Agriculture and Agri-Food announce new Indo-Pacific office

Nov 21, 2022

The Federal Government will open a new Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office.

The news was part of the wrap up comments following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leader's Meeting in Thailand.

$31.8 million to establish Canada’s first agriculture office in the region to increase and diversify agriculture and agri-food exports to the Indo-Pacific, strengthening trade on both sides of the Pacific.

Responding to the news the Canola Council of Canada, Cereals Canada, and Pulse Canada are pleased.

The three sectors represent over $45 billion in annual economic activity and support over 250,000 jobs.

The groups issued a statement talking about the importance of having an office in the region.

Click here to see more...

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.

Agriculture and Agri-Food announce new Indo-Pacific office

Trending Video

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Business News by Better Farming

General News by Better Farming

Forums by Agriville.com

Machinery News by Better Farming

Crop News by Better Farming

Livestock News by Better Farming

Sponsored Links: