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Agriculture

Canola plants bloom in a pasture on a farm near Cremona, Alta., Friday, July 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Canadian farmers hoping Carney can find resolution to canola tariffs in China

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press 4 minute read 3:00 AM CST

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Canadian farmers are hoping for a breakthrough on punishing tariffs as Prime Minister Mark Carney talks trade in China this week. 

Rick White, president of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, says Beijing's steep levies on the major Prairie crop will cost producers at least $2 billion this year if the issue isn't resolved.

"Farmers are already frustrated. They're exasperated, they're worried, they're stressed," White said in an interview Tuesday. "Every day, every week, every month this goes on, it just gets worse and worse and worse."

Carney's trip starts Wednesday, and he will be joined by cabinet ministers and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. Carney is also set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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N.S. researchers study drones for pesticide spraying, but Ottawa strict on regulation

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

N.S. researchers study drones for pesticide spraying, but Ottawa strict on regulation

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026

HALIFAX - As a drone glided across farmland on a December day in Truro, N.S., its robotic voice called out, "enable spraying." Two nozzles on the bottom of the drone opened and released a vortex of liquid — just water that day, but other times it's coloured dyes. 

Dalhousie University student Chloe Toombs hopes one day that liquid will be a pesticide.

Toombs, a master’s candidate in the faculty of agriculture, is researching how plants absorb liquid released overhead by a drone. It's still early, but results suggest drones could be just as effective as traditional equipment in applying chemicals to farmers' fields.

That's good news for farmers, Toombs says, because drones are much less destructive to some plant life compared to sprayers that drive on land; using the flying machines to spray fertilizer, she adds, could also potentially help cut costs. The bad news, however, is that the use of drones for agriculture in Canada — particularly for spraying pesticides — is tightly regulated and restricted.

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Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026

A surveyor drone is shown at the Dalhousie University agricultural campus in Truro, N.S. on Dec. 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Emily Baron Cadloff
A surveyor drone is shown at the Dalhousie University agricultural campus in Truro, N.S. on Dec. 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Emily Baron Cadloff

From small farms to your cup: What it takes to make that one cup of fresh coffee

Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

From small farms to your cup: What it takes to make that one cup of fresh coffee

Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

OAKVILLE - As a stream of roasted coffee beans drops into a barrel, it fills an Oakville, Ont., roastery with a smell practically strong enough to caffeinate you. 

The roasted beans, now a rich, deep brown, were once small and green, bagged in large burlap sacks and shipped to Canadian ports from the coffee-producing countries of Ethiopia, Colombia and Brazil. 

It's at Reunion Coffee Roasters where they find their defining character. The strength of your brew and whether it will taste fruity or earthy is methodically decided at the roastery's lab, where they sample various beans and perfect the taste.

Walking through his roughly 50,000 sq. ft. roastery, Reunion president Adam Pesce points out industry-scale machines where the green beans are washed, weighed and roasted to get the preferred colour, flavour and aroma. 

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Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

Reunion Coffee Roasters President Adam Pesce tours his coffee roasting plant in Oakville, Ont., on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Reunion Coffee Roasters President Adam Pesce tours his coffee roasting plant in Oakville, Ont., on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

P.E.I. researchers look at how cow poop can strengthen soil, reduce emissions

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

P.E.I. researchers look at how cow poop can strengthen soil, reduce emissions

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025

HALIFAX - Like many farmers, Nick Green trades and barters as a way to ensure his cattle have enough land to graze. 

Unlike many farmers, Green trades in manure. 

“We essentially provide a service,” Green said. And that service is waste. Cow poop, to be exact. 

Green is part of a Living Labs P.E.I. project, where farmers partner with researchers working under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to test out theories in real-world conditions and on a large scale. 

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Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025

Cattle graze in a field in Saint-Benoit-Labre, Que., Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Cattle graze in a field in Saint-Benoit-Labre, Que., Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Purple haze in the sky over Delta, B.C., sets off awe, curiosity and questions

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Purple haze in the sky over Delta, B.C., sets off awe, curiosity and questions

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025

On the darkest nights of winter when the cloud cover is just right, there's a purple haze above parts of Metro Vancouver and it has nothing to do with Christmas or Jimi Hendrix. 

Cathy Latremouille said she looked outside her Crescent Beach home in Surrey on Friday night to see what looked like a "great big candy floss sky."

"I've never seen anything like it before," said Latremouille. "It's a good thing I don't face south, I would have thought the United States was going up in flames."

The magenta glow was a puzzle.

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Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025

A purple haze in the sky above Metro Vancouver is shown in this undated handout photo captured by local resident Catherine Latremouille. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Catherine Latremouille (Mandatory Credit)
A purple haze in the sky above Metro Vancouver is shown in this undated handout photo captured by local resident Catherine Latremouille. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Catherine Latremouille (Mandatory Credit)

P.E.I. offers millions of dollars in funding to oyster farmers hard-hit by disease

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

P.E.I. offers millions of dollars in funding to oyster farmers hard-hit by disease

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Friday, Dec. 19, 2025

CHARLOTTETOWN - The P.E.I. government is offering a pair of new aid programs worth a combined $9.2 million to help harvesters hard-hit by oyster disease.

The programs will help fishers, growers and processors recover from a parasite known as MSX and from Dermo disease, both of which are harmless to humans but kill oysters at high rates.

MSX was discovered on the Island in the summer of 2024 and Dermo a year later.

The government is creating an income stabilization program to provide aid and help manage immediate costs for growers who’ve lost income from the parasites. 

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Friday, Dec. 19, 2025

Shucked Malpeque oysters are seen on a serving board in Summerside, P.E.I., Sunday, Jul 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini
Shucked Malpeque oysters are seen on a serving board in Summerside, P.E.I., Sunday, Jul 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini

B.C. mink farmers drop legal challenge of ban, citing costs after four-year fight

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

B.C. mink farmers drop legal challenge of ban, citing costs after four-year fight

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025

VANCOUVER - Mink farmers in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada are dropping their legal challenge over a pandemic-era ban in the province due to legal fees they say are "far beyond their means."

The British Columbia Mink Producers Association and the Canada Mink Breeders Association had been petitioning for a judicial review of the province's ban on mink farming and had been challenging the policy decision, which dates back to November 2021.

In a statement, the mink farmers say they remain angry at the move by the province, which they describe as driven by "an aggressive anti-fur lobby."

The farmers say they have fought the province unsuccessfully in several separate court attempts while no financial compensation has been offered to operators who had to tear down their farms.

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Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025

A mink sniffs the air as he surveys the river beach in search of food, in meadow near the village of Khatenchitsy, 65 kilometres northwest of Minsk, Belarus on Sept. 4, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Sergei Grits MANDATORY CREDIT
A mink sniffs the air as he surveys the river beach in search of food, in meadow near the village of Khatenchitsy, 65 kilometres northwest of Minsk, Belarus on Sept. 4, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Sergei Grits MANDATORY CREDIT

Canopy Growth signs deal to buy MTL Cannabis in agreement valued at $125M

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Canopy Growth signs deal to buy MTL Cannabis in agreement valued at $125M

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

SMITHS FALLS - Canopy Growth Corp. has signed a deal to buy Quebec-based MTL Cannabis Corp. in a transaction valued at about $125 million.

The deal is expected to help boost Canopy Growth's position in Canada’s medical cannabis market.

Canopy Growth chief executive Luc Mongeau says MTL's cultivation expertise, combined with his company's scale, positions it to improve product quality, expand supply and accelerate its path to profitable growth.

Under the terms of the agreement, MTL shareholders will receive 0.32 of a common share of Canopy Growth and 14.4 cents in cash for each MTL share they hold.

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Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

Staff work in a marijuana grow room that can be viewed by at the new visitors centre at Canopy Growths Tweed facility in Smiths Falls, Ont., on Aug. 23, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Staff work in a marijuana grow room that can be viewed by at the new visitors centre at Canopy Growths Tweed facility in Smiths Falls, Ont., on Aug. 23, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Cannabis stocks surge after reports of Trump planning to ease federal restrictions

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Cannabis stocks surge after reports of Trump planning to ease federal restrictions

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Friday, Dec. 12, 2025

TORONTO - Shares in Canada's cannabis companies surged after reports U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to ease federal restrictions on the drug.

The Washington Post first reported that the president is expected to direct agencies to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug.

The move would make it similar to some common prescription painkillers, the newspaper says.

A reclassification of the drug in the U.S. could offer an opportunity for Canadian cannabis companies to expand their businesses stateside.

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Friday, Dec. 12, 2025

Cannabis plants grow inside of Thrive Cannabis' production facility in Simcoe, Ontario Tuesday, April 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tara Walton
Cannabis plants grow inside of Thrive Cannabis' production facility in Simcoe, Ontario Tuesday, April 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tara Walton

Abbotsford mayor blasts feds for flooding ‘inaction’ as water starts receding

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Abbotsford mayor blasts feds for flooding ‘inaction’ as water starts receding

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025

ABBOTSFORD - The mayor of flood-struck Abbotsford, B.C., says he is disappointed and frustrated with the federal government over what he calls "inaction" on cross-border flooding that has repeatedly inundated his city.

Ross Siemens said he had not been contacted by the federal government about this week's flooding, which has forced hundreds of households to evacuate, inundated poultry barns and forced livestock relocations.

Siemens told a news briefing Friday he was pleading for flood mitigation to be addressed, that authorities across the border in Washington state needed to "wake up," and for the issue to be part of an international treaty.

Flooding can result in the Fraser Valley when the Nooksack River in Washington overflows its banks, as it did Wednesday, sending water pouring north and potentially inundating the farmlands of the Sumas Prairie.

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Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025

A car crosses a flooded street in Abbotsford B.C., on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
A car crosses a flooded street in Abbotsford B.C., on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Report raises concerns about human rights of N.S. female migrant workers

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Report raises concerns about human rights of N.S. female migrant workers

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025

HALIFAX - A new report says Nova Scotia is failing to adequately protect female migrant workers employed on farms and seafood plants in the province. 

The report, published by the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia, reviewed over 40 pieces of existing research and surveyed dozens of workers in the Colchester, Cumberland, and Pictou counties of the province. 

Stacey Gomez, one of the authors of the report and the executive director of the centre, says themes quickly emerged as they prepared the report. She said it made it clear that the federal and provincial governments need to work together to ensure better conditions for women who work on farms and seafood plants. 

“It's actually both (levels of government) that have a responsibility to ensure that migrant workers are treated with dignity when they're working here.”

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Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025

Workers prune fruit trees in Pereaux, N.S., on Friday, April 22, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Workers prune fruit trees in Pereaux, N.S., on Friday, April 22, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Maple Leaf Foods to pay special dividend of 60 cents per share

The Canadian Press 1 minute read Preview

Maple Leaf Foods to pay special dividend of 60 cents per share

The Canadian Press 1 minute read Monday, Dec. 8, 2025

MISSISSAUGA - Maple Leaf Foods Inc. says it will pay a special cash dividend to shareholders.

The company says it will pay shareholders 60 cents per share in addition to its regular quarterly dividend.

Maple Leaf chief executive Curtis Frank says the move reflects the company's strong financial position and confidence in its outlook.

The special dividend is payable on Dec. 19 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 15.

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Monday, Dec. 8, 2025

A Maple Leaf Foods employee walks past a Maple Leaf sign at the company's meat facility in Toronto on Monday, Dec. 15, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
A Maple Leaf Foods employee walks past a Maple Leaf sign at the company's meat facility in Toronto on Monday, Dec. 15, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

B.C. dairy milk testers on strike, call for fair mileage compensation: union

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

B.C. dairy milk testers on strike, call for fair mileage compensation: union

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Friday, Nov. 28, 2025

BURNABY - The BC General Employees Union says dairy milk testers in the province have started job action.

The union says it represents dairy production technicians employed by Lactanet, and they began a strike on Tuesday following 20 months of contract talks.

The workers collect samples of dairy milk produced by about 175 herds across B.C. for testing at the Lactanet lab in Chilliwack, B.C., and the union says they're seeking increases to mileage compensation.

It says the farms are sometimes up to 100 kilometres away but the testers are currently paid 41 cents per kilometre for using their personal vehicles, lower than the 72 cents per kilometre the Canada Revenue Agency provides as a guideline for tax purposes.

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Friday, Nov. 28, 2025

Dairy cows wait to be milked at a farm in Granby, Que., Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
Dairy cows wait to be milked at a farm in Granby, Que., Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

‘Frustrating’: Veterinarians urge regulatory changes as medicine shortages mount

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

‘Frustrating’: Veterinarians urge regulatory changes as medicine shortages mount

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

REGINA - Canadian veterinarians no longer have to access to 40 per cent of medications they once were able to use, a figure the head of the national association says is worrying. 

Tracy Fisher, president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, says drugs for animals — from cats and dogs to sheep and cattle — are becoming increasingly unavailable. 

She says Canadian regulations discourage drug manufacturers from going through the process to get their medications approved for distribution, even though the medicines are available in other countries. 

Animal welfare issues arise when veterinarians have fewer drugs at their disposal, she adds.

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Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

Cows are seen at a dairy farm on in Danville, Que., on Aug. 11, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Cows are seen at a dairy farm on in Danville, Que., on Aug. 11, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Rogers Sugar reports $13.7M Q4 profit, revenue down from year ago

The Canadian Press 1 minute read Preview

Rogers Sugar reports $13.7M Q4 profit, revenue down from year ago

The Canadian Press 1 minute read Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

VANCOUVER - Rogers Sugar Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit of $13.7 million as its revenue fell compared with a year ago.

The company says its profit amounted to 10 cents per diluted share for the quarter compared with a profit of $18.6 million or 13 cents per diluted share a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, Rogers says it earned 16 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 14 cents per share a year ago.

Revenue totalled $322.7 million, down from $333.0 million in the same quarter last year.

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Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

The Rogers Sugar and Lantic sign outside of the Rogers sugar refinery in Vancouver, on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
The Rogers Sugar and Lantic sign outside of the Rogers sugar refinery in Vancouver, on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Independent grocers federation not happy with farmers’ call for cap on profits

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Independent grocers federation not happy with farmers’ call for cap on profits

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

HALIFAX - The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers says it's disappointed and surprised that a farmers lobby group is calling for caps on the profits of major grocery chains. 

Gary Sands, senior vice-president of the federation, says his members are also unhappy with the National Farmers Union's push for publicly owned grocery stores. 

“I just find it disappointing that anybody in the Canadian food supply chain points fingers at anybody else in the food supply chain because they should know better," Sands said in an interview Wednesday.

"And I wouldn't point fingers at the suppliers. I wouldn't point fingers at the farmers."

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Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

A person shops for produce, at a grocery store in Baltimore, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A person shops for produce, at a grocery store in Baltimore, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

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