FBC staff

A former top agriculture bureaucrat in the Saskatchewan government will take up a new deputy minister’s post this summer in the Yukon. Harvey Brooks, who was Saskatchewan’s deputy minister of agriculture until November 2007, will become the Yukon government’s deputy minister of economic development, effective July 17. Brooks “has experience in rural revitalization and cross-departmental […] Read more

Strong wind last week helped deplete soil moisture in Saskatchewan and took the soil with it in some fields in Manitoba. Saskatchewan’s ag ministry on Tuesday reported that province’s seeding at 56 per cent complete, up from the 2003-07 average of 50 per cent, with southern regions 68 to 70 per cent complete and the […] Read more

The Saskatchewan government will support shortline rail companies’ infrastructure projects with a new program announced Tuesday. The provincial highways and infrastructure department will put up $500,000 this fiscal year to cost-share infrastructure projects 50/50 with eligible shortline companies. Any of Saskatchewan’s eight shortline railways is eligible to apply for funding if it meets criteria, such […] Read more

The makers of Black Velvet whisky are selling their Quebec distillery and consolidating their Canadian production in Alberta. New York-based Constellation Spirits announced Tuesday that it will sell its Schenley Distillery and Bottling operation at Valleyfield, southwest of Montreal, to Diageo, another major player in the spirits, beer and wine business worldwide. Terms of the […] Read more

The Prince Edward Island government has put up $1.25 million over three years to help rural businesses and agencies hire additional staff, including businesses in ag-related processing. The rural jobs initiative, announced Tuesday, is aimed at the creation of jobs in support of innovation, technological adaptation and sustainable diversification, Rural Development Minister Allan Campbell said […] Read more

The Quebec government will put up $430,000 for research on the use of both vegetable and animal oils as insulators in electrical transformers. The provincial agriculture ministry (MAPAQ) said Friday it will put up $180,000 over two years for related work at Oleotek, a research and technology transfer firm at Thetford Mines. Of that, $120,000 […] Read more

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) will allow continued registration of the Group 4 herbicide 2,4-D with only minor changes to the chemical’s label. The agency had taken on a long-term re-evaluation of the product — the use of which on Canadian farms dates back to 1946 — and released its decision on Friday, […] Read more