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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
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
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
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
General

Provinces’ feet held to fire on AgriStability

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

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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
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
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
Crops, Spring Wheat

CWB class-action suit a step closer to litigation

Manitoba Court of Appeal overrules lower court, allows case to seek certification

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A proposed class-action lawsuit against the federal government and G3, alleging millions of dollars of farmers’ money was improperly used to privatize the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) in 2012, is a step closer to certification and litigation, says Stewart Wells, chair of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, which is backing the suit. The […] Read more
General, Markets, Weather

AgriStability proposal could have hidden cost, Pedersen warns

Manitoba's ag minister warns Bibeau's plan may hurt crop insurance, AgriInvest funding

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Ottawa’s proposal for an improved AgriStability program could give farmers short-term gain for long-term pain, Manitoba’s agriculture minister Blaine Pedersen warns. At the online federal-provincial-territorial agriculture ministers’ meeting on Friday, federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau proposed dropping AgriStability’s maximum reference margin, and increasing the compensation rate from 70 to 80 per cent retroactively this […] Read more
Crops

Beware of Kazakhs wanting to buy seed, agency says

Seed growers and farmers alike are being warned such sales breach breeders' rights rules

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Western Canadian seed growers, seed retailers and commercial farmers are being urged not to sell seed to Kazakhs or their agents because it breaches plant breeders’ rights rules. “The basic fact is no Canadian breeder has given permission for their genetics to go to Kazakhstan,” Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, […] Read more

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