An eastern Ontario vegetable grower and women’s leader with the National Farmers Union since 2014 has been picked as the Canada-wide organization’s new chief. Coral Sproule, who operates a CSA (community-supported agriculture) vegetable farm at Perth, Ont. was elected NFU president at the organization’s convention last week in Ottawa, replacing Jan Slomp of Courtenay, B.C. […] Read more

Ontario vegetable grower to lead NFU

Another BSE irritant bites the dust
Trade: News Roundup from the November 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Anyone dinged with discounts on cull cows headed to the U.S. because they couldn’t document the animal was born after March 1, 1999, will have reason to rejoice over an easing of this export policy last month. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association has long argued that it no longer makes sense to require the individual age […] Read more

We’re sure that’s Ontario beef
Identification: News Roundup from the November 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
It sounds like something straight out of a CSI episode and in some ways it is. Oritain, a New Zealand company specializing in scientific traceability to fight food fraud, is seeking a distinct fingerprint for Ontario beef. Both Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) and the Ontario Independent Meat Processors (OIMP) have invested in the project. […] Read more

Climate Corp. to partner with Canadian drone data firm
In a bid to bring its eye-in-the-sky views of clients’ fields closer to Earth, Monsanto’s Climate Corp. has struck up a partnership with a Canadian drone data provider. Climate on Nov. 15 announced an “official” partnership with Toronto-based Deveron UAS, which operates a fleet of drones serving farm clients across North America, to deliver “advanced” […] Read more

Federal programs set for Growing Forward sequel
Market development, product development and overall sector development are among the priorities in the federal government’s five-year funding plan for the ag sector. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, speaking Friday at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, announced a $1 billion suite of six federally funded programs to roll out through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The Canadian […] Read more

Data mining finds no honeybee colony risk from correct neonic use
An expedition through published and unpublished studies on neonicotinoid pesticides has led a Guelph research team to find no colony-level risk to honeybees from the seed treatments — if they’re correctly used. The University of Guelph team, led by toxicologist Keith Solomon and adjunct professor Gladys Stephenson, analyzed 64 papers from “open, peer-reviewed literature” on […] Read more
History: Trail to Sounding Lake
Reprinted from the October 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Trail to Sounding Lake By Margaret V. Watt, 748 East 60th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. ‘”Where in the world is Sounding Lake?” someone was sure to ask. At first it was hard to find. Close scrutiny of the map revealed a small, bright blue splotch about two-thirds of the way up from the International Boundary, close […] Read more

New Brunswick deputy ag minister retiring
New Brunswick’s assistant deputy minister for agriculture will act as the lead bureaucrat for agriculture in the province after the current deputy retires. Premier Brian Gallant on Wednesday named Cathy LaRochelle, assistant deputy minister for both the provincial department of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries and the department of energy and resource development, as acting deputy […] Read more

P+H plans new east-central Alberta elevator
Winnipeg grain and agrifood firm Parrish and Heimbecker is set to reinforce its recent arrival in the east-central Alberta retail market with a new grain elevator. Privately-held P+H announced Tuesday it will build a new 46,000-tonne capacity grain elevator and crop input centre at Viking, about 120 km southeast of Edmonton. The Viking site will […] Read more

Quebec veal processors merging
The bulk of Quebec’s veal processing capacity is forming up under one banner as Delimax-Montpak gets set to buy its rival Ecolait out of creditor protection. Delimax-Montpak Group announced Friday it has an agreement in principle to buy St-Hyacinthe-based Ecolait for total consideration of $50 million. Delimax-Montpak said Friday the deal “will allow the veal […] Read more