Caterpillar’s dealer for Quebec and the Maritime provinces is set to sell its Quebec farm equipment business to a chain of Agco dealerships. Hewitt Equipment — the authorized Cat dealer for Quebec and western Labrador and, through its Atlantic Tractors and Equipment arm, for the Maritimes — announced recently it will sell its ag division […] Read more
Que. Caterpillar dealer to shed ag equipment arm
Buhler books near-record sales
Winnipeg tractor and farm equipment maker Buhler Industries logged 2014 as its third-biggest sales year ever, but expects lower commodity prices to weigh on next year’s results. Buhler last Wednesday reported year-end profit of $12.5 million on $325.5 million in sales, down from its record net ($19.9 million on $340.3 million in sales) in 2013 […] Read more
Tax deferrals kick in for soaked and parched West
Ranchers under pressure from this year’s drought in B.C. and northwestern Alberta and excess moisture in western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan may get income tax deferrals for their trouble. The federal government on Tuesday released its first list of designated areas for 2014, within which eligible producers who sold breeding livestock may be allowed to […] Read more
CFIA caught up on Fraser Valley bird depopulations
Birds at the 11 commercial poultry farms and one other property hit so far this month by H5N2 avian influenza in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley have been euthanized. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported it had completed “depopulation” of the 85 birds including ducks, chickens, geese and turkeys at a “non-commercial” farm in the Aldergrove […] Read more
Nearly-shuttered Maple Leaf plants still running for now
Two Maple Leaf Foods processing plants tapped in 2011 to close by the end of this year will stay open for a few months yet. Of six further-processing facilities slated for closure by the end of 2014 in the final phase of Maple Leaf’s “value creation plan,” the company’s Courtland Avenue deli and luncheon meat […] Read more
Asian grain trader makes play in Peace region
Singapore grain and pulse crop trader Agrocorp has gone into northwestern Alberta’s Peace region to add more grain processing assets to its Canadian operations. The company announced last week it has bought the Falher Co-operative Seed Cleaning Plant at Falher, about 165 km northeast of Grande Prairie, for an undisclosed sum. The co-operative’s shareholders recently […] Read more
New Dreyfus CEO leaves Agrium board
Mayo Schmidt, the former Viterra chief executive named last month to become CEO of Louis Dreyfus’ global commodities business, has stepped away from the board table at ag input firm Agrium. Calgary-based Agrium, which includes wholesale fertilizer and retail seed, fertilizer and crop protection businesses, announced last Monday (Dec. 22) that Schmidt would resign from […] Read more
Wider buffer zone from feedlots recommended
The current U.S. recommended buffer zone between cattle feedlots and vegetables may be too narrow, say scientists writing in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. “The high percentages of leafy greens contaminated with E. coli suggest great risk for planting fresh produce 180 m (590 feet) or less from a feedlot,” the investigators write. That […] Read more
Weak bones? Agriculture may be to blame
The invention of agriculture may have allowed for many human advances, but strong bones may not be one of them, say researchers at the University of Cambridge. Writing in the journal PNAS, they says that human skeletons have become much lighter and more fragile since the invention of agriculture. Hunter-gatherers from around 7,000 years ago […] Read more
More duties for Manitoba ag minister
Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn has been appointed as minister of infrastructure and transportation and minister responsible for emergency measures. He replaces Steve Ashton, who has resigned from cabinet to run for NDP leader at a convention in March. Kostyshyn will also remain minister of agriculture, food and rural development, a post he has held […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
