File photo of potatoes in storage. (Kativ/E+/Getty Images)

Potato wart survey gives clean bill of health

Fields across Canada with a history of getting seed potatoes from P.E.I. tested negative

A national survey on the watch for potato wart has come back clean. On March 13, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said results from their 2022 potato wart survey had not found any cases of the soil-borne fungus. The agency had tested nearly 1,500 soil samples from fields in British Columbia, the three Prairie […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

Manitoba extends forage insurance survey deadline

Review's face-to-face public meetings cancelled

Manitoba’s provincial review of its relatively under-subscribed crop insurance offerings for forage growers has extended its deadline for grower comment. Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC) last week announced it has cancelled all in-person public meetings on its forage insurance review, citing the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. But the agency has extended the deadline to take part […] Read more



Food security is an issue in this election for 54 per cent of Canadians. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Food, farming not expected to be big election issues

Canadians don’t think that food and agriculture will be a significant issue in the current federal election. A survey conducted Sept. 9 and released Tuesday by Angus Reid Global with the support of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows 31 per cent of Canadians believe food and agriculture will be a prime electoral issue during […] Read more




Statistics Canada’s model-based report is based in part on data from sensors on the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) series of satellites. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), shown here for Sept. 16 over an NOAA satellite map of North America, is used to gauge surface vegetation content. (OSPO.noaa.gov)

Canola, wheat crop size hiked in StatsCan’s view from space

CNS Canada — Statistics Canada raised its production estimates for most crops across Western Canada in its latest report released Wednesday. Unlike traditional StatsCan reports using information gathered from phone surveys, the model-based report was based in part on coarse-resolution satellite imagery collected during the month of August. The model-based report has only been in […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan raises wheat, canola estimates with new model

CNS Canada — Wheat and canola production are expected to be higher than in previous estimates, but still lower than in 2014, according to a new Statistics Canada model for field crop production estimates. The model-based report, released Thursday, pegs this year’s spring wheat production at 18.4 million tonnes, higher than previously forecast in the […] Read more