Insights and Stories of Dave Bedard

May. 16, 2012 at 5:10 pm CDT

A United Nations expert sees Canada’s "export-led" agricultural and trade policies hampering the farming sector’s ability to move to "sustainable and decentralized" food systems. Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, wrapped up his official visit to Canada on Wednesday with a statement that credits […]

By Dave Bedard

May. 8, 2012 at 6:19 pm CDT

The dairy farmer co-operatives now making Yoplait for the Canadian market will do so for at least six more years but will also launch their own new yogurt and dairy goods line this summer. A custom processing agreement announced Tuesday between Ultima Foods and the Canadian arm of the Yoplait […]

By Dave Bedard

May. 4, 2012 at 3:20 pm CDT

A quarantined southeastern Ontario farm where 31 sheep vanished last month, just before they were to be destroyed and tested for scrapie, is now down by nine more sheep, all scrapie-negative. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed this week that it took nine sheep from Linda Montana Jones’ farm last […]

By Dave Bedard

May. 2, 2012 at 5:33 pm CDT

An Alberta farmer-owned grain handler has expanded its holdings into western Saskatchewan by buying an elevator it already operated on local farmers’ behalf. Providence Grain Group on Tuesday announced it has taken up 97.3 per cent of the shares in Meridian Grain Corp. for purchase through a share swap with […]

By Dave Bedard

Apr. 30, 2012 at 1:37 pm CDT

Fuel company Shell Canada "will not pursue" its plans for a straw-based ethanol plant in southern Manitoba. Monday’s announcement from Shell was its first formal acknowledgement that it in fact had plans for such a project, though company spokesmen had openly confirmed its interest in the region through other media […]

By Dave Bedard