Agriculture Canada suffered some of most significant cuts in latest budget
Canadians are now more keenly aware that their food comes from the farm gate and not the grocery store cooler and that the Canadian farmer puts it there. Food is among our most important natural resource and its production, processing, safety and sale is an invaluable and thriving industry. Support from Agriculture and Agri-food Canada […]
Reforming regulatory approval process on agricultural innovations key to industry’s competitiveness, say stakeholders
Stakeholders in Canada’s agriculture sector say reforming the regulatory approval process on agricultural innovations is key to the industry’s competitiveness, but restrictions on genetically-modified produce continue to keep the sector from tapping into European markets. “The innovation work is there, and it continues,” said Patty Townsend, CEO of the Canadian Seed Trade Association told the […]
Agri-food think tank calls for national food strategy to coordinate innovation in Canadian agriculture
If Canada’s agriculture industry is going to innovate, the federal government needs to create a national food strategy, says David McInnes, president and CEO of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI). Mr. McInnes told The Hill Times that a multi-government strategy would help close the gaps between scientists, producers, retailers and consumers and bring more […]
Canada lacks a long-term vision for food
Canada has long been one of the top agriculture producers in the world. Our natural abundance of arable land and successful agricultural practices have made the industry an important element of Canada’s economy and part of who we are as Canadians. The problem is, we lack a long-term vision for food and many people are […]
Removal of CWB single desk for wheat and barley just killed a venerable icon
“No civilized world country, no matter how strongly attached to the doctrine of free enterprise, will or can let domestic agriculture be nakedly subjected to the ups and downs of the world market.”—Dwight D. Eisenhower, quoted in From Prairie Roots by Garry Fairbairn. The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) was one of our best Canadian institutions; […]
Agriculture sector banging on all cylinders, making record profits
Thanks to The Hill Times for the opportunity to comment and be a part of the in-depth look at the future of agriculture and food production in Canada. In recent years, there seems to be a concern (in some corners) with the sustainability of food production. From my perspective, the overall sustainability of domestic food […]
Feds takes innovation strategy to the farm
Agriculture Canada is taking the government’s emphasis on innovation to the farm field with multi-year funding for innovative agricultural research and development. Agriculture Canada is in the midst of a program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farming. Established in 2010, the five-year, $27-million Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program (AGGP) is funding research that could […]
Cuts to CFIA put food supply at pre-listeriosis outbreak risk: PSAC
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz insists that cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in the federal government’s 2012 budget won’t compromise food safety, but the Public Service Alliance of Canada says that job cuts at the agency will roll back improvements to food inspection that were made in response to the 2008 listeriosis outbreak. “We’re […]
Future uncertain for now voluntary Canadian Wheat Board, say critics
Western farmers will find out what the end of the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain marketing monopoly will mean for grain prices and profit margins when Bill C-18 takes effect this August, and the result could decide the fate of many family farms and a now voluntary CWB. The Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, which […]
International markets call on Canadian farmers to do ‘more and more to feed a hungry world’: Ritz
With more than four years at the Cabinet table as minister of Agriculture and Agri-food, Gerry Ritz is a Cabinet minister who can say with certainty that he’s had a huge impact on the file. Agriculture may not draw a lot of media attention, but in this year alone the federal government has secured access […]
