Darlene Compton, shown here on provincial budget day in 2020, became Prince Edward Island’s first female ag minister in 2022. (PrinceEdwardIsland.ca)

P.E.I. ag minister, ag critics re-elected

Tories return with majority; Liberals regain official opposition

Prince Edward Island’s incumbent agriculture minister and opposition agriculture critics prevailed in Monday night’s provincial election, in which incumbent premier Dennis King’s Tories were returned with a majority. Darlene Compton, King’s agriculture minister since last summer and his incumbent deputy premier, won re-election Monday for the Progressive Conservatives in her district of Belfast-Murray River. Compton, […] Read more

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks at the evening reception at the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference in Calgary on March 13, 2023. (Jessika Guse photo)

AWC 2023: Federal ag minister inspired by farm women’s progress

Don't wait to be asked to participate, Bibeau tells AWC West

Calgary — Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau drew applause from delegates attending the Advancing Women in Agriculture (AWC) conference here this week as she acknowledged their efforts for paving her path into politics. Bibeau told delegates attending the 10th annual conference she’s never felt like she’s had to fight for spot at the political table […] Read more


Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis speaks on B.C. Agriculture Day in the provincial legislature on Oct. 25, 2022. (Legislative Assembly Of B.C. video screengrab via Facebook)

Former Mission, B.C. mayor named province’s ag minister

Pam Alexis handling agriculture; Lana Popham moves to tourism file

A rookie MLA and former city mayor from British Columbia’s farming-rich Fraser Valley has been named as the province’s new minister of agriculture and food. Premier David Eby, who assumed the post last month following John Horgan’s resignation, on Wednesday shuffled the provincial cabinet and named Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis to handle the ag and […] Read more

Nate Horner, shown here speaking Oct. 4, 2022 at Southland Trailers at Lethbridge, was named Oct. 21 as Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation. (Alberta government video screengrab via YouTube)

Alberta reorganizes ag portfolio for returning minister

Horner to handle agriculture and irrigation file

Both Alberta and Quebec have re-upped with their incumbent agriculture ministers in cabinet shuffles this week — but incoming Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s shuffle will also streamline that province’s ag portfolio. Chosen by Alberta’s governing United Conservatives (UCP) on Oct. 6 to replace outgoing premier Jason Kenney, Smith on Friday announced Kenney’s incumbent minister of […] Read more


Lana Popham. (B.C. NDP via Flickr, license at Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

B.C. ag minister, critic expected to win re-election

NDP projected to form majority government

British Columbia’s incumbent agriculture minister and opposition ag critic both appear set to head back to the provincial legislature as the New Democrats are projected to end three years of tentative minority governing. John Horgan’s NDP, which in 2017 overturned a minority Liberal government with the help of the Green Party, was projected Saturday evening […] Read more

Devin Dreeshen is sworn in on April 30, 2019 as Alberta’s agriculture minister; Premier Jason Kenney looks on. (Video screengrab from Government of Alberta via YouTube)

Alberta UCP’s trade critic named ag minister

Alberta’s new premier has tapped a not-quite-rookie MLA with experience in farming, farm policy and U.S. politics as his new minister of agriculture and forestry. Jason Kenney, sworn in Tuesday as premier, named Devin Dreeshen, the MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake since last July, to handle the ag and forestry file. Dreeshen came to the UCP’s […] Read more


(Oneilcarlier.albertandp.ca)

Alberta ag minister Carlier downed in UCP win

Alberta’s incumbent agriculture minister was among the casualties as Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party defeated Rachel Notley’s New Democrats in Tuesday night’s provincial election. Oneil Carlier, the provincial NDP government’s minister of agriculture and forestry since May 2015 and deputy government house leader since February 2016, was unseated in his riding of Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland […] Read more

A file photo of Brazil’s Mata Atlantica (Atlantic rainforest). (FG Trade/E+/Getty Images)

Brazil ag minister eyes indigenous land for commercial farming

Brasilia | Reuters — Brazil should open indigenous land to commercial farming, Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias said on Friday, while also seeking to soften many of President Jair Bolsonaro’s controversial stances on native people and the environment. Farmers form a key base of support for right-wing firebrand Bolsonaro who since taking office Jan. 1 […] Read more


Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart, shown here at Ag in Motion in 2015, plans to leave the post following a recent cancer diagnosis. (File photo by Lisa Guenther)

Saskatchewan ag minister to exit cabinet

Saskatchewan’s premier expects to name a new minister of agriculture within days, as the incumbent minister steps aside to focus on cancer treatments. Lyle Stewart announced Thursday he will remain as ag minister until Premier Scott Moe names a new minister, a decision to be announced sometime this week. “I was recently diagnosed with colorectal […] Read more

(JeffLeal.onmpp.ca)

Sector growth to occupy Ontario ag minister in 2018

Ontario’s Liberals will have their agriculture standard-bearer back for the 2018 election. Jeff Leal, Ontario’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, is staying in politics, running for his fifth term as a member of the provincial legislature in the Peterborough riding. Leal, who as a resident of Peterborough is about as rural as any […] Read more