Canadian Ag News

Price prospects for canola, durum, soybeans, corn and flax declined in the just-released August Outlook for Principal Field Crops published by the Market Analysis Group of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Between the July report and this August report of crop prices for 2024-25, the biggest price decline is for canola. The forecasted average price for […]

Three organizations representing rural municipalities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are calling on Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to use binding arbitration “if the railways and union are unable to reach an agreement prior to Thursday, when labour disruptions would begin.” That’s despite MacKinnon already rejecting CN Rail’s request for binding arbitration and has said […]

Canadian grain exports for the new crop year are off to a good start, but it’s likely aided by anticipation of a rail strike or lockout. Numbers from the SaskWheat Market Outlook for the week of August 19 show Canada exported 528 thousand tonnes of wheat in week one of the 2024-25 crop year and […]

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC) and Canadian National Railway Co. (CN Rail) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, union representing about 9,300 workers, are gearing up for a potential work stoppage later this week. Workers at CPKC issued 72-hour strike notice that would see them walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time […]

Ottawa has announced up to $6.5 million in funding to Bio-industrial Innovation Canada (BIC) through the AgriScience Program – Clusters Component, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The Bio-products Cluster, led by BIC, will develop specialized technologies that turn renewable resources, such as agricultural residues, into useful bio-energy, bio-fuels, and bio-materials like ethanol […]

Provincial Highways Minister Lori Carr wrote to the federal government, urging them to use available measures to prevent a work stoppage of CPKC and CN Rail while the railways and union negotiate a new collective agreement. Measures Carr referenced include back-to-work legislation and a directive for binding arbitration that would prohibit the union from job […]

Farm groups continue to urge the railways and the union representing its workers to reach an agreement as soon as possible. This comes after the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) made its ruling known Friday that a potential strike of CPKC and CN Rail workers would not pose a serious danger to the health and […]

If you ask grain farmers about their biggest input costs, they are likely to talk about equipment purchases, fertilizer prices or the cost of various crop protection products. One huge cost, grain freight rates are seldom top of mind because producers pay indirectly. Grain buyers pay the huge cost of grain movement by rail and […]

Two agricultural groups say the uncertainty around a possible a strike of workers from CPKC and CN Rail is negatively affecting Canada’s reputation as a reliable exporter, and if workers walk off the job, it would come at a time when harvest is in the very early stages. Executive Director of the Western Grain Elevator […]

A campaign launched at the beginning of this month by the Do More Agriculture Foundation aims to raise awareness of the importance of having open conversations about mental health in the agriculture sector. “Conversation is really the first step in reducing that stigma,” said Board Chair of Do More Ag Lauren Martin when talking about […]