Originally announced in February — what seems like a lifetime ago now — Tim Hortons has made good on its commitment to introduce a non-dairy option for its hot beverage line up. Following poor profitability performance to round out 2019 (comparable sales were down over 4%), the company laid out its plans to change a… Read More
U.S. dairy groups are accusing Canada of making it difficult for U.S. dairy exporters to take advantage of the full market access negotiated in the new North American trade deal, which takes effect on July 1. The Canadian government published the fine print on how the allocation of its tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) will work under… Read More
Organizers of the World Dairy Expo have announced the 2020 edition of the show has been cancelled due to COVID-19. The largest dairy event in North America was slated to be held September 29 to October 3, 2020, at Madison, Wisconsin. General manager Scott Bentley says after meeting with government and public health officials, it… Read More
Canada and the U.S. have experienced very similar paths of food system disruption due to COVID-19. Both countries have seen the fall in restaurant demand and packers going offline, followed by milk dumping, animals being euthanized, and consumers hyperventilating over shortages of toilet paper and ground beef. Although they’ve experienced the same impacts and stress… Read More
The Canadian Dairy XPO (CDX) has announced that its 2020 event, originally scheduled for April 1 and 2 and subsequently postponed, has now officially been cancelled. A statement from CDX says the final decision to cancel the Stratford, Ont., dairy industry showcase “was ultimately made by government and health officials with significant parameters around large-scale… Read More
When winter kill makes it tough to grow alfalfa, what can dairy producers turn to for a protein source for milking cows? Believe it or not, forage soybeans may be a fit. That choice is gaining popularity with dairy farmers in eastern Ontario. “It’s hard to beat good alfalfa from a protein-grown-on-the-farm standpoint, but the… Read More
Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) will make an additional donation of $100,000 and up to 200,000 litres of incremental milk, the producer group has announced. This is in addition to the over 1 million litres donated to food banks annually in partnership with the Ontario Dairy Council (ODC) and the Ontario Milk Transport Association (OMTA)… Read More
Editor’s note: this story was updated on April 29 with new information and a quote from the Dairy Processors Association of Canada and Dairy Farmers of Canada. The leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada is accusing the governing Liberals of breaking a promise to delay the implementation of the new North American… Read More
Meat coolers are going to look a lot different as we navigate COVID-19, but according to the Canadian Meat Council, each step of the livestock processing chain is collaborating, communicating, and committed to keeping food moving to grocery stores. Chris White, president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Council, says the livestock processing sector is… Read More
The decision to close a processing plant as it relates to COVID-19 infection of staff is a complicated one. Food processing plants have strict protocols and clear guidance on food safety issues, but the advent of a human disease pandemic is a new territory for all — processors included. Ultimately, the decision to close a… Read More
Ontario’s beef producer group has asked both beef and dairy producers to hold back cull cows in an attempt to ease the pinch on beef processing capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Processing backlogs have plagued the eastern Canadian beef sector for many months due to a lack of sufficient processing capacity and plant closures, says… Read More
The dairy world has been turned upside down seemingly overnight. Whether it’s north or south of the Canada/U.S border, dairy farmers have to dump milk as the entire value chain adjusts to the disappearance of restaurant and foodservice dairy demand and a spike in retail demand. Michael Dykes, CEO of the International Dairy and Food… Read More
I’ve seen over the last few days a lot of stories, comments, and mixed messages about farmers having to dump milk. I thought I’d clear a few things up with my perspective, direct from the farm. We were included in the farmers asked to dump milk. We dumped a little over 4,000 litres of raw,… Read More
Dairy Farmers of Ontario has advised farmers that milk dumping, in rotation, will occur beginning this week, as the industry adjusts to the new demand curves during COVID-19 and the social distancing it requires. Several provinces, Ontario included, saw a large spike in demand at the onset of the virus-induced isolation period. However, the resulting… Read More
It’s not often farms get a chance to host top executives from a huge company; so when the opportunity knocks, you open the door — or in this case, the barn door. For Creekside Dairy’s Julaine Treur and her husband Johannes, a sixth generation dairy farmer, their moment came when they got the chance to… Read More