File photo of a rye field in Kazakhstan. (Stsmhn/iStock/Getty Images)

Beware of Kazakhs wanting to buy seed, agency says

Seed growers and farmers alike are being warned such sales breach breeders' rights rules

Western Canadian seed growers, seed retailers and commercial farmers are being urged not to sell seed to Kazakhs or their agents because it breaches plant breeders’ rights rules. “The basic fact is no Canadian breeder has given permission for their genetics to go to Kazakhstan,” Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, […] Read more

(Philpell/iStock/Getty Images)

Britain, Canada agree on post-Brexit rollover trade deal

Tailor-made comprehensive pact expected to follow

London/Toronto | Reuters — Britain and Canada struck a rollover trade deal on Saturday to protect the flow of almost $35 billion-worth of goods and services between them after Brexit, and vowed to start talks on a bespoke agreement next year. As Britain prepares to end its transition out of the European Union on Dec. […] Read more


An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

Irritated trade partners push back on China’s coronavirus food tests

Canada rips testing as 'unjustified trade restrictions'

Beijing/Geneva | Reuters — Major food-producing countries are growing increasingly frustrated with China’s scrutiny of imported products and are calling on it to stop aggressive testing for the coronavirus, which some say is tantamount to a trade restriction. China says it has found the virus on the packaging of products from 20 countries including German […] Read more

Barley south of Ethelton, Sask. in early August 2017. (File photo by Dave Bedard)

Barley trade routes redrawn as China tariff hits Australian farmers

China's barley purchases from Canada more than double last year's

Sydney/Paris | Reuters — Out in Australia’s grain fields, farmers have started harvesting one of their biggest-ever barley crops, after drought-relieving rains convinced many to plant to the edges of their paddocks. Yet the tractors are working under the cloud of a new tariff imposed by China — seen widely as retaliation for Australia’s push […] Read more


U.S. rapper B-Real (Cypress Hill, Prophets of Rage) has collaborated with Atlanta-based SweetWater Brewing on a variety of its ‘420’ brand of cannabis-scented beer. (Video screengrab from Sweetwaterbrew.com via YouTube)

Canadian pot producer Aphria to buy U.S. craft brewer

SweetWater's '420' beer would come to Canada

Reuters — Canadian cannabis company Aphria Inc. said on Wednesday it plans to buy craft brewer SweetWater Brewing for US$300 million as it looks to expand into the U.S. while becoming the first major pot producer to enter the alcoholic beverages market. The deal gives Leamington, Ont.-based Aphria a U.S. distribution point at a time […] Read more



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Cannabis-infused drinks fizzle on production, distribution challenges

'Actually executing the idea is much more difficult'

Reuters — Investors pinning hopes on cannabis-infused drinks to propel growth of the legal marijuana industry may have to wait a bit longer, as companies struggle to produce and distribute the highly-sought beverages in a profitable way. Nearly 11 months after regulators allowed their sales, very few brands have been able to reach shelves. Canada […] Read more

(CBSA via YouTube)

Feds seek feedback on farm worker living conditions

Consultations focused on 'primary agriculture' labour stream of TFWs

Improving and standardizing living conditions for temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada — specifically, those on Canadian farms — is the subject of a new round of federal consultations. Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Tuesday announced consultations are now underway until Dec. 22 with “provinces and territories, employers, workers, worker […] Read more


(Alfio Manciagli/iStock/Getty Images)

Record-high Canadian canola supplies in commercial pipeline

MarketsFarm — Visible canola supplies in the Canadian commercial pipeline are sitting at historically high levels, according to Canadian Grain Commission data. A total of 1.75 million tonnes of canola were sitting in commercial hands across Canada during the week ended Oct. 18 — only slightly off the record of 1.786 million tonnes set only […] Read more