Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, near Niagara, Ontario, will soon feature the largest greenhouse facility of its kind in Canada, thanks to a $10 million investment by the provincial government. Vineland is well known for its work in fruit and vegetable research and development, and recently commercialized Pixie grapes, a one-of-kind, ornamental dwarf grapevine, and… Read More

The Manitoba and federal governments have announced $400,000 for a four-year feed wheat breeding project to be conducted by the farmer-run Western Feed Grain Development Co-op. According to a government news release, the focus of the project will be to “develop new feed wheat varieties that have characteristics such as high yield, flood tolerance, fusarium… Read More

After several months without any new cases, porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus has been found on two hog farms in Manitoba within the last week. The province’s Chief Veterinary Officer on Thursday confirmed Manitoba’s fourth on-farm case in a sow operation in the southeast corner of the province. Just six days earlier, PED was also… Read More

At General Mills’ 86th annual meeting held yesterday in Minneapolis, shareholders voted resoundingly against a proposal to eliminate genetically modified ingredients from its products. The proposal was submitted by Harriett Crosby of Maryland. The proposal cites Goss’ Wilt, Agent Orange, Bt-resistant rootworms and gluten-intolerance induced by glyphosate as some of the reasons to eliminate GMOs. The National… Read More

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz today completed a trade mission to China and India to open new markets for Canadian farmers and agriculture industries. Of particular note, Minister Ritz met with China’s Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu to work to secure permanent access for Canadian live cattle valued by industry at $150 million annually once fully… Read More

Almost a decade after negotiations began, the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement was signed today in Ottawa by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Korean President Park Geun-hye. The deal is expected to help Canadian agricultural exports compete against American exports, as sales of Canadian beef, pork and other commodities have declined since South Korea ratified a similar trade… Read More

The Ontario corn crop’s “slow stagger to maturity” wasn’t helped any last night by an early frost. Lows of -2 degrees C and colder were reported across a large swath of eastern Ontario this morning, though official temps and final area impacted by the frost has yet to be released. (See map below from Weather… Read More

Cervus Equipment Corp. has announced a deal to buy another four John Deere dealerships in Alberta. The company has entered into an agreement to acquire all of the shares of Evergreen Equipment Ltd., which owns Deere outlets at Bassano, Brooks, Drumheller and Hanna. “Signing of this Definitive Agreement demonstrates Cervus’ continued opportunities for growth with John… Read More