(Photo: Reuters/Chris Wattie)

Telus’ farm and food sector acquisitions take new shape

Canadian telco giant launches new Telus Agriculture unit

Canadian telco and info tech giant Telus has consolidated its recent — and ongoing — acquisitions in farm tech, ag data management and supply chain management into a single new business unit. The Vancouver company, one of Canada’s “big five” telecommunications firms, on Thursday formally launched Telus Agriculture, billed as “a new business unit dedicated […] Read more

Smoke rises from the site of burning railcars at a CP derailment near Guernsey, Sask., on Feb. 6, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Nayan Sthankiya)

New rail speed limits to be based on temperatures

Railways wanting to run under new limits must develop winter operation plans

Given the odds of weird temperature swings happening somewhere in Canada at any time of year, railways will now instead be required to slow their trains’ speeds based on how cold it is outside at the time, rather than a date range. Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau on Friday announced a new ministerial order meant […] Read more


(Lightguard/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan agriculture minister cruises to election win

NDP's ag critic trailing, with mail-in votes still to come

Another incumbent agriculture minister easily held his seat as Saskatchewan’s governing Saskatchewan Party scored another decisive majority in Monday’s provincial election. David Marit, MLA for the southwestern riding of Wood River since 2016, held his seat by a spread of 5,177 votes over the New Democrats’ challenger, teacher Roger Morgan, with 459 mail-in ballots remaining […] Read more

BMO in May 2020 announced an agreement to sell its 107-year-old downtown Winnipeg building to the Manitoba Metis Federation for use as a new Metis Nation Heritage Centre. (File photo by Dave Bedard)

BMO regroups ag banking business

Ag-focused national banking team put in place

With COVID-19 serving to “accelerate” changes in the industry, BMO Bank of Montreal says it has reset its farm banking work under the oversight of an expanded national agriculture and agribusiness banking team. BMO announced the new team approach Oct. 14, describing it as “a national team of agriculture banking specialists — team members with […] Read more


File photo of a quality control check on fresh peppers in a Canadian vegetable packing plant. (Jeffbergen/E+Getty Images)

Federal program to protect farms, workers from COVID-19 underway

'Highest-risk' farming operations to get priority, Bibeau says

Applications are now open for a federally-administered $35 million emergency on-farm support fund to help limit the impacts of COVID-19 on farms and on-farm workers. Aimed at farm workplaces and employee living quarters, the fund is being managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), but cost-shared with participating producers at a 50-50 level. Money is […] Read more



The White Pass border crossing between Alaska and northwestern British Columbia, about 25 km north of Skagway, Alaska. The proposed A2A line would largely skirt B.C. en route from Alberta to Alaska. (Thierry64/iStock/Getty Images)

Trump-backed Canadian railway to Alaska faces high hurdles

Proponents say line could move grain, fertilizer as well as oil

Winnipeg/Washington | Reuters — A private-sector proposal endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump to build a railway from Canada’s oil sands to ports in Alaska would free landlocked crude but faces numerous steep challenges. Trump wrote on Twitter over the weekend that he would issue a permit for the Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation (A2A Rail) […] Read more

Grain being loaded on a ship at the Hudson Bay port of Churchill in 2015. (MarketsFarm photo by Jade Markus)

First of four vessels arrives in Churchill

MarketsFarm — The first grain vessel of the 2020 shipping season is now at Manitoba’s northern Port of Churchill, according to Murad Al-Katib of the Arctic Gateway Group. “We’ll have an active program on durum wheat and lentils going into the Mediterranean,” said Al-Katib, who’s also CEO of Regina-based AGT Foods, one of the group’s […] Read more


An OFX widget is now available for farmers perusing AgDealer’s online listings. (GFM staff photo)

AgDealer plugs into forex service provider

Listing site to offer currency exchange service on cross-border purchases

Farmers buying used iron internationally by way of AgDealer are getting access to what’s billed as a lower-cost option to handle the currency exchange. AgDealer, Canada’s largest used farm equipment shopper publication and online listing platform, announced a partnership Tuesday with OFX Group, an Australian-based online currency exchange provider. Farmers, distributors and buyers outside of […] Read more

No injuries were reported in the collapse of a grain bin at Fibreco’s Vancouver port terminal on Sept. 11, 2020. (DNV Fire Rescue Service photo via Twitter)

‘Structural failure’ downs Vancouver terminal grain bin

Terminal owner Fibreco, bin maker AGI pledge to investigate

The owner of a new West Coast grain and pulse crop export terminal pledges to investigate the collapse Friday of a new commercial-scale grain bin at its site. Fibreco Export Inc., a wood fibre exporter majority-owned by forest products firm Tolko Industries, said in a release Saturday that “one of our new agricultural product silos […] Read more