In an effort to help manage the elevated risk of imported cases of COVID-19 and variants of concern into Canada during a time of increasing pressure on our health care system, Transport Canada has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to suspend all commercial and private passenger flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days, effective 23:30 EDT April 22, 2021.

The Minister of Transport will also amend the Interim Order Respecting Certain Requirements for Civil Aviation Due to COVID-19, which means for passengers who depart India or Pakistan to Canada after 23:30 EDT April 22, 2021, via an indirect route, they will need to obtain a negative COVID-19 pre-departure test from a third country before continuing their journey to Canada.

Transport Canada has issued their latest Ship Safety Bulletin (06/2021) which covers their new fees for Marine Cargo (including grain inspections), Port State Control, Prewash and Marine Insurance Certification Services. This is further implementation of of their Fee Modernization Initiative. Interestingly the fees came into effect April 1, 2021, while the regulatory amendments to the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 were just published in the Canada Gazette Part II – April 14, 2021, which amended the Cargo, Fumigation and Tackle Regulations, Administrative Monetary Penalties and Notices Regulations, Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations.

For further info and links to the revised fees, please see here

Statics Canada latest grain planting projection reports are in and it looks like it will be a busy season. Based on current projections, Canadian farmers will plant approximately 21.5 million acres of canola this spring, 2021, up nearly 750,000 acres from last year, according to the government’s annual planting intentions report released April 27.

Canadian barley plantings will also be up sharply at more than 8.6 million acres this year compared to 7.6 million in 2020, but spring wheat plantings will be nearly 1.6 million acres lower than a year ago at 16.3 million acres.

The Statistics Canada report, released annually in late April, is based on data collected in the 2021 Field Crop Survey. This year’s field crop survey, conducted March 1-29, involved about 11,500 farmers across the country who were asked to share information on their crop planting intentions for the coming production year.

For full report, please see here

As the world finally starts to move towards greener alternative forms of energy, the Canadian farmer is looking to place themselves at the fore front with abundant supplies of canola oil. Given Canada’s plans to increase its canola crush capacity by over 40 percent across the next three years, the recent news of large infrastructure investments should come as no surprise. Indeed, three of the largest grain companies in the country have, over the last month, announced substantial investment in existing/new plants which will be geared towards ramping up canola crushing production.

Richardson unveiled its plans in March to double the capacity of its plant in Yorkton, Sask., to 2.2 million tonnes. Cargill announced last week that it is also building a plant in Regina that will consume one million tonnes of canola seed per year. And Viterra was the latest company to issue a news release saying it intends to build the world’s largest canola crush facility in Regina, capable of processing 2.5 million tonnes of seed annually.

All of the new plants are expected to be up and running by 2024.