Illegal dairy processor fined $50,000

 

A Wilmot Township farmer is facing a hefty fine after being found guilty of operating an unlicenced milk plant.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agri-businesses says Joris Salverda had been running the facility out of a farm on Huron Road near New Hamburg between October, 2022, and April, 2023.

Salverda was found to be the plant operator and at the time was on probation after being convicted of running another illegal milk facility.

 He was fined $50,000 for the Milk Act charge and $1,000 for breaching probation on an earlier conviction for operating an illegal milk plant. He was put a new two-year probation.

PED in Niagara Region

 

There has been an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at a hog finishing barn in the Niagara Region.

Pita maker’s licence suspended

 

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence of 9105-8016 Quebec Inc. for failure to meet standards outlined in federal legislation.

The company is in Montreal and makes pitas and specialty breads.

Bruce Christie wins Farm and Food Care award

 

The Food Champion Award is presented every year to people, organizations, or businesses that have taken the initiative to engage consumers about agriculture in Ontario. 

Christie was nominated by Dave Crossan of Trouw Nutrition with letters of support from William Bearss and Crystal Mackay. 

He spent 43 years as marketing manager for Shur-Gain - now Trouw Nutrition- and helped to develop livestock, poultry, and pet products. 

He played a key role in creating the model farm exhibit at the Canadian National Exhibition  and supported the Breakfast on the Farm events.

Christie helped establish the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association and the National Farm Animal Care Council. He chaired the Ontario Farm Animal Council from 1999 to 2004 and was instrumental in the talks that resulted in OFAC and AGCare merging to form Farm & Food Care Ontario. He later became the inaugural chair of Farm & Food Care Canada, now named the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity.

He was inducted into the Ontario Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2016.

Roberts Farm Equipment changes its name

Roberts Farm Equipment has officially rebranded as Roberts Equipment to reflect the addition of  residential, commercial, and construction markets.

"Agriculture has always been an important part of our business, and it still is," said company president and chief executive officer Brian Osterndorff. "But there are other aspects of our trade areas that we do business in that we feel we can give some attention to."

Osterndorff said the decision to remove "farm" from the name was strategic. "By having that word ‘farm’ in our name, we felt it kind of limited where we could go with other industries, such as construction, municipal, recreation, or residential business," he said.

Roberts Equipment is owned by Jeff McGavin, Bruce Osterndorff, and Brian Osterndorff, and the company continues to operate multiple locations across the region.  It has been in business for close to 60 years.

Canadian dairy exports trigger outrage

 

New Zealand, Australia and the United States are outraged that Canada’s highly-protected dairy industry is exporting cheap milk proteins.

New Zealand grew even angrier when United States President Donald Trump hit its dairy sales to the U.S. with 10 per cent tariff, but not Canadian dairy.

New Zealand milk protein exports to the U.S. already faced a 3.5 per cent tariff compared to zero for Canadian exports under the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement.

“The reality of what has happened in the past week is we are paying a 10 per cent additional tariff on those protein products and the Canadians are accessing the market completely duty-free under the USMCA,” said Simon Tucker, Fonterra’s director of global stakeholder affairs.

In a January 8 letter, the main dairy export lobbies in the U.S., N.Z. and Australia wrote to their respective governments calling on them to “use all available tools” to tackle Canada’s system of tariffs and subsidies.

 These enable Canadian dairy processors to sell on global markets below their cost of production while protecting them from imported competition at home.

Dairy Companies Association of N.Z.’s executive director Kimberly Crewther said the 10 per cent tariff had left N.Z. milk protein exports to the U.S. at a further “significant disadvantage” to Canadian competitors.

In their January letter, it and its fellow U.S. and Australian dairy lobbies said Canada’s milk pricing policies coupled with new investment in processing capacity had the potential to unleash a fresh wave of subsidised dairy production on global markets.

“It is ironic that we have been concerned and the U.S. has been concerned about the artificially low-priced product being dumped into markets, and now that [Canadian] product has a tariff preference [in the U.S.] above any other source,” Crewther said.

                  

Egg imports surge

 

 

Canada’s egg-grading companies have usually filed applications to gain imports of low-priced eggs to meet the Easter market, but this year they have sky-rocketed.

Data from the federal government show the supplementary import permits the federal government issued after the applicants said they couldn’t get enough from Canadian farmers.

Usually the imports are from the United States at prices less than half the grading stations pay Canadian farmers, but because of avian influenza reducing the laying-hen population, U.S. eggs are at an all-time high this Easter season and higher than in Canada.

Egg Farmers of Canada was asked repeatedly for the information, but failed to respond the Ontario Farmer.

Global Affairs Canada did respond with these figures for the first four months of each year.

 

Year	Total Quantity of Supplementary Imports for Eggs (dozens)
Jan-Mar 2020	980,038
Jan-Mar 2021	1,680,958
Jan-Mar 2022	538,200
Jan-Mar 2023	6,042,565
Jan-Mar 2024	1,872,977
Jan-Mar 2025	6,088,879

 

 

                  

Arla and DMK merge

 

Arla and DMK are merging their dairy businesses which market milk from more than 12,000 farmers.

That has prompted a legal firm to tell Canadian employees it’s willing to represent their interests.

The merger mainly affects operations in Europe.

Arla has been in Canada since 1961 and has offices at Concord, Ont.

U.S. ponders farmer trade subsidies

 

 

News media report that the Trump administration is pondering farm subsidies to compensate for trade losses arising from Trump’s tariff wars and retaliations.

The main issue is China as both U.S. President Donald Trump and China ratchet up tariffs.

Pork and soybean exports to China will be hard hit with tariffs so high that sales might stop.

The backups could impact Canadian prices but might also open opportunities for Canadian exports to China, despite tariffs it placed in response to Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electrical vehicles.

The potential subsidy package would echo past Market Facilitation Programs rolled out during previous trade disputes, particularly with China.

According to recent reports, the discussions are in early stages, with no finalized details. 

However, sources suggest the aid could be designed to assist producers affected by retaliatory tariffs and disrupted export markets, including pork producers who have long been vulnerable to volatility in global trade.

Schills win outstanding farmer award

 

 Ryan and Romy Schill of Wallenstein are this year’s outstanding young farmers for Ontario.

They own Circle R Livestock Ltd. and Revolution Wool Company.

They own about 700 ewes which they cross between Dorset and Rideau breeds.

Circle R Livestock owns the sheep and Revolution Wool Company works with Canadian mills to make and market a variety of products.

They now advance to the national competition where a winner will be named in November at the Royal Agriculture Winter Fair.

China tariff war hits farmers hard

China imposed a tariffs of 56 per cent on beef and 81 per cent on pork, so United States President slammed back with a 104 per cent tariff on everything from China.

And that prompted China to retaliate with an 84 per cent tariff on everything from the U.S. And to file a second appeal to the World Trade Organization.

Canadian farmers are likely to feel the impacts.

China might buy pork and beef from Canada instead, but because the U.S. faces such high tariffs to export to China, its pork and beef prices will probably decline, and Canadian prices track U.S. prices.

China had hit U.S. corn with a 15 per cent tariff and soybeans with 60 per cent, but those now apparently increase to 84 per cent.

While China could buy Canadian canola instead of U.S. soybeans, it has put a tariff on canola oil and meal in response to Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on China’s electric vehicles. The Canadian car tariff matches on the U.S. imposed and keeps Canada from becoming a back door for China to sell the cars to the U.S.

Trump’s tariff moves are facing increasing opposition from within the U.S. and consternation around the world.

Police charge five with butter thievery

 

Waterloo Region Police have charged five people in connection with the theft of about $8,000 worth of butter and ghee.

Their investigation of 15 store thefts in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge between September and February led them to lay charges against four people from Caledon.

They are four men and one woman between the ages of 24 and 38.

Drones evaluated for weed spraying

 

New research shows that spraying from drones can be as effective as ground sprayers.

The evaluation used low-drift nozzles at low volumes of between one and 1.5 gallons per acre (9.35 litres per hectare).

The research was for weed control in turfgrass and was conducted by Dr. Muthukumar Bagavathiannan of Texas A&M University. 

A Canadian-made Agras spraying

“While there are some indications from this research that certain herbicides can be sprayed using RPAAS (drones) without the need for mixing in water, further experimentation is needed for confirmation,” said Dr. Augusto Costa, a researcher with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation who contributed as the study’s first and co-corresponding author.

Dr. Daniel Martin of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service at College Station, Texas, provided aerial application technology collaboration in this research.

Their testing was reported in the Journal of Weed Technology published by the Weed Science Society of America.

Shortage of bird flu testers

The United States Food and Drug Administration is suspending efforts to improve its bird flu testing of milk, cheese and pet food because of staff cuts by the team headed by Elon Musk.

The FDA’s testing for bird flu in dairy products has found that pasteurization kills the virus, and has also provided clues to the scope of the virus’s spread. At least two house cats have died after eating raw pet food that later tested positive for bird flu.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, on Tuesday began firing 10,000 employees to comply with President Donald Trump’s push to shrink the federal workforce.

 

The Interlaboratory Comparison Exercise for detecting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been suspended because of cuts to staff at the FDA’s Human Food Program that would have supported the scientific and testing needs of the program, an internal e-mail obtained by Reuters news agency said.

The program would have included more than 40 laboratories across FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN) and USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network, as well as FDA food labs and private industry.

“(The program) would have been critical to ensure confidence in the laboratory methods for food safety and animal health,” the e-mail said.

VanderZaag wins King’s award

Peter VanderZaag of Alliston has been awarded a King Charles III coronation medallion for his potato breeding that has benefitted people in about 60 countries.

He was nominated by MPP Brian Saunderson.

He was involved with food for work projects which were the precursors to the Canada Food Grains Bank. 

He has worked to improve potato production in Africa, Asia and Canada and also won the National Friendship award in 2014.

VanderZaag was commissioned to serve with World Renew, a relief and development agency for the Christian Reformed Church of North America, in Bangladesh to assist with potato and vegetable production. 

His farming and potato research in Canada have developed new potato varieties for general potato production and support Indigenous communities in Ontario.

PED in Grey/Bruce

 

There has been an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in a finisher barn in Grey/Bruce.

It is the 32^nd outbreak of either PED or porcine deltacoronavirus in Ontario this year.

                  

Pork price-fixing lawsuits consolidated

 

A Minnesota judge has put all of the pork price-fixing lawsuits together.

The defendants include Agri Stats Inc., Clemens Food Group, Hormel Foods, JBS USA, Seaboard Foods, Smithfield Foods, Triumph Foods and Tyson Foods. 

The plaintiffs comprise three certified classes—direct purchasers, consumer indirect purchasers, and commercial indirect purchasers—as well as dozens of direct-action plaintiffs. They argued that the defendants coordinated supply reductions to manipulate pork prices between 2009 and 2018.

Some of the pork packers have settled with plaintiffs by offering compensation, but not admitting any guilt.

In the 232-page ruling, the judge dismissed Hormel from the case, while the others’ motions to be dismissed were denied. The lawsuit centres on claims that the defendants used Agri Stats' industry reports to share sensitive pricing and production information, allegedly facilitating anti-competitive practices.

In addition to federal Sherman Act violations, the plaintiffs cite breaches of various state antitrust, consumer protection and unjust enrichment laws. 

The case also includes claims under the Packers and Stockyards Act.

CNH stops shipping from its plants

The parent company of Case IH, New Holland, Steyr and other machinery brands is suspending shipments from its factories in the United States and Europe until it can assess the impact of tariffs.

At the time of its sudden announcement, United States President had not yet revealed his detailed tariff measures and impacted countries had not revealed their tariff responses.

Sugar beet growing declining

Fewer sugar beets will be grown this year in Ontario as the American buyer finds farmers closer to home willing to grow them.

Matthew Noorloos, chairman of the Ontario Sugar Beet Growers Association, said 3,582 Canadian shares (acres) were sold back to the Michigan Sugar Co. voluntarily in December.

"The main reason is the company pays for 50 per cent of the freight . . . we are the farthest" from the processing plant, he said.

Since local farmers started growing sugar beets in the early 2000s, Noorloos said yields in some fields have doubled to as high as 50 tons an acre.

"The [Michigan] plant has a fixed processing capacity, so they're always trying to optimize the acreage to process the right amount of tons, so you don't have spoilage from carrying over too many tons," he said.

Researchers identify disease from tongue tip samples

 

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have determined that they can detect PRRS and Influenza A from samples gathered from the tip of pigs’ tongues.

The results were almost as accurate as traditional tests.

They said their test “reduces the need for more invasive and expensive sampling procedures, offering a budget-friendly option for producers.​”

Jack Chaffe wins medal

Jack Chaffe, left, and Matthew Rae

 

Jack Chaffe has been awarded a King Charles III Coronation Medallion for his work as a pioneer in the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Quality Assurance Program and Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef pilot. 

He' has also served as board director, committee chairman, and president of the Beef Farmers of Ontario, as well as a director at the Canadian Cattle Association.

Chaffe was committee co-chairman of foreign trade, co-chairman of domestic agriculture policy and regulations, was Ontario’s representative for the National Beef Check-off Agency, and representative to the Canada Beef Marketing Committee and the Canada Beef Grading Agency.

The award was presented by Matthew Rae, his Member of Parliament for Perth-Wellington during the annual meeting of the Ontario Cattle Feeders Association.

Farmers get the jitters

 

Farmers seem to have caught a case of the jitters, judging by a 12-point decline in their opinion about their economic future as judged by a survey conducted by Purdue University and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The survey of about 400 farmers conducted in mid-March registered a decline to 140 points on the Ag Economy Barometer.

The measure for future expectations declined by 15 points to 144 and for current conditions by five points to 132.

“The drop in sentiment was influenced by falling crop prices since mid-February, along with increasing uncertainty surrounding agricultural trade and farm policy,” the research team said.