An ammonia leak prompted evacuation of the Sofina hog-slaughtering plant at Burlington on Saturday night.
The fire department responded and cleared the plant until the leak could be stopped.
Nobody was injured.
It is Ontario’s largest hog slaughter facility.
An ammonia leak prompted evacuation of the Sofina hog-slaughtering plant at Burlington on Saturday night.
The fire department responded and cleared the plant until the leak could be stopped.
Nobody was injured.
It is Ontario’s largest hog slaughter facility.
Premier Doug Ford has created a new position of Chief Conservation Executive and has appointed Hassaan Basit of Hamilton to the position.
Basit will be in charge of ensuring that Ford’s dictates last year are implemented, including limiting conservation authority activities to their core missions. He also wants some conservation authority plans changed to speed housing construction.
That put a number of programs into doubt, such as subsidies to farmers to reduce erosion and protect drinking water.
The new post and appointment were announced before just as the extended holiday weekend was about to begin.
The news release said the move will “enhance the effectiveness of the province’s conservation authorities, which will create consistency, reduce costs and drive faster outcomes for the communities they serve.”
“These changes will support the government’s commitment to protect Ontario’s economy by speeding up critical infrastructure and housing development, while safeguarding the environment.”
Hassaan Basit is currently chief administrative officer for the City of Burlington.
He said in the news release that two decades working in conservation has taught him effective flood protection involves both safeguarding the environment, and enabling “prosperous, sustainable communities.”
United States President Donald Trump ranted against Canadian protection for its supply-managed dairy industry during a Fox News interview, saying more about that than the new federal tax on tech companies that Prime Minister Mark Carney promptly cancelled to keep trade negotiations active.
A report on edairynews said ”in a fiery interview on Fox News, President Trump accused Canada of imposing punitive dairy tariffs—up to “almost 400 percent”—and described the nation as “very nasty to deal with,” reigniting familiar trade tensions. He contends these barriers harm U.S. dairy farmers, sidelining trade talks until they’re dropped.
Trump framed the situation as a stark violation of the USMCA (United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement), claiming that Canada’s high tariffs—245.5 percent on cheese, 298.5 percent on butter—are contrary to the spirit of the agreement. He stressed that although quotas grant some tariff-free access, Canada’s actions exceed agreed thresholds.
However, the deal now in place is the one he negotiated during his first term as president.
U.S. dairy groups note most exports currently fall well within tariff-free quotas, with U.S. sales 73 percent below maximum limits.
Reacting swiftly, Trump halted all trade negotiations until Canada removes what he deems unjust taxes. He tied this stand to a broader context including Canada’s new three percent digital services tax on U.S. tech firms—a move he labeled an “attack.”
In fact it is Trump who has attacked Canada with tariffs on products such as steel and aluminum.
Carney has said nothing about changing Canada’s dairy tariffs.
Peeters Mushroom Farm brand sliced mushrooms are under recall due to Listeria monocytogenes food-poisoning bacteria.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency identified the bacteria. It said no-one has reported falling ill after eating the products.
The original proposal was an indefinite ban, but that was amended to a two-year ban during debate.
In 2023 the state passed a law regulating labeling so cultivated meats needed to be clearly identified.
Cultivated meats are grown from animal cells in vats and formed into meat-imitating products.
Texas has the largest cattle population in the United States.
Lloyd Milton Martin, founder of Wallenstein Feed and Supply, has died. He was 96.
He started into the feed business in 1955 as Lloyd Martin Feed Supplies from a Wallenstein warehouse his parents owned.
He bought Riverside Feed and renamed it Wallenstein Feed and Supply. It became one of the province’s most successful independent feed mills, supplying farmers in the Waterloo Region, Wellington and Perth Counties and along the route to Hamilton where his trucks picked up supplies.
The business is now run by his son, Rick. Another of his four sons, Roger, was dean of the Rottman School of Management at the University of Toronto and an economics graduate from Harvard University.
Martin was a devout Mennonite who helped found a congregation, contributed to Mennonite Economic Development Associates and was chairman of the Mennonite Credit Union.
Lisa Carr of Vaughan and François Henrie of Ottawa have been appointed to two-year terms on Ontario’s Animal Care Review Board.
The board hears appeals when inspectors seize animals they deem to be suffering abuse.
Henrie is a lawyer who is a member of the bar in both Ontario and Quebec. He has been vice-chairman of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and served on a crown corporation for more than 20 years.
Carr is a lawyer who had to give up her practice and go into police protection when threatened in connection with the Toronto-area tow-truck industry violence.
Gay Lea Foods co-operative has sold Grober Nutrition to CG Wellington.
CG Wellington is a family-owned investment company that has a number of agriculture companies including AgriSan which makes chemicals and pharmaceuticals, DairyPro, Norwell Dairy Systems and Promat.
Grober Nutrition will continue to operate in Cambridge and all employees will continue in their current roles. The business will also continue to source dairy from Gay Lea Foods.
Grober’s main business is feed for veal calves although it makes about 40 products for young animals.
Dr. Rene Van Acker has been picked as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Guelph.
He has a distinguished academic career including dean of Ontario Agriculture College and chairman of the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph.
The University’s board of governors’ vote was unanimous. He begins a five-year term on Thursday.
Van Acker said he is assuming the role at a time when the university is on a “pathway to becoming a top-tier university” — not just in Canada, but around the world.
“I want to inspire the university community as we navigate this bold new chapter. This moment calls for us to transform how we think and what we imagine is possible,” he said.
He capped as the university’s vice-president of research and innovation.
“His innovative thinking and grounded leadership style are the perfect qualities to lead U of G,” said Nancy Brown Andison, chair of the board of governors and the presidential search committee.
The federal and Ontario governments are offering $5 million to improve community pastures.
Eligible projects include:
• rotational grazing;
• improving pasture quality by planting resilient perennial forage crops;
• permanent grasslands (including forage);
• riparian buffers and pollinator habitats;
• management of at-risk natural features;
• tree buffers and shelterbelts;
• integrated tree, forage and livestock grazing systems, and
• wetlands, water retention and runoff control.
There has been an outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus in a nursery barn in Grey/Bruce counties, reports Swine Health Ontario.
The disease is particularly damaging to young piglets and can result in high mortality rates.
There has been an outbreak of Newcastle disease in a pigeon flock in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia.
It is the first outbreak in more than 50 years and will be handled through strict quarantines and depopulations.
The last previous case was in 1973.
The disease decimates egg production and inflicts high mortality rates.
Capstone Infrastructure Corporation is proposing to build a 200 megawatt (MW) facility across South Kent and East Kent.
This farm would consist of 25 to 30 wind turbines.
The company will be holding two community information sessions in Blenheim on Thursday. Both will happen at Willow Ridge Golf & Country Club, with the first session happening from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and the second session going from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Premier Doug Ford initially opposed wind farms, cancelling more than 750 projects soon after he was first elected premier in 2018.
But last August he reversed course and announced plans to buy an additional 5,000 megawatts from renewable energy projects.
But unlike the previous Liberal government, which over-ruled municipalities opposed to projects, Ford has given municipalities a say.
Mark Carney’s Liberal government has chosen a city man – Michael Coteau of Scarborough – to be chairman of the House of Commons Agriculture Committee.
The vice-chairs remain the same as before the election - John Barlow and Yves Perron.
Coteau was an Ontario cabinet minister before being elected MP for Scarborough-Woburn.
What has Prime Minister Mark Carney got against farmers?
He sacked Cody Blois as agriculture minister, although Blois did a few really popular things such as boosting subsidies for risk management programs and cash advances.
Maybe he's getting set to trade away more market shares of the dairy and poultry industries to get trade deals with the U.S., the U.K. and European Union.
Cattle ordered destroyed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be eligible for more compensation, the federal government said.
The maximum amount for purebreds has been increased from $10,000 to $16,500 and for non-registured cattle from $4,500 to $10,000.
Kerry Wright will take over as executive director of the Ontario Soil and Crop Association on July 28.
The Ontario Soil and Crop Association advocates for farmers and has been chosen by federal and provincial governments to administer a number of subsidy programs.
The association cited Wright’s career in strategic planning, marketing, communications, governance and management.
She has worked for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, the Canadian Agri-food Automation & Intelligence Network (CAAIN) and Mallot Creek Group.
The Thamesvfille Threshing Festival this weekend will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
There will be a parade on Friday, a midway and a drone show.
Publicity for the event features a long list of attractions, but not threshing machines.
Stu and Kim Lang of Guelph are donating $10 million towards a building at Lakehead University for the joint veterinarian training project with the University of Guelph.
Kim Lang said she has long been interested in animal welfare and wants to help address the “crucial” veterinary shortage in Northern Ontario.
"They do go up into Indigenous communities and take care of animals up there," she said.
"One of them is just about three hours north of Thunder Bay, so I thought this was a great place to start because there is such a shortage of vets."
Under the joint venture, students spend two years at Lakehead and two at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College.
Stu Lang was head coach of the University of Guelph’s football team, the Guelph Gryphons.
The couple founded the Community Healthcare Partnership Program (CHPP) which identifies, understands and removes barriers to healthcare for companion animals in under-resourced and made-vulnerable communities, its website says.
Remember about four years ago when farmers were complaining about the lack of competition among meat packers and then-president Joe Biden prescribed multi-million-dollar subsidies to entice investment?
How things have changed!
Last week packers lost $278.44 per head, according to Sterling Marketing’s weekly Beef Profit Tracker by Drovers.
Losses have been hovering at a level of nearly $300 per head, according to calculations covering a week earlier and a month earlier. A year ago packers were taking losses of $82.22 per head.
Steer and heifer slaughter declines by 4.2 per cent from the week earlier, to 453,096 head. Total beef production dropped the same percentage to 484.9 million pounds from the week-earlier total.
Slaughter is at 76.8 of plant capacity, down from 80.1 per cent the week earlier, and compared with 78.8 per cent capacity a month ago.
Choice steer prices averaged $239.91 per hundredweight while breakeven prices for finished cattle were $179.98 per hundredweight, supporting feedlot margins of $839.06 per head, up by 10.9 per cent from a week ago and 124 per cent from a year ago.
The Senate has passed Bill C-202 and “Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg farmers welcome any effort aimed at ensuring no further supply managed concessions are made in trade negotiations,” said a news release from the marketing agencies.
“We won,” said Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet enthusiastically, hours after the Senate adopted his party’s bill.
But Senator Paul Simons said “It does seem strange to allow a separatist party to set Canada’s national trade policy to such an extent.”
It will have an immediate impact on negotiations with United States President Donald Trump, which seemed to make progress during the G-7 meeting in Alberta this week, and upcoming negotiations with the European Union where Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is this week.
Negotiations with the United Kingdom are another sensitive issue for supply management.
Livestock farmers can't be happy that Canadian trade negotiators will face even greater difficulty persuading countries to lower their trade barriers to Canadian meats, especially pork.
John Jaques, Bryan and Shannon Prince, and Bill and Jean Sloan have been chosen to be added to the Kent County Agriculture Hall of Fame.
Jaques, famous for promoting asparagus and sporting a long beard, was instrumental is gaining risk management programs for farmers.
The Princes promoted sustainable practices, championed innovative farming techniques, and advocated for policies that benefit both farmers and the environment, the Hall of Fame said in a news release.
The Sloans, who died in 2011 and 2013, “have significantly contributed to the economy in East Kent. Through their family farm enterprise, they have added value to the area with significant employment opportunities and support for local businesses,” the Hall of Fame said.
The five inductees will officially join the Hall of Fame on November 18, 2025, during a ceremony in Oungah.
Empire Co. Ltd., owner of supermarket chains such as Sobeys, Farm Boy, IGA and Freshco, reported a three per cent increase in sales and a profit of 173 million compared with $149 million for the same fourth quarter last year.
Sales totalled $7.6 billion.
The company said its chains took market share from competitors. Loblaws is Canada’s biggest chain, Metro is third-largest and Costco and Walmart are significant competitors. Empire ranks second.
On-line sales via Voila increased by more than 80 per cent during the quarter after a partnership with Ocado Group PLC was ended and new partnerships were struck with Instacart and Uber Eats.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leaders are defending its raid on Glenn Valley Foods of Omaha that took ou halt of its workforce.
The owner said he used information provided by the government to ensure the workers were qualified for employment.
But ICE said there was a big a big identity theft scheme involved affecting nearly 70 undocumented immigrants who allegedly used stolen personal information to gain employment at the plant.
The multiagency investigation found that the workers used fraudulent Social Security numbers and identities to obtain jobs, wages and health benefits at the facility. Federal officials say more than 100 U.S. citizens were victimized, suffering financial, legal and emotional harm.
“These so-called honest workers have caused an immeasurable amount of financial and emotional hardship for innocent Americans,” said Mark Zito, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Kansas City.
“If pretending to be someone you aren’t in order to steal their lives isn’t blatant, criminal dishonesty, I don’t know what is,” he said.
The raid sparked widespread protests and President Donald Trump responded by saying ICE will stop targeting migrant field and meat-packing plant workers.
Business groups in the United States are petitioning the Supreme Court to take up the issue of the legality of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
They don’t want the Supreme Court to wait until lower courts rule on the legality of the tariffs.
“In light of the tariffs’ massive impact on virtually every business and consumer across the Nation, and the unremitting whiplash caused by the unfettered tariffing power the President claims, challenges to the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) tariffs cannot await the normal appellate process (even on an expedited timeline),” the petition states.
A new report from CoBank advises agriculture retail companies to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) “to optimize workflows, inventory management, employee performance and other key business functions.”
It said AI “can also enhance their position as trusted advisors and essential partners in the ag supply chain.”
It can be utilized in a company’s back office, front office as well as within agronomy and supply chain operations divisions said Jacqui Fatka, farm supply and biofuels economist with CoBank.
While AI is unlikely to eliminate ag retail jobs, it can help simplify tasks and reduce human error or bias. In addition, as labor continues to be a challenge for many rural enterprises, it can provide continuity during labor turnover. AI can also help agronomists and other staff cover more acres or customers.
“Early adoption and reliable partnerships will provide an advantage for those willing to test the AI landscape. Ag retailers should research companies and pick AI partners who understand agriculture and promise value beyond just lofty ROIs.”
She suggested starting with recording virtual meetings with CoPilot and then for standard business tasks such as human resources accounting, operations and sales.
While AI is unlikely to eliminate ag retail jobs, it can help simplify tasks and reduce human error or bias, she wrote.
It can provide continuity during labor turnover and can also help agronomists and other staff cover more acres or customers.
“The stakes are high for agribusinesses operating in an environment where margins are tight,” Fatka said.
Broiler chicken customers at the end of chicken supply chains have asked a federal courtt to grant final approval of settlements totaling $22.35 million with 11 remaining chicken processor defendants.
They include Claxton, Foster Farms, Harrison Poultry, House of Raeford, Koch, Mountaire, O.K. Foods, Perdue, Sanderson, Simmons and Wayne Farms.
If approved, total recoveries would exceed $203 million.
The national agency for chicken supply management is calling for production this fall to be eight per cent above base quota, and in Ontario 8.3 per cent above.
It is the most ambitious production target in more than a year.
Chicken Farmers of Ontario said demand for chicken continues to be strong. This is supported by competing meat prices, population growth, steady per capita consumption and overall positive economic indicators.
Ontario’s goal for the six-week quota period that begins Sept. 21 is more than 78 million kilograms as part of the national goal of more than 224 million kilograms.
Call for improved pesticide cautions
A Canadian union and an activist organization are suing the federal government because they say it has not done enough to protect workers exposed to agriculture pesticides.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada and Ecojustice say Health Canada has failed by not enforcing material safety data sheet (MSDS) requirements. The data sheets are summary documents that provide information about the hazards of a product and advice about safety precautions.
UFCW alleges some Ontario farms are relying on more complex and less easily understood product labels instead of comprehensive safety data sheets.
“We are noticing that, basically, there’s deficiency in the pesticide labels as compared to the safety data sheets,” said Rosemary Quinsey, national communications representative for UFCW.
“We want firmer regulations about these, we want to make sure that every single agricultural worker has adequate training, has access to the information they need in the languages they need.”
Quinsey said Health Canada is “suggesting that pest control labels can serve the role of those safety data sheets,” but said that’s not the case.
Ecojustice lawyer Laura Bowman said workers not knowing what pesticides they have been exposed to has been a consistent issue. She said there’s a legal requirement, aside from the labour requirement, that safety data including material safety data sheets be a condition of registration, and that the firms producing the pesticides would provide those to workplaces.
“Health Canada has been treating that as voluntary,” Bowman said.
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Bowman said the lawsuit is targeted at Health Canada and pesticide companies, not producers. Farmers are relying on the materials provided to them by the pesticide producers.
Bowman added there have been some issues with non-compliance, but those mostly relate to existing regulations. She encouraged farmers to stay up-to-date on what is required of them as an employer, like making sure all pesticides have proper labels on them,
Quinsey said agriculture workers — primarily temporary foreign workers — have told UFCW they are not being properly trained on use of pest control products. They also say safety information is often not accessible in their languages, a problem when many TFWs come from Spanish-speaking countries.
“We have, as part of numerous different consultation processes, asked Health Canada numerous times to make labels available in other languages,” Bowman said.
She noted the documentation can be complex, lengthy, and contain very specific instructions that can vary from crop to crop and application method.
“They are not user friendly in any way,” she said.
That means a simply mistake or misunderstanding can result in a high level of exposure for workers, and that can be due to lack of information, or because the worker gave up in frustration because the information they got wasn’t understandable.
She said this is not the fault of farmers because neither they nor their employees canbe expected to have a full grasp of the very technical details of pesticide use.
She said this is where proper safety data sheets would be necessary.
In a press release, a Guatemalan agriculture worker named Francisco said he has been told to use pesticides without any PPE or training.
“I don’t know how many times I have felt my skin burning, my head spinning, or my stomach turning until I throw up,” he said. “But what can I do? This job in Canada is my only chance, my family back in Guatemala depends on me. Without it, my kids won’t go to school. The boss knows that and takes advantage of that.”
Quinsey said this problem was flagged to them during a 2024 report on the state of health and safety for migrant workers.
The union filed the lawsuit because it represents more than 2,000 workers in the primary agriculture sector who are directly affected by exposure to pest control products in the workplace. She added it’s the federal government’s responsibility to ensure workers are protected.
“They have a right to know what the products are they’re using, … what the risks are, and what protection they should be entitled to,” Quinsey said.
Bowman said the ideal next step in the process would be to hear from Health Canada that they’ll be implementing the regulation and all pesticide registrations in the future will require an MSDS as a condition of registration.
“It shouldn’t be complicated for them to implement that,” Bowman said. She added there’s a need for other improvments to farm worker safety, including ensuring workers are “fully covered” by occupational health and safety legislation provincially, and clear worker protection standards need to be put in place on farms at the federal level.
A judge has agreed to a $13 million settlement between Clemens Food Group and a class of indirect pork buyers, who claimed they were victims of price-fixing.
The deal, first reached in May, is the fifth in the ongoing pork price-fixing litigation and would bring total recovery for the class to nearly $123 million.
Previous settlements include $75 million from Smithfield Foods, $20 million from JBS, $10 million from Seaboard Foods and $4.465 million from Hormel.
Steve Lake of Elora has been appointed to a three-year term on the Grain Financial Protection Board.
He is a grain farmer from the Palmerston area, a Pioneer seeds salesman and member of Grain Farmers of Ontario.
Six people have been chosen to be added to the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame - John Anderson, Dori Gingera-Beauchemin, Gaétan Desroches, Joe Hudson, Dennis Laycraft and Peter Sikkema.
Anderson rose through the ranks of Oppy, a global fresh produce retail business, to become chief executive officer.
Gingera-Beauchemin was deputy minister of agriculture for Manitoba until she retired in 2024.
Deroches led Solio Cooperative Group, Canada’s largest agriculture cooperative.
Hudson founded Burnbrae Farms and grew it into Canada’s largest egg-producing, egg-grading and egg-processing business. He was a long-serving director of the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board. He died last year.
Laycraft spent 40 years working for beef farmer organizations.
Sikkema was a popular weed scientist at the Ridgetown campus of the University of Guelph.
Swine Health Ontario has reported an outbreak of Porcine Deltacaronavirus on a finisher hog farm in the Niagara Region.
It is the first outbreak of that virus this month, but there have been 10 outbreaks of related Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus.
Farm organizations called on their G7 governments to reach a trade truce at the meeting in Alberta this week and for a return to stable rules-based trade, modernized regulations and other measures to help farmers weather “unprecedented pressures,” the Canadian Federation of Agriculture said in a joint news release.
It said farmers in all seven countries are facing complex challenges that demand coordinated, forward-thinking solutions.
“We are committed to working with our global partners to strengthen food security, drive innovation, and advance climate resilience,” said CFA president Keith Currie in.a news release.
“With the right tools, policies, and support, farmers can continue to lead the way toward a more sustainable and secure future for all.” Currie said.
Purdue University holds the rights to a new test for highly-pathogenic avian influenza that can be used by farmers.
Avian flu has so far claimed more than 14 million Canadian birds and 131 million in the United States since February 2022.
The researchers have developed a paper-based assay test that requires minimum training and only a water bath to deliver the results on the presence of the virus.
Farmers and those who manage commercial poultry operations can use an oral or nasal swab and transfer the sample to the paper-based devices that can be more easily read than current diagnostic methodologies, the Purdue research team said.
The technology is owned by the Purdue Research Foundation and has been exclusively licensed to the start-up Krishi, a Purdue Strategic Ventures portfolio company.
The technology is flexible enough to ultimately be used to test other potential candidates for HPAI transmission, including cattle, humans and other mammals, the release said.