A Canadian company’s genetically modified “non-browning” apples have picked up federal approval for commercial sale after review from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The Arctic apple, developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits and submitted for federal approval in 2011, “is safe for consumption, still has all its nutritional value and therefore does not […] Read more
Health Canada clears Canadian firm’s ‘non-browning’ apples
Monsanto rips cancer agency’s Roundup takedown
The decision by an international group of cancer experts to classify the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide as “probably carcinogenic” has drawn fire from the product’s main maker. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a France-based arm of the World Health Organization, on Friday released its working group’s evaluations on the cancer-causing potential […] Read more
P.E.I. to offer one-time farm truck registration fee
Prince Edward Island’s farmers, starting next month, will be able pay a one-time fee to register their farm trucks for as long as they own them. The province until now has charged a cut-rate annual registration fee of $10 on trucks weighing at least one ton (10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight or more), if the trucks […] Read more
All but one avian flu quarantine lifted in B.C.
A table egg layer operation near Langley is now the only farm still under quarantine for avian flu in British Columbia. All 13 properties in B.C.’s Fraser Valley that had been quarantined for highly-pathogenic H5N2 or H5N1 avian flu since the beginning of December have since been culled of birds, cleaned and disinfected. A subsequent […] Read more
Olymel hog plant staff approve strike mandate
Updated, March 19 — Olymel has tabled a “final comprehensive offer” for unionized staff at its Vallee-Jonction, Que. hog slaughter plant after the workers gave negotiators a strike mandate. The meat packing arm of Quebec’s Coop Federee said Wednesday it’s at an “impasse” with its workers, represented by the Confederation des syndicats nationaux (CSN), due […] Read more
Sask. budget trims ag spending slightly
A substantial drop in provincial resource revenue from its oil sector has Saskatchewan holding the line on spending and leaning on its potash sector in its 2015 budget. Finance Minister Ken Krawetz and Ag Minister Lyle Stewart on Wednesday announced a total ag ministry budget of $362.4 million for 2015-16, down 2.5 per cent from […] Read more
Monsanto settles more U.S. farmer claims over GM wheat
The 2013 discovery of experimental Roundup Ready wheat plants in a farmer’s field in Oregon has led the crop’s developer to settle suits brought by wheat growers in seven U.S. states. Monsanto Co. said Wednesday it had reached a settlement agreement with growers in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, stemming from Japan’s […] Read more
WeatherFarm boosts local-level data for farmers
Prairie weather network WeatherFarm has moved to expand the data it can provide to farmers through its new daily email. The network, operated by ag meteorology firm Weather Innovations Consulting (WIN) in partnership with Glacier Farmmedia, owners of this website, gets its data mainly from over 1,100 weather stations set up at farms, grain elevators […] Read more
CN shopcraft staff ratify labour deal
Updated, March 18 — Unionized rail car and locomotive repair, maintenance and inspection staff at Canadian National Railway (CN) have approved the 11th-hour deal that kept them from being locked out last month. CN, in a release Tuesday, said members of its shopcraft group of about 2,100 employees, represented by Unifor Local 100R, have voted […] Read more
Alberta ag minister books off after surgery
Alberta Premier Jim Prentice has named an associate agriculture and rural development minister to handle the portfolio while provincial Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson takes sick leave. Grande Prairie-Smoky MLA Everett McDonald, a farmer and former reeve for the County of Grande Prairie, was appointed Tuesday to the associate minister’s post. Olson, the ag minister since […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
