Ottawa fast-tracking travel visas for AIDS conference amid sharp criticism

Tue, July 12, 2022


OTTAWA — The federal government says it is now prioritizing temporary travel visas for people seeking to attend the International AIDS Conference in Montreal at the end of July.

The move comes as the head of the African Alliance health rights organization slams Canada for bidding to host the conference and spending millions of dollars on it without making sure all attendees would be given a visa to attend.

Founder Tian Johnson says it is "truly vile" that thousands of people from the Global South are still waiting to find out if they'll get a visa, leaving the conference to be only "white, privileged and academic."

The African Alliance is one of 250 Canadian and international humanitarian groups that signed a letter to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser in June asking him to intervene.

The letter warns there is a real risk the voices of people living in countries most affected by AIDS will be missing from the conversation.

A spokesman for Fraser says visa offices have now been sent lists of conference invitees and are being told to prioritize their temporary travel visa applications.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Tentative agreement between Nunavut employee union, PSAC and Nunavut gov't now ratified

Tue, July 12, 2022 at 1:19 p.m.·2 min rea


Jason Rochon is the president of the Nunavut Employees Union.

 (Jacqueline McKay/CBC - image credit)

The tentative agreement between the Nunavut Employees Union (NEU), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the government of Nunavut (GN) has been ratified, according to a joint news release from the two unions.

The agreement, which was initially reached in March, affects more than 4,000 Nunavut government employees. It came into effect on July 11 and expires Sept. 30, 2024.

A lump sum payment of $3,500 will be coming for indeterminate, term and casual employees (pro-rated for part-time employees) within 30 days of ratification, according to the agreement document.

There will also be retroactive payment on all hours worked by all employees during the term of the agreement, the document indiactes.

"I think what we learned is no deal is perfect, but we always need to work on better," said Jason Rochon, president of the NEU.

"I heard a lot of issues and a lot of concerns [from members], and I took those, we have notes made, we're going to be looking at doing input differently ... I want to make sure that the collective agreement is reflective."

The previous contract expired over three years ago.

The release says NEU and PSAC travelled to nearly all the communities in the territory to hear from members and allow them to vote on the tentative agreement.

Earlier this year, PSAC and NEU called on the government to provide workers with "stable jobs, fair wages, and northern allowances that keep up with rising costs," the release says.

"Challenges posed by travel and connectivity didn't prevent us from conducting votes and hearing from as many members as possible," says PSAC north regional executive vice president Lorraine Rousseau in a statement.

"I want to thank all members for their patience. It took a long time, but you've always been here for Nunavut with your tireless work and dedication."

Rousseau told CBC News she isn't authorized to say what the voter turnout on the ratification vote by members was, but that the number could be released later on. She added some of the voting was done virtually and that those were "well attended."

The communities they couldn't reach in-person included Coral Harbour, Naujaat, Chesterfield Inlet, Sanikiluaq and Arviat.

Some of the "gains" from the deal Rousseau said include retro-incremental raises, and consideration for various forms of leaves including for hunting (now two paid days leave, rather than unpaid) and for domestic violence (five days paid and five days unpaid).

The Nunavut government said in a news release Tuesday that a formal signing will take place, then more details about the deal will be released.

"I congratulate the Nunavut Employees Union and look forward to continuing the good work achieved through bargaining and continued cooperation as we move forward", said Minister of Human Resources Margaret Nakashuk in a statement.

Rogers outage points to need for greater oversight of critical industry

Tue, July 12, 2022 

A statue of Edward S. Rogers Jr., Rogers Communication's founder, is seen as people walk on a sidewalk near the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The recent Rogers service outage forced singer The Weeknd to postpone his concert at the venue. 

(Cole Burston/The Canadian Press - image credit)

The massive Rogers Communications outage last Friday that prevented many Canadians from accessing crucial services demonstrates the need to better regulate the country's telecommunications sector, experts say.

On Monday, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne called a meeting of telecom CEOs, including Rogers's Tony Staffieri, to talk about ways to prevent similar service disruptions in the future.

Champagne said he wants to see the companies create a plan within 60 days for mitigating the impact of future outages on consumers that includes providing emergency roaming.

But experts say the issues facing the industry go beyond a quick fix.

The outage halted basic communication and internet access, stopped financial payments and in some cases blocked people from making emergency calls, underscoring the essential role of internet providers.

"The fact that we can have one provider go down and knock off so much of our internet, really, I think raises significant questions about how we approach internet regulation, given it's more and more critical capacity in our everyday lives," said Fenwick McKelvey, an associate professor of communications at Concordia University in Montreal and an expert in telecommunications policy.

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Concentrated ownership

Five companies — Rogers, along with Bell, Shaw, Telus and Videotron — account for 90 per cent of Canada's telecommunications market. (Rogers and Shaw are in the middle of a proposed $26-billion merger, but face questions from the Competition Bureau.)

Part of the challenge in Canada is that these companies own many of the steps along the supply chain, McKelvey said.

Rogers has control over both the infrastructure and the services provided that use that infrastructure, he said. "You have the same company in the same system accountable for many, many, many parts of the communications supply chain."

McKelvey suggests making the infrastructure a public utility, which has been done in Australia, and then opening up greater competition between companies for cellphone contracts and other services.

"We're talking about something which is so foundational to the very operation of society," McKelvey said. "I think what we lack now is an imagination about different ways of administering and running the internet."

Average monthly wireless rates

Dwayne Winseck, a communications professor at Carleton University in Ottawa and the director of the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project, said increased competition among service providers could help bring down the cost for consumers.

But that alone wouldn't address the infrastructure problem that led to the outage, Winseck said. Given the high cost of setting up the cables and towers, additional competition likely wouldn't lead to more reliable networks.

"What you would have is competitors buying the most lucrative markets and shaving costs at the margins," he said. "In those margins would include accepting higher levels of risk for breakdowns and so on."

It's imperative, Winseck said, that the federal government and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) better regulate telecom companies.

"We've got a small number of players in what we can call a tight oligopolistic market — basically a market with very few players," he said.

Ottawa needs to be more aggressive, expert says

Rogers has yet to offer details on what caused the outage, blaming a network system failure following a maintenance update.

In a letter to Rogers that was made public Tuesday, the CRTC ordered the company to explain in detail what caused last week's network outage, how it affected emergency services and what the company plans to do to compensate customers.

Following Monday's meeting, Staffieri had said he welcomed Champagne's suggestions and added that Rogers would work with other companies to bring the plan into action.

"We are united in our commitment to ensuring strong, reliable wireless and internet connections that meet the high standards Canadians expect," Staffieri said in a statement.

Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and an expert in internet regulation, said the first step should be to determine exactly what led to the outage.

The breadth of the impact — from downed Interac machines to blocked 911 calls — demonstrates that many sectors and the federal government were ill-prepared to deal with such a situation, Geist said.

The government needs to put in place standardized compensation and rights for consumers affected by such an outage, he said, as was done with airline travel in 2019.

Geist said the next CRTC chair appointed by the government should be focused on more rigorous oversight of the industry. The five-year term of the current chair, Ian Scott, is set to end later this year.

"There's been frustration with the government that it hasn't been inclined over the last number of years to adopt a particular combative approach to the telecom providers," Geist said.

"I think that Canadians are going to be looking to the government to take on a more aggressive, serious tone, recognizing the seriousness of a situation when you can literally lose connectivity for millions of Canadians."

Rogers Takeover of Shaw Meets Skepticism; Deal Spread Widens

Stefanie Marotta
Wed, July 13, 2022 



(Bloomberg) -- Investors are casting more doubt over Rogers Communications Inc.’s proposed C$20 billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. as last week’s national network failure draws increasing scrutiny from Canada’s industry watchdogs.

The deal spread, the difference between Shaw’s stock price and the C$40.50 a share offer by Canada’s biggest cable and wireless firm, climbed to C$6.17 at the close on Wednesday, its widest point in a month. That’s down from less than C$3 at the start of July as investors price in further risk of the transaction collapsing in the wake of an outage that pushed millions of Rogers customers offline.

Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, whose department will make the final decision on the deal, called the network problem “unacceptable” and ordered telecommunications companies to agree to emergency roaming and mutual assistance during future outages. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the telecom regulator, ordered Rogers on Wednesday “to respond to detailed questions and provide a comprehensive explanation” for the network outage.

While the controversy throws Rogers into the middle of concerns around network reliability, the debacle could bolster antitrust czar Matthew Boswell’s argument that putting more power in the hands of one company could further harm competition in the nation’s already narrow telecommunications market. The antitrust agency said in May it opposed one of the country’s largest-ever mergers. As the July 31 closing date looms, uncertainty is seeping in and investors are opting out.

“Boswell and the bureau are taking a pretty hard line publicly on these issues and, given all the jitters around regulators and the relatively consolidated nature of the Canadian markets, this kind of hard line tone on Shaw’s wireless assets has created jitters,” Jonestrading market strategist Cabot Henderson said in an interview. “The outage has not helped in the court of public opinion.”

Rogers shares have slumped 4.5% since Friday’s outage, while Shaw’s are down 5.8%. At least three analysts, those at Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada, lowered their price targets on Rogers stock as the company plans to reimburse customers to help mitigate churn.

Even so, analysts remain bullish on Rogers’ prospects of closing the deal. The company previously agreed to sell Shaw’s wireless unit Freedom Mobile to rival Quebecor Inc. in an attempt to soothe the bureau’s concerns. By removing mobile services from the transaction, Rogers is essentially acquiring a cable provider by shuffling off its wireless division to a smaller competitor.

“As for the government’s desire to bring about more facilities-based competition to stimulate pricing options and less reliance on the Big 3 networks, we think the best opportunity it’s seen in years has presented itself with the prospect of Quebecor buying Freedom as part of a remedy solution for the proposed Rogers-Shaw merger.,” NBC Financial Markets analyst Adam Shine said in a note to clients.

Rogers' five-day refund after outage doesn't go far enough, legal expert says

TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc.'s move to credit its customers with the equivalent of five days of service following the massive outage that crippled its network last week is "wholly inadequate," a legal expert said.



"Five days is predicated on the possible belief that damage to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses can be quantified solely on the basis of a portion of a monthly fee," Richard Leblanc, a York University governance, law and ethics professor, said in an interview Wednesday.

Payments could not occur, sales were missed, meetings were missed, work could not be done, and businesses could not operate fully, so damages would be broader than that, Leblanc explained.

Rogers made the announcement via a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday saying that it was "a first step" in earning back its customers' trust.

"They're keeping the door open to do more and showing goodwill as an initial first step, but it's a minimum," Leblanc said.

In the statement, Rogers said it was listening to its customers from across the country and recognized how significant the impacts of the outage were for them.

Rogers wireless and internet customers were left without service in the outage that began early Friday morning and led to widespread disruptions. The outage affected 911 services as well as financial networks and other critical services.

The company said the disruption that shut down its mobile and internet services across much of the country came after a maintenance update in its core network, which caused some of its routers to malfunction.

As the next step, Leblanc believes Rogers should look to tailor its compensation strategy to better fit individual, household and business customers because "the damages are not equal" across the board.

Rogers is already facing a class-action lawsuit filed Monday by Montreal-based LPC Avocat Inc. on behalf of customers with a contract with Rogers, Fido Mobile or Chatr Mobile who didn't receive services on Friday or Saturday, as well as "persons in Quebec who could not operate with their own device or make transactions because of the outage" during that period.

Yuka Sai, a lawyer with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) said consumers deserve a say in what constitutes fair compensation when mass outages occur.

PIAC has requested the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) open a public consultation on how customers should be treated by telecom companies in the event of a service outage.

"This public hearing should set industry-wide rules on baseline emergency planning, notification and refund requirements, and other protections for both retail and wholesale-based customers," Sai said.

Jasmin Guénette, vice-president of National Affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), said for small and medium-sized businesses, the five-day reimbursement is "likely to be insufficient to cover the revenue lost."

Rogers should be compensating businesses with a full month of free service, he added.

On Tuesday, the CRTC asked Rogers to provide a detailed explanation for the service outage by July 22, including why and how it occurred and what measures it is putting in place to prevent it from happening again.

Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met with Rogers chief executive Tony Staffieri and the heads of several other telecom providers on Monday and directed them to come up with a crisis plan, including agreements on emergency roaming, a "mutual assistance" framework during outages and a communication protocol to "better inform the public and authorities during telecommunications emergencies."

Staffieri issued an updated apology Wednesday afternoon.

"Our network outage last Friday was unacceptable. Simply put, we failed on our promise to be Canada’s most reliable network," he wrote on the company's website.

The CEO said the company has "to make things right."

"You have my personal commitment that Rogers will make every change and investment needed to help ensure that it will not happen again."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RCI.B)

Adena Ali, The Canadian Press

Canada's Rogers CEO vows investments to avoid repeat of massive outage


Wed, July 13, 2022 

FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of Rogers Communications Inc. is seen in Toronto


(Reuters) - Rogers Communications Inc has pledged to make the investments needed to avoid massive outages of the kind that crippled customer communications across Canada last week.

The Canadian telecom operator will also take steps to ensure that 911 and essential services will be reachable if another outage occurs, Chief Executive Tony Staffieri said in a letter on Wednesday.

"You have my personal commitment that Rogers will make every change and investment needed to help ensure that it will not happen again," Staffieri said, without providing further details. (https://roge.rs/3uKB98y)

Rogers has come under pressure from the Canadian government, customers and politicians over last Friday's unprecedented glitch that lasted 19 hours.

In a 2009 report, the Emergency Services Working Group said telecom providers would ensure access to 911 for handsets that were uninitiated, unregistered, active, lapsed or unsubscribed.

But it made no provision for a scenario where a provider failed completely, said Matthew Gamble, vice chair of the Internet Society.

"All of the scenarios assume the provider is working," he said. "It's such an inconceivable thing that their entire network would fail. It's not something we plan for."

What is needed, he added, is a requirement allowing phones to tap into another network to connect to 911 if the user's provider suffers an outage.

Rogers, which has about 10 million wireless subscribers and 2.25 million retail internet subscribers, said on Tuesday it would be crediting customers with the equivalent of five days service following the outage.

It reported a net income of C$1.56 billion ($1.20 billion) in 2021.

($1 = 1.2978 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

Federal government puts up $10M for clean energy projects for Sask. First Nations


Tue, July 12, 2022 

A solar project expected to feature an 816-watt solar farm, operated by communities within the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, was among those given funding by the federal government on Monday. (Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images - image credit)

Five Indigenous-led initiatives, each of which will support renewable energy or help communities reach energy security, have been given boosts by the federal government.

Canada's Minister of Natural Resources John Wilkinson announced Monday that $10 million would be dedicated to five projects in Saskatchewan.

Among those to benefit are the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, Mee-Toos Forest Products of the Peter Ballantyne Group of Companies, the First Nations Power Authority of Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan.

Mee-Toos Forest Products will receive $2 million to replace heating systems at two schools, one in Pelican Narrows and one in Deschambault Lake, reducing fossil fuel usage in those buildings by roughly 90 per cent, a news release from the federal government said.

The First Nations Power Authority of Saskatchewan is to receive $975,000 for a project focused on community energy planning in Indigenous communities that aren't currently supplied with natural gas from SaskEnergy. On its website, the authority described a community energy plan as a document used to plan communities, fund proposals and develop renewable energy projects.

"Our communities struggle on a daily basis with energy security and this impacts access, fair, reasonable access, costs, reliability for our communities," Gary Merasty, who spoke on behalf of Peter Ballantyne Group of Companies, said Monday.

"This has huge and broad impacts. It has impacts on home heating, it has impacts on traditional pursuits.… it has a huge impact on the cost of life on a daily basis."

Merasty said a high cost of energy can compound social and economic issues impacting quality of life in communities.

Too often, he said, communities face barriers in lowering the costs of energy due to their remote locations and smaller population sizes, or the "jurisdictional chaos" created by the various levels of government having different responsibilities to First Nations people.

Initiatives like the five supported by this federal funding, he said, will "change the tide on a daily basis" and allow First Nation communities to better engage with Canada's economy.

The First Nations Power Authority's website said it was working with Onion Lake and Southend to develop community energy plans.

The Meadow Lake Tribal Council is to receive money for two projects: more than $4.3 million to build capacity and develop a regional approach to renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation; and more than $1.6 million to build an 816-kilowatt solar farm in the regional municipality of Tecumsah in Saskatchewan's southeast.

The solar project, overseen by Meadow Lake Tribal Council Solar Energy, will be 100 per cent owned by the nine First Nations communities in the tribal council. The facility was touted as a stepping stone for communities to develop their own renewable energy projects.

Tribal Chief Richard Ben said the additional money will help communities in that tribal council become energy leaders.

"It's really good for us, especially to be a part of the economy," Ben said after the event at the First Nations University on Monday afternoon.

"For many years, in the past, we never really had a good chance to be a part of the economy, especially something so geared toward our heart like protecting Mother Earth."

Some $840,000 will be given to the University of Saskatchewan to create a new master's degree program designed to meet the needs of Indigenous, remote and northern communities through distance education, in hopes of fostering sustainable community energy development.

Minister Wilkinson said Monday's announcement showed how Indigenous communities are going to play an active role in resource transitions to renewable energies of the future.

"There's opportunities for enormous numbers of jobs, for procurement opportunities for Indigenous businesses, but also to participate in an equity basis on long-term benefits that will flow to Indigenous communities," he said.

"They can help us to accelerate the work that needs to be done, but they can also benefit in a way where, traditionally, they have not benefited from the kinds of developments we have undertaken."

CANADA
For migrant farm workers, housing is not just a determinant of health, but a determinant of death


Anelyse Weiler, Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Victoria 

and C. Susana Caxaj, Assistant Professor, Nursing, Western University
Tue, July 12, 2022 

Migrant farm workers were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 because of poor housing conditions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Imagine if, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — before vaccines were available — you had to share a cramped bunkhouse with a dozen co-workers. Imagine if your employer forbid you from having personal visitors, or if you had to ask your boss for permission to visit the doctor.

Agricultural workers hired through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program regularly confront these dynamics while they leave their families behind in countries like Mexico and Jamaica for months or even years at a time to work in Canada. Frequently, they live on their employer’s property. These housing conditions are inconsistent, often overcrowded and sometimes grossly substandard.

But this month, the federal government is holding a roundtable to improve migrant farm workers’ employer-provided housing. This is a crucial opportunity to tackle persistent problems.
COVID-19 revealed dangers of poor housing

When COVID-19 hit migrant farm workers disproportionately hard in 2020, many Canadians recognized the connection between farm workers’ poor housing and the avoidable health challenges they often face. Our own research shows housing conditions played a major role in the untimely death of several farm workers.


Policymakers are increasingly recognizing that housing is a significant determinant of health. But for migrant agricultural workers, housing is also a significant determinant of death.

Before the pandemic, agricultural industry groups pushed back against creating national housing standards for workers. The federal government commissioned a study in 2018 by the National Home Inspector Certification Council, a non-profit organization that certifies housing inspection credentials. The study concluded that the quality of housing for migrant farm workers lacked uniformity, and the investigators recommended standardized criteria.

Yet four years later, the government has made sluggish progress towards enforceable national housing standards.

Key housing issues

Our research in British Columbia and Ontario, including interviews with over 50 migrant agricultural workers, identified several key housing issues:

Water, food and sanitation: Lack of access to clean drinking water and insufficient toilets, showers and handwashing stations are common concerns raised by migrant workers. Inadequate refrigeration, food storage and stoves were also often reported. This has serious consequences for the type of food workers can cook and store, and their nutrition. Because of limited laundry, cooking and washroom facilities, some workers spend their days off waiting in line for a turn at these basic amenities.

Heating, cooling and electricity: Some workers told us that on a cold winter’s night, they gather around a space heater or oven door to stay warm. In the summer heat, one worker told us that trying to sleep after a long shift is a “living hell” due to a lack of ventilation and air conditioning in the trailer he shares with another worker.

Exposure to pests, hazards and disrepair: The 2018 report commissioned by the federal government found that 40 per cent of workers’ housing was reported by employers as “dual purpose.” This means living quarters also functioned as workplace facilities (for example, granaries, garages, etc.). This finding suggests many workers may live in close proximity to agricultural chemicals and other hazards, which echoes findings from previous research. Lack of maintenance is also common.

Overcrowding and lack of privacy: One study reported the ratio of workers to functioning toilets on one farm was 45 to two. Echoing this research, overcrowding and cramped living quarters were among the most common complaints made by participants in our own study. During COVID-19, these cramped living quarters amplified uncertainty and anxiety for workers. A lack of personal space also undermines workers’ basic need for privacy and intimacy. One interviewee noted, “you can’t even wish your wife a good night,” without someone overhearing.

Isolation and employer control: Migrant agricultural workers tend to live in rural areas far away from basic services and community activities outside of work (such as religious services). Recent farm worker deaths from motor vehicles point to the lack of public and safe active transportation in workers’ neighbourhoods. Workers have told us they may be required to bike one- or two-hour round trips to access services or participate in social events.

Workers also face explicit restrictions on their freedom. Among the rules some workers are expected to conform to while living in Canada include curfews, prohibitions on visitors and being locked into their living quarters. Workers are often hesitant to report illegal behaviours by their employer for fear it may put their livelihoods in jeopardy.

Action to ensure safe housing

Migrant workers from Mexico maintain social distancing as they wait to be transported to Québec farms after arriving at Trudeau Airport in Montréal in April 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Migrant agricultural workers deserve to live with the same health, safety, and dignity owed to any Canadian worker. The federal government should take the following actions immediately:

Consistent national housing standards. The federal government should co-ordinate among all levels of government so that workers no longer fall through the jurisdictional cracks. Standards should be significantly raised for physical housing conditions (e.g., no bunk beds), health and safety, freedom from employer control and security of tenure.

Proactive, unannounced and thorough housing inspections to ensure standards on paper are enforced in practice. Workers need accessible channels to report problems while being protected from employer backlash, alongside the freedom to collectively organize. Penalties for non-compliance should be high enough to promote deterrence.

Government-funded housing (for example, in residential areas, with safe transportation to farms) would help promote inclusion and access to community services, while reducing inappropriate employer restrictions or control.

Permanent residency, open work permits and a fair grievance procedure before facing deportation would allow workers to refuse unsafe housing and poor work conditions, which often go hand-in-hand. A secure immigration status would also give workers the option of bringing their families with them.

The federal government’s upcoming roundtable is an urgent opportunity to raise the bar on dignified housing and living conditions for these members of our communities. Canada should stop expecting low-wage, racialized migrant workers to bear the brunt of preventable illness and death.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: C. Susana Caxaj, Western University and Anelyse Weiler, University of Victoria.

Read more:

Coronavirus: Canada stigmatizes, jeopardizes essential migrant workers

Migrant workers face further social isolation and mental health challenges during coronavirus pandemic

C. Susana Caxaj's research is currently funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Her work has previously been funded by the Vancouver Foundation and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). She is a member of the Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group.

Anelyse Weiler has received funding from SSHRC. Her work has previously been funded by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She is affiliated with the BC Employment Standards Coalition, Worker Solidarity Network, and Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group.

Agriculture tech growing ‘regardless of what happens,' strategist says

Grace O'Donnell
·Assistant Editor
Wed, July 13, 2022


As food costs continue to soar, the call to improve agricultural practices has been growing more urgent.

Agriculture tech, or ag tech, will be key to feeding the growing global population under the duress of climate change, according to one strategist, and that makes it a strong theme for investors.

"We're going to have a population that'll reach 10 billion people," BlackRock U.S. Head of Thematic and Active Equity ETFs Jay Jacobs said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "We will have an emerging market consumer that will increase the middle class by hundreds of millions of people that are going to be demanding more complex proteins, meats, dairy, organic vegetables. That's going to put a lot of pressure on our food system, regardless of what happens in this inflationary environment today."

According to PwC's annual climate tech report, venture capital investment in food, agriculture, and land use hit $10.7 billion across 354 deals between the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021, up 132% from a year prior. The report stated that estimates, which favor North American and European markets, may be conservative relative to overall investment levels.

A chart showing the investment in food, agriculture, and land use over time. (Chart by PwC)

Despite the pullback in tech stocks and slowing VC activity, Jacobs asserted that investors are "at the very beginning" of buying into ag tech.

"Looking forward, food is essential," he said. "We can see technology stocks sell off. We can see a rotation from growth to value. We can see maybe a hobbled economy going forward. People still have to buy food. ... So it gives us a certain amount of confidence and resilience in this theme that, despite the broader economic environment, we still have a lot of conviction that this will be growing going forward."
Challenges in the food system

The issue has been put into stark relief this year as food prices have exploded. The June consumer price index (CPI) showed food costs in the U.S. rose 9.1% year over year.

Inflation hasn't been limited to the U.S. with food chain bottlenecks creating rippling effects across the world, though. Between March and April 2022, the World Bank Food Commodity Price Index hit a record high, up 80% compared to two years ago.

Farmer Achille Crespiatico shows a dry cob of corn in Spino d'Adda, on July 11, 2022 as Italy is hit by the worst drought in 70 years. (Photo by PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images)

A storm of factors including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate change, and disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic have led to an "unprecedented global hunger crisis," according to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, which has included a series of famines in Somalia, Yemen, and South Sudan.

"If we project forward 20 years, a lot of these problems are not solved," Jacobs said. "In fact, they get worse. They're exacerbated by many of the challenges we see on increasing food demand. So the ag tech investment has to happen today. I think venture capital and the public markets both recognize that. And that's why we're seeing a lot of money coming into these strategies."

With stressors like drought and higher temperatures already affecting crop yields and agricultural workers, startups are looking to build resiliency into the food system while also emitting less and using fewer resources. A 2021 U.N.-backed report found that as of 2015, the food system accounted for over a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, indicating that the sector poses a serious risk — and opportunity — for the climate.

Greenhouse Technician, Leah Greiner, harvests chard at Altius, a vertical farm in Denver, Colorado, U.S., November 9, 2021. Picture taken November 9, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

“Tomorrow's agricultural producers look very different though," Jacobs said. "These are bioengineered crops that can be more resilient to droughts. These are technology companies that are facilitating indoor farming, hydroponics, year-round vertical farming. It is robotics companies that are helping harvest our agriculture.”

A new study from Boston Consulting Group suggests early signs of success, particularly for startups like Beyond Meat (BYND) and Impossible Foods working on alternative proteins.

The report found that plant-based meat alternatives offered the biggest bang for investors' buck when it came to cutting carbon emissions. According to the analysts, should meat alternatives remain on track to gain 11% market share of the protein category by 2035, it would be equivalent to decarbonizing 95% of the aviation industry.

"There's a lot of new age, disruptive companies that are coming into the ag tech space that we think are providing the solutions to the food shortages we're seeing today and, frankly, will address the ongoing issues we see as we have a growing population and a rising middle class, which is demanding more complex foods," Jacobs said.

Grace is an assistant editor for Yahoo Finance.

Brazil's BRF gets nod to export pork into Canada


Logos of Brazilian meatpacker BRF SA are seen in the headquarters in Curitiba

Nayara Figueiredo
Wed, July 13, 2022

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian food company BRF received approval to ship pork to Canada, according to a statement sent to Reuters on Wednesday, as Canada opens up for more Brazilian meat imports.

The approved unit, located in Santa Catarina state, will be able to export fresh and frozen pork cuts.

It is the second Canadian authorization granted to BRF this year. In May, a Parana facility unit was cleared to export cooked poultry into Canada.

"This new certification is a milestone, as it symbolizes the opening of an important market for a new type of product, creating the possibility that new authorizations will materialize soon, and positively impact our export volume," Leonardo Dall'Orto, vice president of international market and planning, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Canada approved Brazilian meat imports in March. Since then, seven factories have received the greenlight to sell products, with BRF's being the eighth, according to meat industry group ABPA.

Seara Alimentos, controlled by the world's biggest meat company, JBS, has had two units approved by Canada so far.

ABPA said although Canada is the third largest global exporter of pork, the country is also a relevant buyer in the international market.

On average, Canada imports 250,000 tonnes of pork annually, ABPA said.

(Reporting by Nayara Figueiredo; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Leslie Adler)

OUTLAW CHUCKWAGON RACING

In 1st event after 6 horses died, Stampede chuckwagons return with new safety measures

THERE ARE NO SAFE CHUCKWAGON RACES


Tue, July 12, 2022

Ferrier Nolan Cameron shoes a chuckwagon horse in the barns at the Calgary Stampede in 2019. The Stampede has introduced new measures it says will promote safety in its chuckwagon races. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Chuckwagon races are well underway at the "Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth," and organizers say they've implemented new measures intended to boost the safety of the event.

Calgary Stampede spokesperson Kristina Barnes said the most obvious change will be on the track in the number of wagons.

In previous years, four wagons would compete in each heat — that's been decreased to three wagons this year.

"That's the one thing people will notice as they're watching from the stands and on television," Barnes said.

Custom-built delineator arms have also been added to the track to create a buffer between the wagons and the rails.

"In the past, people would've seen some pylons out on the track. So we've replaced those with these arms that slide out for the races," Barnes said.

"If there is contact between them and a wagon, they are made to swing back and break on the side of the rail. So not a trip hazard, but just to create that extra space on the track."

The Rangeland Derby chuckwagon races return to this year's Stampede after missing the past two years — in 2020, after the entire Stampede was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021, as organizers cited safety issues.

The chuckwagons have long been controversial among animal rights groups in Canada and the United States.

In 2019, the last time the derby was held, six horses died. That matched the second deadliest toll in the Stampede's history.

The return of the event led some animal rights groups to push back.

Marc-Antoine Leblanc/Radio-Canada

When Kevin Costner was announced as parade marshal for this year's Stampede, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, called on him to step away, citing the event's history that reportedly includes the deaths of more than 70 horses over the years.

"Reducing a few of the dangerous aspects of the race is like cutting only one ear off a dog instead of two. It's better than nothing but not good enough," PETA said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

"The only way to stop horses from being hurt and from dying is to stop using them, and PETA joins every animal protection organization under the sun, and kind people across Canada, who want these reckless, barbaric races simply to end."

The Stampede has repeatedly said the safety of animals and people is its No. 1 priority.

"As always, we welcome PETA for a direct discussion regarding our animal care practices," it previously told CBC News in an email.

Drivers happy to be back

Kris Molle, a professional chuckwagon driver, said he's excited to be back at the Calgary Stampede, even despite the changes.

"It's definitely more exciting with four wagons, but it's definitely going to be more room on the track to manoeuvre," Molle said. "For safety reasons is the reason why they did it. So try it this year is all we can do."

Molle said that in his view, chuckwagon races are no different than any sport when it comes to safety.

"You have your incidents. We have to take the precautions necessary to continue to improve to get better and safer. That's with any sport," he said.

Marc-Antoine Leblanc/Radio-Canada

The Stampede said it is undertaking an effort to do enhanced veterinary inspections, and pointed to ongoing studies at the University of Calgary focused on chuckwagon races.

Researchers at the university are trying to find ways to reduce the chance of horse injuries by studying track conditions and how they impact the hooves and bones of horses while galloping at full speed. Sensors were placed on horses' hooves, cannon bones and radiuses using saddles fitted with devices to measure data.

Dr. Renaud Léguillette, a veterinary medicine professor at the university, told CBC's The Homestretch that harder dirt is tougher on bones and joints while softer tracks are harder on tendons and ligaments.

Calgary's weather changes on a frequent basis, Léguillette said, and that will change conditions.

"I'm really confident that even by next year they will probably do some changes and at least monitor, you know, the hardness of the track and apply some changes on the track as needed," Léguillette said.

The races this year are scheduled to take place over nine heats per night. Twenty-seven drivers are competing for prize money, along with their 162 horses.