Union Farmer Newsletter: September 2023
In this issue: “Let them eat concrete” Ontario’s farmers are fed up with the Greenbelt giveaways Farmers unite to defeat Canadian Grain Commission’s (CGC) unfair change to grading standards NFU Read more
Lee Kyung Hae’s dramatic suicide still an inspiration for global action
On the International Day of Action Against the WTO and Free Trade Agreements, NFU calls for fair and just international trade systems September 10th 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Read more
Aggregate Data on Farmgate and Retail Food Prices
National Farmers Union’s Submission to House of Commons Standing Committee Canadians have been struggling to afford groceries. Many farmers have been struggling to make a living. Food retailers and processors, however, Read more
NFU submission on BILL C-282 – An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act (supply management)
Trade agreement negotiations are done behind closed doors, thus, it is critical that ground rules to uphold our supply management system are set now by our elected representatives voting openly in Parliament. The NFU therefore recommends that Bill C-282 be passed without amendment as a matter of national interest. Read more
Union Farmer Newsletter: February 2023
In this issue: Advocating for farmland protection in Ontario Towards a National Agricultural Labour Strategy that works for Farmers and Farm Workers Public transit should not stop at the city Read more
Statement on ISDS and climate
Civil society organisations are calling on governments to remove the threat that ISDS (investor state dispute settlement) poses to the climate. The following statement outlines our primary concerns and demands. Read more
Get big or get out the track hoe
How agricultural policy drives farmland drainage by Cathy Holtslander, Director of Research and Policy The National Farmers Union is a direct-membership organization made up of Canadian farm families who share Read more
Why farmers are not celebrating CETA’s five-year anniversary
September 21 marked the five-year anniversary of the provisional application of the Canada–EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). It is no surprise to the National Farmers Union (NFU) that farmers are not happy with the results. Negotiations on the agricultural chapter were strained to the point that it was one of the last areas to be agreed upon. In the media, the issues were presented as a trade-off between allowing the EU more access to our supply-managed dairy market in return for gaining more access to the EU’s market for Canadian beef. Some political commentators looked for cheap points by framing this purported stalemate as a conflict between western ranchers and dairy producers in Ontario and Quebec. The NFU had a more sophisticated analysis, which time has proven to be accurate. Read more
Stop the ratification of CETA! A joint statement by German and Canadian civil society groups
On the occasion of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Canada, and ahead of the announced ratification of the EU–Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) by the German parliament, Read more
Open letter to the European Commission concerning plant variety rights in the Free Trade Agreement with Indonesia
The undersigned organisations demand that the European Commission does not impose on Indonesia any request in the EU-Indonesia Free Trade Agreements to implement the 1991 Act of the International Union Read more