This Week in Canadian Agriculture is a review of Canadian agricultural industry developments of interest to the U.S. agricultural community. The issues summarized in this report cover a wide range of subject matter obtained from Canadian press reports, government press releases, and host country agricultural officials and representatives.
Flooding in Southern Alberta: Swelling of the Bow and Oldman River basins began Thursday, June 20, 2013 and over the following days caused significant flooding to the surrounding area, including some agricultural area. Six to seven times more water volume than usual was flowing through the Bow River on Friday, June 21st. By Monday June 24th, the high flows from the Oldman River and Bow River were expected to cause river levels to rise quickly in the South Saskatchewan River. Barley and wheat are the major crops grown in the flooded Alberta area.
New Labeling Standard for Ice Wine Proposed: Government of Canada is proposing to create a national standard for ice wine that will require it to be made only from grapes naturally frozen on the vine. It is expected that the proposed regulatory amendments will allow wine exporters to have greater
market access without having to redesign their labels for each individual country’s requirements. The proposed national standard is also expected to help prevent the sale of fraudulent ice wine.
The proposed amendments will also affect the Canada Agricultural Products Act, the Food and Drugs Regulations and the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Regulations. The proposed changes were published in the Canada Gazette Part I on June 15, 2013. It is available at the following URL: http://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2013/2013-06-15/html/reg2-eng.html. The comment period will run until August 29, 2013.
Canadian Wheat Alliance: About CAD97 million over five years will be invested to create the Canadian Wheat Alliance (CWA), a commitment among Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the University of Saskatchewan, the province of Saskatchewan and the National Research Council Canada, to support and advance research. The CWA will undertake research and development projects that will improve the yield of Canadian wheat varieties by reducing losses from drought, heat, cold and disease.
The targeted specifications for new Canadian spring and winter wheat varieties include:
•Increase yield on a per acre basis
•Increase in resiliency to climate stresses and disease
•Shorten and improve the efficiency of the wheat breeding cycle
•Reduce the nitrogen fertilizer requirements
