A sunflower crop north of St. Adolphe, Man. on Sept. 19, 2021. (Dave Bedard photo)

USDA expects canola, sunflowers elsewhere to offset Canada’s shortfalls

MarketsFarm –– Good canola and rapeseed crops in Australia and a number of other parts of the world along with large world sunflower seed production should help offset Canada’s smaller-than-expected production somewhat, according to the December oil crops outlook from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Total global canola/rapeseed production is now forecast by USDA at […] Read more

Comment: Keep your pencil sharp

“The most important tool on the farm is the pencil.” That was the best farming advice Mike Buis ever received, and it came from his grandfather. Buis recently conducted a virtual tour of his family’s Chatham, Ont., beef farm for the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation. Coincidentally, a day or two before the Buis Beef tour, […] Read more





Burger King’s soy- and potato-based Impossible Whopper entered the Ontario market effective March 22, 2021. (CNW Group/Burger King)

Burger King rolls out plant-based Impossible Burger in Canada

Nationwide launch of soy- and potato-based burger set for mid-April

The Canadian arm of quick-service chain Burger King has made its move into the Canadian plant-based burger market, working with U.S. processor Impossible Foods. Burger King, a U.S.-headquartered brand of Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International (RBI) since 2014, said Monday it becomes “the first quick-service restaurant in Canada to put the award-winning, plant-based Impossible Foods patty […] Read more

(GZKele/iStock/Getty Images)

Sunflower seed market falls back to Earth

MarketsFarm — Sunflower growers in Canada took off a bumper crop in 2020, almost hitting the 100,000-tonne mark for the first time since 2010. The forecast for this year’s crop isn’t as sunny. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s latest outlook, released earlier this month, predicts the national sunflower seed crop in 2021 at 75,000 tonnes off […] Read more



Asian giant hornets have noticeably large orange heads and black eyes; worker hornets are about 3.5 cm in length; queens can be up to four to five cm in length, with a wingspan of four to seven cm. (B.C. Ministry of Agriculture)

Two more ‘murder hornets’ turn up on B.C. mainland

One nest found last month in neighbouring U.S. town

Beekeepers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland are asked to keep an eye out for so-called “murder hornets” after two were found in the region within a week. A single Asian giant hornet was found Saturday at Aldergrove, near the intersection of Fraser Highway and Highway 13 — about five km from where […] Read more


Violife’s vegan cheese-substitute lines include cheddar-style slices. (ViolifeFoods.com)

Becel maker Upfield to relocate Ontario plant

Company to make vegan cheese substitutes, other spreads at Brantford

The maker of Becel margarine, Imperial spreads and, most recently, vegan near-cheese Violife plans to boost its Canadian manufacturing capacity with a move from Toronto to Brantford, Ont. The Canadian arm of Amsterdam-based Upfield said Wednesday it has bought a 164,000-square foot industrial building at Brantford and “brings a significant investment involving the purchase of […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Insurance customers’ contact info dropped into MASC email

Crown crop insurance agency warns of privacy breach

A contact list of crop insurance customers at Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. has gone out via email to several dozen of the Crown ag insurance agency’s customers. MASC on Monday said a file containing names and contact information of an unspecified number of AgriInsurance clients was “attached in error” to an email sent last Tuesday […] Read more