AGCanada

The National Farmers Union-Ontario refuses to reorganize its relationship with its Saskatoon parent group, even after a provincial tribunal ended the provincial group's status as an accredited Ontario farm organization. Ontario's Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal in December dismissed the NFU-O's application for accreditation, cutting off its direct access to stable funding through the province's farm business registration (FBR) system. Ontario farmers must apply for an FBR…
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A bacteria-like pest of apple trees across Europe has appeared for the first time in North America in an orchard now under federal quarantine in Nova Scotia. Apple proliferation phytoplasma (APP), a yield-reducing quarantine pest in both Canada and the U.S., has been confirmed in Pacific Gala apple trees in the orchard near Kentville after being detected last year. The affected trees were imported from the U.S. in 2008, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency emphasized in a release Friday that…
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Haven't got your tickets yet for Canada's Farm Progress Show? Again this year, we might. Farm Business Communications, Canada's largest publisher of newspapers and magazines for farmers, and operator of this website, has a pair of free single-day show passes (value: $30 per pair) for you if you're one of the first 82 people to contact us by e-mail. How? Keep reading... The dryland farm technology show formerly known as the Western Canada Farm Progress Show is considered the single largest trade…
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Old-crop soybean and corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade moved higher during the week ended Wednesday (May 22), as tight supplies provided underlying support. New-crop soybeans lagged to the upside, while rapid seeding progress across the Midwest caused corn to post small losses in the deferred months. The spread between the old- and new-crop contracts is expected to continue to widen for both soybeans and corn, according to David Fiala, of FuturesOne in Lincoln, Neb. For corn, farmers…
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Cash wheat bids across Western Canada saw some mixed activity during the week ended Tuesday, with a steady to firmer tone in Canada Western red spring (CWRS) wheat, but losses in Canada Prairie red spring (CPRS). Average spot bids for 13.5 per cent-protein CWRS across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta came in on Tuesday at around C$282 per tonne ($7.68 per bushel) based on pricing available from a cross-section of delivery points. That compares with $281 per tonne ($7.64/bu.) at the same point…
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Some producers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are having to put cattle out to pasture earlier than they should because they don't have enough feed supplies to nourish them. "Feed is really expensive these days, so producers are not going to purchase more," said Glenn Friesen, forage specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives at Carman. "So, they're going to get them out on pasture as fast as possible." The late spring, due to prolonged cold and wet weather in Western Canada…
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Russia's Uralkali OAO would delay two of its potash mine expansion projects for as long as a decade if rival BHP Billiton builds the world's biggest mine of the crop nutrient, Uralkali's chief executive said in an interview. Uralkali is aiming to become the largest global producer of potash by 2021, leapfrogging Canada's PotashCorp in mining capacity. But BHP's not-yet-final plan for a mine near Jansen, Sask., that would produce eight million tonnes annually, would change the global supply and…
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Exporters of Canadian meat and livestock are waiting to see exactly how the U.S. government will wind up not complying with international trade law on its regulations for mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL). "There is zero possibility that the U.S. will be in compliance" by Thursday, May 23, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association said in a statement. "The question is, will they be maintaining the current status quo level of non-compliance or will they make it worse by implementing (the…
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Scores of grain ships were delayed in and around Argentina on Wednesday due to a three-day-old strike by port workers that threatens to bog down exports at a time of heightened world demand for South American soy and corn, sources said. Negotiations aimed at ending the work stoppage in the main grains hub of Rosario and other smaller ports are set for Thursday. Strikes are common in the South American country, where double-digit inflation fuels high wage demands. But this one comes at a…
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Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures climbed to a 9-1/2-month high on Wednesday as fund buying lifted nearby trading months beyond a key technical resistance level, said analysts and traders. June and July hogs broke through their respective 100-day moving averages of 92.93 and 92.95 cents per pound, which stirred short-covering (all figures US$). CME June hogs closed up 2.15 cents to 94.55 cents and July ended at 93.425 cents, up 1.675 cents. Strong wholesale pork prices, the…
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