Eastern Ontario MP Guy Lauzon has been named to the post of Parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture and agri-food, Gerry Ritz. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement today amid a shuffle of secretary assignments. Parliamentary secretaries are members of Parliament who assist the sitting minister in his or her portfolio. Lauzon is […] Read more
Ont. MP named ag secretary in shuffle
Menu Foods restructures as costs pile up
Toronto pet food maker Menu Foods plans a round of restructuring and cost-cutting to recover from its major product recalls this spring. The company, a major North American producer of “wet” pet foods sold under in-house supermarket and grocery store labels, said today that it’s revised the estimated cost of recalling products made between last […] Read more
N.B. launches “buy local” initiative
New Brunswick’s provincial government will put $210,000 into a new campaign to encourage residents to buy local foods. Agriculture Minister Ron Ouelette today announced the Agri-Food Market Development Program, which will accept funding applications from “agri-food businesses” to help them boost their profiles among consumers within the province. Applications for funds will be accepted under […] Read more
Nufarm to sell Achieve Liquid Gold
Nufarm will take over marketing of Syngenta’s Achieve Liquid Gold herbicide in Western Canada, the companies announced Tuesday. Achieve Liquid Gold is a tank mix of Syngenta’s graminicide Achieve (Group 1) and Bayer CropScience’s Buctril M (Groups 4 and 6). (Nufarm also markets a generic version of Buctril M under the name Mextrol.) The company […] Read more
Sask. expects subpar yields
Below-average yields and average quality are the estimated results of Saskatchewan’s 2007 harvest campaign, which now sits at 94 per cent complete, the provincial ag department reported Wednesday. Harvest progress continues ahead of the curve, overall, compared to the five-year (2002-06) average of 82 per cent, the province reported. Southern regions sit at 99 per […] Read more
N.L. farm minister, critic reelected
Both handlers of the provincial agri-foods file, Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale and Liberal critic Yvonne Jones, kept their seats in the house of assembly in Tuesday’s provincial election. Jones was one of just three Liberals to be reelected in the province, as Premier Danny Williams’ Progressive Conservatives won 43 of 47 […] Read more
Sask. program funds two ethanol plants
Saskatchewan’s provincial Biofuels Investment Opportunity (SaskBIO) program will put up $10 million and $2.5 million respectively for ethanol production plants at Tisdale and Unity, Sask. North West Bio-Energy, an offshoot of the North West Terminal high-throughput elevator at Unity, will receive $2.5 million on top of the $5.05 million in federal funds recently announced through […] Read more
Rain stalls last of Man. harvest
Rainfall across much of farming Manitoba over the long weekend held up harvest progress on a relatively small remainder of its crops, the provincial agriculture department reported today. Rain was welcome after a week of largely warm and dry conditions in most areas where farmers have seeded winter wheat and fall rye. However, the wet […] Read more
N.B. cranberry facility opens
Atlantic Mist Cranberries has officially opened its $1.1 million processing facility at Richibucto-Village to clean, sort and grade cranberries for growers in the region. The receiving plant, which also includes new concrete receiving ponds, was built with about $406,000 in provincial funds, over $383,000 through the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and over $346,000 from […] Read more
Man. beef levy to back Natural Prairie plant
The Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council announced today that its first investment will be up to $1.2 million for Natural Prairie Beef, a marketing and processing project to be based at Neepawa, Man. The company, which was founded in 2004 and so far includes about 110 shareholders, plans to use the money to expand its consortium […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
