Military and minerals: the new Canada-U.S. agenda

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden will spend two days in Canada beginning Thursday to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and speak to a joint session of Parliament, his first visit north of the border since taking the oath of office in 2021.

Visits to Canada have historically been a popular first foreign trip for new presidents — Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump being the rare exceptions — but COVID-19 intervened twice in the years since Biden's inauguration to prevent one from happening.

Here are some of the issues the two leaders are likely to discuss.

Modernizing Norad: Until last month, the binational early-warning system known as the North American Aerospace Defence Command might have been best known for tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. But a February flurry of unidentified flying objects drifting through North American airspace, most notably what U.S. officials insist was a Chinese surveillance balloon, exposed what Norad commander Gen. Glen VanHerck described as a "domain awareness gap": the archaic, Cold War-era system's ability to track small, high-flying, slow-moving objects. Coupled with the brazen ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the ongoing but largely opaque joint effort to upgrade Norad — rarely mentioned in past Trudeau-Biden readouts — is suddenly front and centre for both governments.

Finally, PM gets home advantage for Biden meeting

WASHINGTON - Joe Biden's last official visit to Canada came with a palpable sense of foreboding.

Change was in the air. Authoritarian leaders in Syria and Turkey were consolidating power. Britain had voted to leave the European Union. And Donald Trump was waiting in the wings to take over the White House.

"Genuine leaders" were in short supply, and Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be called upon to step up, said the U.S. vice-president, who was on a farewell tour of sorts in the waning days of the Obama administration.

Six years later, Biden is coming back — this time as president — and the world is very different. His message likely won't be.

Horses from Winnipeg sent abroad for slaughter

Horses have forever been admired, featured prominently in popular children’s books and television programs, noted for being sleek, majestic, poetry in motion. But they also have a high level of emotional intelligence. A University of Sussex study found that horses can read emotional cues from our facial expressions, not only recognizing human emotions, but also deeply absorbing them.

Pot 'price war' causing 'significant' damage: HEXO

Hexo Corp.'s chief executive says he's seen a "price war" take shape over the last five months that could cause "significant" damage to Canada's cannabis industry.

"No one wins in a price war," Charlie Bowman told analysts on a Friday call.

"A lot of the especially smaller independent retailers are bleeding from a standpoint of just the plethora of retailers that are on the market right now and undercutting one another."

Statistics Canada said a gram of legal cannabis cost $10.29 on average in 2019, the year after recreational cannabis was legalized in Canada (more recent prices were not available). At that time, a gram of weed bought through the illicit market cost $5.96.

Canadian milk plant a sign of Ukrainian resilience

KRASNE, Ukraine - The cows on Lyuba Pastushok's farm are like her "cheeky children," she explained in Ukrainian as she walked among her growing herd, gently cooing to them and softly petting their heads.

A few years ago there were only five cows on her small family operation in Holoskovychi, a rural community an hour and a half east of the nearest city of Lviv, in western Ukraine.

Now she tends to 25 cows, six of which she bought after Russian forces invaded the country.

Wrapped up against the cold with a kerchief tied over her head, the Ukrainian matriarch pointed out each by name, her voice full of motherly pride.

Eight skunks found dead in B.C. had avian flu

VICTORIA - Eight skunks found dead last month in Vancouver and nearby Richmond, B.C., tested positive for avian flu.

British Columbia's Ministry of Agriculture says the skunks were infected with the same H5N1 strain that has caused the deaths of millions of domestic poultry since the outbreak began in April last year.

The skunks were found in residential areas in both cities and were taken to B.C.'s Animal Health Centre over concerns they may have been deliberately poisoned.

The ministry says in a statement the skunks may have contracted H5N1 by scavenging on infected wild birds.

McCain to make $600M investment in southern Alta.

CALGARY - French fry giant McCain Foods Ltd. has announced it will spend $600 million to double the size of its potato processing facility in southern Alberta.

The Toronto-based food manufacturing company — which boasts that it makes one in every four French fries produced worldwide — is making the largest investment in its history in order to double output at its Coaldale facility, just east of the city of Lethbridge.

McCain said the project will create two new production lines, one for French fries and one for other frozen potato specialty products. Once completed, the expansion is expected to create 260 new jobs, more than doubling the facility's current workforce.

"We are projecting strong volume growth over the next five years and need this expansion to accommodate the expected growth," said McCain Foods CEO Max Koeune in an emailed statement.

Biden to finally visit Canada March 23-24

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Ottawa on March 23 to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Canadian soil, his first visit north of the border since taking the oath of office in 2021.

The president and his wife Jill Biden will spend two days in Canada, the White House confirmed Thursday, although a detailed itinerary has not yet been released.

The two leaders will discuss ongoing upgrades to the aging, jointly led Norad continental defence system, which came under heavy scrutiny last month when a Chinese surveillance balloon drifted through U.S. and Canadian airspace.

Fears, too, about unchecked Russian aggression and the ability of the two countries to defend the continent's northern frontier have only accelerated in the year since the start of Vladimir Putin's bloody invasion of Ukraine.

$15 million for N.S. fruit growers who lost crops

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - The Nova Scotia government announced today it will give $15 million to growers of grapes and other fruit whose crops were destroyed in last month’s extreme cold snap.

Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow, who made the funding announcement Thursday morning in Wolfville, says he hopes this funding will cover some of the “extraordinary” costs that fruit growers are facing due to damaged crops.

Steve Ells, president of the Grape Growers Association of Nova Scotia, has said that when temperatures dropped to -25 C in early February amid an otherwise unseasonably mild winter, more than 95 per cent of some of the most prized varieties of grapes in Nova Scotia were destroyed.

The Department of Agriculture says early assessments show that some Nova Scotia farms are expected to lose all of this year’s grape, raspberry, peach, cherry and plum harvests due to the cold.

Maple Leaf Foods reports Q4 loss, raises dividend

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Maple Leaf Foods Inc. said it's expecting modest annual growth in its plant-based protein category as the company reported a loss for its latest quarter, due in part to weaker pork markets and a cyberattack.

The Mississauga, Ont.-based food processing company raised its quarterly dividend to 21 cents, up from 20 cents, as it reported a loss of $41.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The increased payment to shareholders came as Maple Leaf said its loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31 amounted to 34 cents per share compared with a profit of $1.9 million or two cents per share in the last three months of 2021. Sales totalled $1.19 billion, up from $1.12 billion a year earlier.

"Our supply chains are normalizing now, the imbalance in our pricing for inflation is now coming into line and important Asian regions have opened up again for us," Maple Leaf Foods chief executive Michael McCain said in a statement.

Ottawa spends $160K on farmers’ mental health

BRANDON — The federal government’s decision to put up money for mental health programs for farmers has been hailed as welcome recognition of a problem that is often ignored.

B.C. invests $200 million in food security

VANCOUVER - British Columbia is dedicating $200 million toward boosting both the province's food bank system and overall agricultural production and resiliency.

Premier David Eby says the funding will go toward two branches of spending: adding infrastructure to food banks, such as commercial coolers, and to improve overall food production and access throughout B.C.

Part of the money will be used to enhance programs to strengthen the food supply chain; expand food production from processors, packers and retailers; and fund climate preparedness measures.

Eby says the "historic" investment in B.C.'s food security comes as a direct response to events that occurred in the past few years, when flooding, wildfires and COVID supply-chain bottlenecks "essentially cut off" crucial supply lines in the province.

In dry West, farmers balk at idling land to save water

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Brundy, an alfalfa grower in California's Imperial Valley, thinks farmers reliant on the shrinking Colorado River can do more to save water and use it more efficiently. That's why he's installed water sensors and monitors to prevent waste on nearly two-thirds of his 3,000 acres.

But one practice that's off-limits for Brundy is fallowing — leaving fields unplanted to spare the water that would otherwise irrigate crops. It would save plenty of water, Brundy said, but threatens both farmers and rural communities economically.

“It’s not very productive because you just don’t farm,” Brundy said.

Many Western farmers feel the same, even as a growing sense is emerging that some fallowing will have to be part of the solution to the increasingly desperate drought in the West, where the Colorado River serves 40 million people.

Phoena chief executive Greg Guyatt steps down

VAUGHAN, Ont. - Phoena Inc. says chief executive Greg Guyatt has resigned.

The Vaughan, Ont. cannabis company says Guyatt's resignation was effective Feb. 24 and comes three years after he joined the business.

Guyatt is leaving the company behind the Liiv, SYNR.G, Xscape and Estora brands to "pursue new challenges and opportunities."

He has been replaced by Corné Melissen, who owns Phoena's majority shareholder, Kenzoll B.V.

Canadian aid came just in time: Ukrainian farmer

CHERNEVE, LVIV OBLAST, UKRAINE - Oleh His marches with pride and purpose in rain-soaked mud through row upon row of large white polyethylene bags, each stamped with a Canadian logo and filled to bursting with this year's harvest of grain.

The 24-year-old grain farmer with a slight build, fair hair and braces is also a volunteer with the Ukrainian military. He splits his time between running the family farm and sourcing money and supplies for the front.

When Russia invaded Ukraine last year, His knew right away he would have a problem.

"The logistical connection of agricultural products with the rest of the world has broken," His said in Ukrainian through a translator at his farm, AgroKorovai, just 17 kilometres from the border with Poland.

Trudeau says he will help farmers with inflation

LONGUEUIL, Que. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is looking at how it can provide targeted aid to farmers who are struggling with inflation.

Trudeau, who made the comments at a meeting with farmers at the headquarters of Quebec's farmer's association, the L'Union des producteurs agricoles, in Longueuil, says he wants to ensure that any aid for farmers doesn't make inflation worse.

He says that while inflation has started to slow, the government wants to ensure farmers and others who are struggling can hold on for the next six months to a year.

Daniel Lebelle, a dairy and grain farmer from the Centre-du-Québec region, told the prime minister that his costs have risen 40 per cent since inflation began to rise.

US gets OK for cattle-shooting operation in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. district judge on Wednesday cleared the way for federal officials to move ahead with plans to take to the air and shoot dozens of wild cattle in a rugged area of southwestern New Mexico.

Ranchers had sought a delay, arguing that the potential mass slaughter of as many as 150 “unauthorized” cows on public land was a violation of federal regulations and amounted to animal cruelty.

After listening to arguments that stretched throughout the day, Judge James Browning denied the request, saying the ranchers failed to make their case. He also said the U.S. Forest Service is charged with managing the wilderness for the benefit of the public, and the operation would further that aim.

“No one disputes that the Gila cattle need to be removed and are doing significant damage to the Gila Wilderness,” Browning wrote. “The court does not see a legal prohibition on the operation. It would be contrary to the public interest to stop the operation from proceeding.”

Pot companies weigh pricing after OCS margin cut

TORONTO - Canopy Growth Corp. will hold its prices as licensed pot producers weigh whether to pass along to consumers the savings from the Ontario Cannabis Store's forthcoming margin decrease.

The Smiths Falls, Ont. cannabis company behind the Tweed, Ace Valley and 7Acres brands isn't budging on what it will charge because the pot market is already "highly competitive," chief executive David Klein said in a statement to The Canadian Press.

Canopy declined to say more about the pricing decision, which comes after it laid off 800 workers and the company reporting a $266.7 million net loss in its third quarter.

The decision comes after the OCS, the province's pot distributor, said last week that it would reduce the margins it makes on weed sales this September in a move expected to put $35 million back in the hands of licensed pot companies this fiscal year and $60 million in the 2024 fiscal year.

Path to finer farming

When Mark Lepp launched FarmLink Marketing Solutions 17 years ago he was pioneering the business of providing personalized marketing recommendations for Western Canadian farmers.

This week the Winnipeg company launched a new digital product called GrainFox that, through a combination of artificial intelligence, input from its own analytical teams, current and historical market data and regional aggregate data provides up-to-date, personalized crop sales recommendations to producers.

Nutrien to slightly delay potash production hike

CALGARY - Nutrien Ltd. will slightly delay the timing of its plan to ramp up potash production, due to slumping sales.

The Saskatoon-based company, which is the largest fertilizer producer in the world, announced disappointing fourth-quarter financial results Wednesday evening.

Nutrien Ltd. came in below Wall Street estimates, earning $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, down seven per cent from the same quarter a year earlier.

On a conference call with analysts Thursday, CEO Ken Seitz said Nutrien will slightly delay its previously announced plan to increase its annual potash production capability to 18 million tonnes by 2025, and will instead reach that milestone by 2026 instead.