky feat. Hebert Grain Ventures (HGV), of Fairlight, Sask., has joined the Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agriculture (CANZA), and will work with researchers from the University of Saskatchewan on a national case study. The... Read More
Water, water, water — in this episode of Wheat Pete's Word, the topic of water comes up several times. From ancient lakes, to wet weather, to the erosive power of water, to mixing order for spray solution, water is a hot topic this week. Also on this week's Word, host Peter Johnson says nay to... Read More