Ontario has announced the passing of Bill 32, The Access to Natural Gas Act. The legislation makes it possible for a new program that, once the regulations are in place, would be designed to expand access to natural gas to more parts of rural and northern Ontario, as well as First Nations communities. The province says the… Read More
Statistics Canada’s final crop production report for 2018 is out, and the coast to coast struggles dished out by Mother Nature are well reflected in the production figures. A lack of moisture in the Prairies, followed by frost, snow, and rain over much of Western Canada during the fall delayed harvest quite a bit. Although… Read More
Eastern Canada has a lot to look forward to with the 2018 Acceleron BioAg™ BioAdvantage Trial results, including results from a new corn product. Now in its fourth year, the Acceleron BioAg™ BioAdvantage Trial (BAT) program tests and measures the benefits of Acceleron BioAg inoculants on Canadian crops across diverse regions and soil types. In 2018,… Read More
There will be a new Eastern wheat class starting next July, as the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) continues to update its structure. The Canada Eastern Other Wheat (CEOW) class was created to provide a class for varieties with unique characteristics and to allow producers to take advantage of special contracted varieties. At the same time, the… Read More
The Oilseed Innovation Partners (OIP) group aims to create new opportunities for Canadian oilseeds and the Canadian bio-products sector. It looks like they did just that — in Ontario. American manufacturer of vegetable-oil based lubricants, Renewable Lubricants Inc. (RLI), has picked the province to build its first wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary. The company creates everything from penetrant lubricant sprays,… Read More
The Ontario government is proposing changes to the previous government’s recent overhaul of the rabies immunization rules as they apply to livestock headed to agricultural fairs. Ernie Hardeman, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, says the proposed amendments to the Health Protection and Promotion Act are intended to reduce “unnecessary red tape and… Read More
Maple Leaf Foods has announced plans to spend $660 million to build a new, 640,000 square foot fresh poultry processing facility at London, Ont., and to invest in projects that “accelerate adoption of advanced manufacturing and production technologies.” Those investments support the company’s goal of reducing its environmental footprint by 50 per cent by 2025. The… Read More
The news Lawrence MacAulay, Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has announced a federal investment of up to $5 million to the Automation Cluster led by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre Inc. The funding is provided under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The funding will be used to address current and anticipated labour challenges within the greenhouse… Read More
La Coop fédérée has concluded its acquisition of the grain and crop input assets of Cargill in Ontario — an acquisition slightly delayed after the Competition Bureau ruled against the company’s original proposal. Earlier this fall, the bureau identified four sites that would have to be sold off by La Coop in order for the… Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario plans to purchase grain baggers to assist in “short term storage of corn for farmer-members.” The producer organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers, met with Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, late last week to address the high DON corn crisis in Ontario. At the… Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario is asking the provincial government to issue refunds to farmers who paid into the provincial cap and trade program prior to the program being repealed by the current government. Representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers, GFO is supportive of Doug Ford’s provincial government cancelling the current cap and… Read More
By Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture agronomist The DON quick test is driving everybody nuts. Farmers are getting results of 12 ppm at this elevator, but the same load tests 5 ppm at another elevator. Then, you send a load to an end user, get rejected the first time at 10 ppm, get right back in line… Read More
Ontario Sheep Farmers held its convention and annual general meeting last week near Cookstown, Ont. It was Rob Scott’s final meeting as a board member, having served the last two years as chair. Scott had announced ahead of this meeting that he would be stepping down as chair and as provincial director for his district…. Read More
Montreal-based Saputo has announced its plan to acquire the activities of F&A Dairy Products, Inc., a dairy processing company with two sites in the United States, for US$85 million. Located in New Mexico and Wisconsin, F&A Dairy employs approximately 170 people. The purchase price will be paid in cash from cash on hand and available credit… Read More
“Brutal” is just one word being used to describe some of the corn coming off in Ontario. While yields are good, a perfect storm of disease-inducing conditions at and following pollination has left a chunk of the 2018 corn crop riddled with myctoxins, most notably vomitoxin. “There is still lots of good corn in Ontario,”… Read More