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Screenshot from an Alberta Agriculture video profiling Innisfail-based pulse and grain handler W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions. (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry via YouTube)
Crops, Pulses

W.A. Grain enters receivership

Farmers owed money for grain delivered to this company should contact the Canadian Grain Commission

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Alberta-based grain and pulse handler and processor W.A. Grain + Pulse Solutions went into receivership April 26. Farmers who delivered grain to its faculties in Alberta and Saskatchewan but haven’t been paid should contact the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). “We have not commenced a claims process yet,” CGC spokesman Remi Gosselin said in an interview […] Read more
Screenshot from an Alberta Agriculture video profiling Innisfail-based pulse and grain handler W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions. (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry via YouTube)
Crops, Pulses

CGC suspends W.A. Grain’s licences to month-end

The firm, with facilities in Saskatchewan and Alberta, can't buy or sell grain in the interim

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Licences for Prairie grain and pulse handler W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions and its primary elevators in Alberta and Saskatchewan have been suspended by the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). The suspensions took effect at 12:01 p.m. Tuesday, a CGC official said in an interview. “This means for a limited period of time (until April 30) […] Read more
The Canadian Grain Commission building on Main Street in Winnipeg. (File photo)
Crops

Virtual town hall on federal Grain Act set for Friday

Time is running out on consultations, but the April 23 event gives farmers a chance to provide input

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The deadline for submitting comments to the federal government’s review of the Canada Grain Act and Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is April 30, but farmers can also offer feedback at a ‘virtual’ town hall meeting this Friday. The Grain Act and its regulations provide the framework for Canada’s grain quality assurance system and it’s the […] Read more
Winnipeg South Centre MP Jim Carr speaks to the Canadian Crops Virtual Convention on March 2, 2021. (CCVC video screengrab)
Crops, Machinery, Weather

Carbon tax rebate on grain drying fuels coming

Jim Carr reiterates Bibeau's pledge from last week

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Farmers can expect a rebate on carbon taxes paid on fuels used to dry grain, Jim Carr, the federal cabinet’s special representative for the Prairies, told the Canadian Crops Virtual Convention on Tuesday. However, he didn’t provide any details. “There is promising news on this front,” Carr told the meeting, hosted by the Canola Council […] Read more
(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)
Crops

Prairie farm slapped with plant breeders’ rights infringement penalties

Farmers need to know who they are buying seed from to avoid potentially significant costs

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Infringing on Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) has cost a large southern Alberta farm a record $737,597. “The settlement relates to unauthorized advertisements and sales of PBR-protected barley and wheat varieties,” Alliance Seed, SeCan and an unnamed seed company said in a news release Wednesday. The settlement “includes the royalties, plus legal fees and penalties,” Todd […] Read more
(Canest-transit.ca)
Crops, Markets, Pulses

Push on to prevent strike at Port of Montreal

A work stoppage that could start March 20 would disrupt containerized grain exports

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Ottawa needs to act now to prevent a strike March 20 that would stop containerized grain from being exported from the Port of Montreal, says Jeff English, vice-president of marketing and communications at Pulse Canada. “This is something we can see off in the distance, but we are going to be there before you know […] Read more
A container terminal at the Port of Vancouver. (FangXiaNuo/E+/Canada)
Crops

Grain handler group seeks Vancouver port governance overhaul

The WGEA, whose members ship most of Western Canada's grain, complain the port is in a conflict of interest as both developer and regulator

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Vancouver, Canada’s biggest port and the most important to Western Canada’s economy, needs major changes in how it operates, the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) says. As a statutory monopoly the port authority is both a port developer and regulator putting it in a conflict of interest, according to WGEA executive director Wade Sobkowich. “We […] Read more
(Glacier FarmMedia Network photo)
General

Provinces’ feet held to fire on AgriStability

Ministers' meeting co-chairs push for progress to allow changes to be made retroactive for 2020

By ,
The co-chairs of Canada’s agriculture ministers’ meeting are pushing to get proposed improvements to AgriStability in place sooner than later. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her Ontario counterpart, Ernie Hardeman, “urge all provincial and territorial ministers to support the proposed changes to the AgriStability program,” they said in a joint statement Tuesday. At a […] Read more
File photo of Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaking to media in Winnipeg in March 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)
Crops

Bibeau says government committed to federal plant breeding

Seed royalty consultations stalled

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The Canadian government is committed to plant breeding, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told members of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation on Tuesday. Some farmers and seed industry officials suspect Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) variety development work, along with many other programs, will be on the chopping block post-COVID-19 as the government tackles its […] Read more
(Fentino/E+/Getty Images)
Crops, Machinery

Bibeau promises help to farmers on rising carbon tax

Funds expected to help farmers cut emissions

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A steadily rising carbon tax has a lot of Western Canada’s grain farmers wondering how they’ll compete in world markets against competitors not subjected to a similar tax. “I think the world market is also looking towards a greener economy and always more sustainable agriculture,” federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said when the question was […] Read more

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