Agriculture

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government says it is taking steps to ensure tree fruit growers are compensated for past harvests after the closure of a co-operative that had served farmers for almost 90 years.

CALGARY — Canada's canola industry could take a $1-billion hit in the wake of Chinese trade actions, according to a new report from an international credit rating agency.

CALGARY — Saskatchewan farmer Ian Boxall is blunt about why he plants canola, the crop caught in the crossfire of the latest trade dispute between Canada and China, every year.

Certain solar farms will be banned on prime agricultural land in Ontario as the province expands energy production to meet demand in the coming decades, Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said Wednesday.

REGINA — Will Robbins has been in the process of taking over his family farm southwest of Saskatoon. The 43-year-old grows organic wheat, oats, lentils, peas and occasionally flax and mustard on 445 hectares of land near Laura, Sask.

MACKLIN, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA — A string of suspected arsons on hay bales, grass and crops around a west-central Saskatchewan town has been both agitating and perplexing, says the local fire chief. It has also prompted a $20,000 reward.

"I'm pretty amazed at how much garbage we’re picking up; I didn't think it would be to this level."

PENTICTON, B.C.

Extreme weather events like fires, floods, heat waves and droughts pose an increasing risk to Canada’s food supply chain, putting pressure on prices all the way to the grocery store shelf, say experts.

With less than a week to go before gala apples will be ready to be picked in British Columbia, the president of the provincial fruit growers' group worries about a devastating season without a way for farmers to refrigerate their crops.