The federal government is providing $1.7 billion in compensation to supply-managed sectors for market access granted under the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA) that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020. Agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau made the announcement November 14 at a dairy farm in Quebec. Dairy producers will benefit the most from …
Marie-Claude Bibeau
Government funding under discussion
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be the focal point of the next agricultural policy framework when the five-year Canadian Agricultural Partnership ends in 2023. Provincial and territorial ministers met with their federal counterpart Marie-Claude Bibeau this week to check in prior to the annual in-person conference scheduled for Saskatoon in July. Bibeau told Country Life …
Historic relief package delivered
Tough negotiations have delivered BC farmers a landmark recovery package that promises to help farmers recover from catastrophic flooding and landslides last November. The provincial and federal agriculture ministers have combined two relief programs to secure $228 million in funding under what’s billed as the “2021 Flood Recovery Program for Food Security.” Delivered through AgriRecovery, …
Flood recovery will take time
The floodwaters are finally receding in the Lower Mainland, but farmers across southwestern BC now face the monumental challenge of cleaning up their properties. Just 500 properties in the Fraser Valley remained under evacuation orders on December 7, according to the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Those farmers who have returned have been …
Produce drives BC exports
Canada’s ambitions of achieving $75 billion in agri-food exports by 2025 were set back by COVID-19, but the prospects remain bright as Marie-Claude Bibeau once more takes the reins of the department following September’s election. Farm Credit Canada released its annual review of trade shortly before Bibeau was sworn into cabinet this week, highlighting Canada’s …
New year, new era
BURNABY – A new administration in the US this month is raising hopes for fewer trade hassles in the months ahead. “I expect more predictability and more following the rules,” federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told farm media last month regarding the new US administration. She had previously announced that Canada would not make additional …