Farmers tending feeder hogs, fed cattle and big game animals such as elk, red deer, bison and wild boar in Quebec can expect $21.8 million in AgriRecovery to compensate for COVID-19’s drag on the province’s slaughter capacity. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her Quebec counterpart Andre Lamontagne on Thursday announced their governments’ respective 60-40 […] Read more
Set-aside funded for Quebec hog, cattle, big game producers
Feds, province pledge $21.8 million AgriRecovery plan
Saskatchewan to incentivize rural vet techs
Remote learning, loan forgiveness on offer
Saskatchewan plans to clear a few new paths for veterinary technologists and veterinarians in training to take up work in underserved rural areas. The province on Tuesday announced the two-year registered veterinary technologist program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic will offer a distance delivery option, starting this fall, for vet techs to train in rural and remote […] Read more
Cargill shuts Ontario chicken plant against COVID
Other packers being sought to take birds
Agrifood firm Cargill is seeking slaughter space for Ontario chickens at other processors after temporarily closing its London poultry packing plant Tuesday against an outbreak of COVID-19 among workers. The company said Tuesday it was “taking this step out of an abundance of caution as our local workforce deals with the community-wide impacts of COVID-19.” […] Read more
Compensation programs hatched for feather sectors
On-farm investment, market development plans on deck
Long-awaited programs to make up for market share lost to imports under the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact are set to roll out to Canada’s chicken, egg and turkey farmers. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and caucus colleagues on Tuesday announced the specific contents of her previously-pledged $691 million, 10-year compensation funding envelope: a Poultry and Egg […] Read more
Agropur to shut Winnipeg fluid milk plant
Work to be consolidated in B.C., Alberta
Dairy co-operative Agropur will consolidate its fluid milk production for Western Canada further west this fall, as it moves to shut its operation in Winnipeg. The Quebec-based co-operative announced Tuesday it will close its Winnipeg fluid milk plant effective Sept. 24 — affecting 48 jobs — and transfer that work to plants at Edmonton, Victoria […] Read more
Montreal longshoremen to strike on weekends
Exporters again call for feds to step in
Exporters of Canadian crops and other goods have amped up calls for federal intervention after longshore workers at the Port of Montreal declared a “partial” strike affecting weekend and overtime work. The Syndicat des debardeurs du port de Montreal (SCFP/CUPE Local 375) said Saturday they had filed 72 hours’ strike notice, to take effect Tuesday […] Read more
On-farm cybersecurity campaign gets backing
Glacier FarmMedia to link up with federally-funded project
A campaign to assess, reinforce and promote cybersecurity across Canada’s ag sector — partly through this website and its sister publications and events — has been tapped to receive multi-year federal funding. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on March 25 announced over $500,000 over four years through the federal Cyber Security Co-operation Program for the […] Read more
Manitoba’s education tax phase-out begins
Budget pledges a 25 per cent rebate cheque in 2021; existing farmland school tax rebate to be reduced
Manitoba’s latest budget follows through on a move the government telegraphed in last fall’s throne speech, by starting a phased removal of education tax on farm and residential properties. Finance Minister Scott Fielding’s budget, released Wednesday, calls for about $248 million in education tax rebates in 2021 alone for about 658,000 property owners. Owners of […] Read more
Saskatchewan to pare school tax mill rate for farmland
EPT mill rates to rise for residential, other properties
Saskatchewan’s latest budget taps down the education property tax (EPT) mill rate it sets on farmland, while raising those mill rates on other property classes. The provincial government, in Tuesday’s budget, set the provincewide EPT mill rate on agricultural land for 2021 at 1.36, down slightly from the previous rate of 1.43. EPT mill rates […] Read more
Alberta ag lender drops rural business loans
AFSC not taking new applications for program
A program offering term loans to small- and medium-sized businesses in rural Alberta is off the provincial ag lending agency’s menu. Alberta’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) announced Thursday it had discontinued its Rural Business Loan Program effective immediately, so as to “concentrate its efforts on agricultural producers and agribusinesses.” The decision means no new […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
