The Ontario government has made a 10-year, $713 million commitment to fund agriculture research at the University of Guelph. Jeff Leal, Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, was joined by University of Guelph President Dr. Franco Vaccarino, in Guelph today to sign the agreement and mark Canada’s Agriculture Day. “We look forward to… Read More

Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal, his federal counterpart Lawrence MacAulay and representatives from the University of Guelph and Beef Farmers of Ontario broke ground on Thursday for a $15.5 million Livestock Research and Innovation Centre for beef to be built at the Elora Research Station. The province has committed $12.4 million to the project, with… Read More

Starting Wednesday, Ontario ag leaders are headed south of the border to try to mend some of the trade fences that embattled U.S. President Donald Trump has crashed through. Led by Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs minister Jeff Leal, the group – which includes representatives from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the… Read More

The Ontario Liberals are spending big, but there’s not a whole lot in the 2017-18 provincial budget for agri-food and rural Ontario. The Liberals are going to balance the budget but they are going to spend more than $140 billion in this fiscal year and push the provincial debt over $300 billion. There’s big money… Read More

In a rare, but completely legal move, Ontario’s provincial government has removed an elected board of directors and named a trustee to oversee the organization. Late last week, Jeff Leal, minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) fired the entire Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers (OPVG) board, and appointed Elmer Buchanan, a farmer and former OMAFRA minister… Read More

In what may be called trying to clean up the mess she made, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced yesterday the “Fair Hydro Plan” which is designed to decrease the average residential hydro bill by 25% and cap bill increases for the next four years. As part of the announcement, Wynne says “Starting this summer, Ontario’s Fair… Read More

Ontario Ag Minister Jeff Leal was in Guelph on Wednesday to announce provincial funding for upgrades at Cargill’s beef processing plant. The province is contributing $582,000 toward a $3.5 million upgrade that will enable Cargill to produce a protein-rich animal feed ingredient using raw by-product. “By investing in technology that will support local production, we… Read More

Ontario minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, Jeff Leal, has kept his post in Premier Kathleen Wynne’s cabinet mini-shuffle announced today. In addition to remaining the agriculture minister, Leal was also named the minister “responsible for small business.” Today I was pleased to be named Minister Responsible for Small Business, in addition to serving… Read More

Don’t be surprised to see more hydro bill relief in sight in 2017 for rural Ontarians, says the province’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs. In a year-end interview, Minister Jeff Leal said that although the province has started finding ways to reduce energy bills, “there’s more to do.” He said he “wouldn’t be… Read More

It doesn’t matter whether Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or the Man in the Moon is elected president of the United States on November 8. Exports, market access, and jobs have long been driving the agenda for this week’s tri-national agricultural accord meeting in Niagara Falls with Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. And that’s not about… Read More

The Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference kicked off today in Toronto, Ont., with an opening address by Ontario’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, Jeff Leal. RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney is at the conference, and managed a quick interview with minister Leal following his address. Below Haney asks about farmer competitiveness in the face of… Read More

Ontario’s focus on the environmental side of farming has just been underlined and intensified, even more. With the midpoint mandate of her provincial government having been reached, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne put pen to paper last week to help guide both new and established ministers on the next part of their journey. Her mission was… Read More

The Ontario government is killing its plan to ban natural gas use as part of its Climate Change Action Plan. Since details of the Action Plan were reported by the Globe and Mail earlier this month, the provincial Liberals have come under heavy criticism for their strategy to phase out natural gas use in the… Read More

 

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