(CBSA via YouTube)

Ontario police charge seven with trafficking, exploiting migrants

Workers provided for farms and other sites, police say

Toronto | Reuters — Ontario’s York Regional Police have charged seven people with trafficking and exploiting 64 Mexican migrants, saying the accused were part of an international labour trafficking ring operating in the Toronto region. Police in Ontario said on Friday they had obtained information in November that migrant men and women were being exploited […] Read more

Forecast probability of temperature above, below and near normal (calibrated) for the period of March, April and May 2023. (Map by Environment and Climate Change Canada)

‘Normal’ spring ahead for most of the Prairies

Below-normal rains expected for southern Alberta, western Saskatchewan

MarketsFarm — Canada’s Prairies are looking at normal temperatures over the next month to three months, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). The federal department on Tuesday issued its temperature and precipitation probabilistic forecasts, which also called for normal precipitation for most of the region. “The forecast is really neutral for the Prairies, […] Read more


External view of the U.S. Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 30, 2020. (File photo: Reuters/Andrew Kelly)

U.S. to crack down on child labour amid massive uptick

Food processing plants among alleged offenders

Washington | Reuters — The Biden administration in the U.S. announced measures to crack down on child labour on Monday amid a steep rise in violations and investigative reports by Reuters and other news outlets on illegal employment of migrant minors in dangerous industries. U.S. officials said the Labor Department had seen a nearly 70 […] Read more

A composite satellite view of Hurricane Fiona nearing Nova Scotia at about 6 p.m. local time on Sept. 23, 2022. (U.S. National Hurricane Center image, NOAA.gov)

Nova Scotia to bridge Fiona funding gap for farmers

Provincial program offering up to $400K per farm

Nova Scotia farmers who didn’t qualify for federal disaster financial assistance (DFA) in the wake of Hurricane Fiona last September may be able to get in on a new provincial program instead. The province on Thursday announced $3 million for what it calls the Fiona Agriculture Response Gap Funding program, offering up to $400,000 for […] Read more


File photo of a migrating flock of snow geese in Canada. (Pchoui/iStock/Getty Images)

Flu experts gather with H5N1 risk on the agenda

Threat to humans from current strain seen as low

London | Reuters — The world’s leading experts on influenza met this week to discuss the threat posed to humans by a strain of H5N1 avian flu that has caused record numbers of bird deaths around the world in recent months. The group of scientists, regulators and vaccine manufacturers meets twice a year to decide […] Read more

File photo of wild birds in flight over a lake in Uruguay. (Paz Roca/iStock/Getty Images)

More South American nations report bird flu cases

Brazil still remains free of contagion

Sao Paulo | Reuters — The confirmation of more bird flu cases in South America raised alarm bells in Brazil, which remains free of contagion even after its close neighbours Argentina and Uruguay confirmed cases there on Wednesday. In a press conference to discuss the global sanitary hazard, Brazilian Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro said Brazil, […] Read more


(Splendens/iStock/Getty Images)

Canada withdraws proposed measures banning certain rifles, shotguns

Critics said plan was unfair to farmers, hunters

Reuters — Canada has withdrawn proposed amendments to gun legislation that would have banned certain types of rifles and shotguns, the government said on Friday, after opponents alleged the prohibitions unfairly targeted farmers and hunters. The amendments were added to a gun control package that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government introduced last year after the […] Read more

Dr. Digvir Jayas. (University of Manitoba photo)

Acclaimed Manitoba stored grain researcher now Alberta bound

Digvir Jayas named president at University of Lethbridge

A leading Canadian researcher and expert in safe storage of grain is headed westbound and up to the head office at another Prairie university. Dr. Digvir Jayas, currently on sabbatical as professor and vice-president (research and international) at the University of Manitoba, will become president and vice-chancellor at the University of Lethbridge effective July 1 […] Read more


File photo of a provincial border marker in Lloydminster. (Michele Gervais/iStock/Getty Images)

Borderline city hosts interprovincial food trade pilot

Trade barrier on pause for two years for food businesses serving Lloydminster

The idea of loosening interprovincial trade in certain foods made by provincially-inspected processors will get a major test in one of Canada’s very few province-crossing municipalities. The Saskatchewan, Alberta and federal governments on Jan. 19 announced the start of a two-year pilot project within the limits of Lloydminster, a city of over 31,000 people straddling […] Read more

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari speaks at the Dakar summit under the theme “Nourrir l’Afrique” (Feed Africa) hosted by the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission on Jan. 25, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Ngouda Dione)

Development partners commit US$30 billion to food production in Africa

Continent facing record-level hunger

Dakar | Reuters — Development partners have committed US$30 billion to boost food production in Africa over the next five years, the president of the African Development Bank said on Friday at the close of a summit on food security on the continent. The continent is facing its worst food crisis ever, with more than […] Read more