Noise over GMO labelling in the United States Monday, December 7, 2015 On Oct. 21, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee "reaffirmed" the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). That's according to the Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food. The Grocery Manufacturers Association urges the U.S. government, before year's end, to pass a law banning mandatory GMO labelling, cutting off at the pass, so to speak, a State of Vermont law that comes into effect next July 1. That law would make it mandatory for grocery manufacturers to state if GMO products are in the box.The grocery manufacturers say labelling will add unnecessary costs for consumers. Not surprisingly, anti-GMO groups disagree. The newsletter of the particularly noisy Organic Consumers Association's says that "not one single member of the U.S. Congress . . . has had the intelligence or the courage to say that GMO-tainted foods and the pesticides that go along with them are toxic or unsafe." BF Urban farming a high-cost venture Army worm poop deceives corn plants
A new front in the repair access debate Friday, March 6, 2026 Iowa lawmakers have pushed the right‑to‑repair conversation into new territory with House File 2529, a bill that focuses specifically on diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) systems—the single most common cause of emissions-related downtime on modern farm machinery. The bill would require... Read this article online
March 8 is International Women’s Day Friday, March 6, 2026 Across the United States and Canada, women are taking on increasingly visible roles in agriculture—managing farms, leading ag-tech startups, advancing research, and strengthening the rural economies that feed both nations. Their work reflects a shift in an industry once defined... Read this article online
Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to Visit Toronto and Southwestern Ontario Tuesday, March 3, 2026 The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry will be in Toronto and Southwestern Ontario later this week as part of its ongoing study on the role of Canada’s agriculture and agri‑food sector in strengthening national food security. The fact‑finding mission is scheduled for... Read this article online
AgriStability Program Updated to Include Pasture-Related Feed Costs Beginning in 2026 Monday, March 2, 2026 In case you missed it last week, the Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced that pasture-related feed costs will be added as an allowable expense under AgriStability starting with the 2026 program year. The update addresses rising operational... Read this article online
Bringing more Food and Ingredient Processing Back to Canadian Soil Monday, March 2, 2026 Protein Industries Canada has announced the second cohort of nine companies participating in its Program, an initiative designed to bring more food and ingredient processing back to Canadian soil and expand the nation’s value‑added agriculture sector. The selected companies span the... Read this article online