Canada tariffs veggie imports

In a highly unusual move, the federal Finance Department announced a 10 per cent tariff on low-priced processed vegetables from a limited number of countries.

It will not apply to products from the United States, Mexico, Israel, Chile and developing countries.

It is classified as a safeguarding measure which has only been used once in the last 20 years.

The safeguarding inquiry was launched at the request of the Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors.

It is opposed by the Retail Council of Canada which speaks for the dominant supermarket chains.

The tariff will last a maximum of 20 days while the inquiry continues.

There have been substantial increases in imports from Thailand (179 per cent), Turkey (159 per cent) and Peru (85 per cent).

They may have come to Canada because the United States hit them with higher tariffs.

Nortera Foods Inc. of Quebec has in recent months made plans to close two plants, citing concerns about import competition. It announced the closure of its Lethbridge, Alta., plant in March, and its Saint-Césaire, Que., plant in October. 

Sharman appointed to development board

Danielle Sharman of Rockwood has been appointed to a three-year term on the province’s Rural Economic Development Advisory Panel.

She is a senior policy advisor at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, specializing in agriculture and rural economic development.

She is a board director on the Greenbelt Foundation and sits on various committees for the Economic Developers’ Council of Ontario.

She is a certified economic developer with a master’s degree in local economic development.

She, her husband and three children live on a grain farm in Rockwood.

Wow! What great qualifications for this job!

Yet another lawyer appointed

The province has appointed Harouna Sidibe Saley Sidibe to a two-year term on the Animal Care Review Board.

He joins a board whose membership is already mostly lawyers. 

They deal with appeals from farmers and other animal owners who have been accused of animal abuse.

Twenty-six of the 29 members are lawyers or are employed in legal administrate systems. Their qualifications outlined in the provincial appointments registry show no experience with livestock or poultry.

Sidibe holds master’s degrees in international law and business law and a doctorate in law. 

He is currently completing a Master of Laws at Osgoode Hall Law School and holds a Certificate in Law from Queen’s University. 

He has more than 10 years of professional experience in real estate law, insolvency law, medical liability law, and insurance law, including experience with French law firms and insurance groups. He is able to work in delivers services in French and English and has basic knowledge of Spanish.

Drone spraying gets ok

 

The federal health department is granting permission to use drones to spray fields.

The permission applies to pesticides and crops already approved for aerial applications.

The permission came in the form of a letter Health Canada issued to the Canadian Agricultural Drone Association.

Health Canada – i.e. the Pest Management Review Agency – said this is an interim measure.

“Previously there were no agricultural pesticides approved by PMRA to apply by drone at all, so there was literally nothing that could be applied legally,” said Markus Weber, president of the Canadian Agricultural Drone Association.

Alberta farmer urges ban on blood plasma

Jake Waldner, pig manager for Hartland Colony in Alberta, thinks porcine epidemic diarrhea virus can spread in blood plasma used as an ingredient for nursery pig rations.

He said he can’t be certain the Hutterite colony’s disease outbreak came from blood plasma, but said there were too many links pointing in that direction.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of Alberta Pork.

Several other producers had strong words of criticism for allowing blood plasma to continue to be a nursery feed ingredient.

One said the issue was raised 14 years ago and a number of times since.

One said it’s like playing Russian roulette.

Alberta has had only this one outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus since 2922.

Province tweaks farm machinery regs

 

The province is proposing minor changes to the Farm Implements Act and Regulation 369 to reduce paperwork.

 New farm machinery dealerships and new dealer-distributorships will no longer need to regisste3r with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness.

The Ministry will retain the dealer requirement  as a permit by rule, whereby a farmequipment dealer is required to notify OMAFA through the existing registration form.

The legislation provides protection for dealers from unjustified terminations of dealership agreements and buy-back requirements when the dealership agreements end. The Act also improves farm implement safety through supporting the development of farm implement safety standards.

Chick sexing technology launching soon

 

Technology that can identify the sex of chicks before they hatch is set to launch late this year.

It would reduce costs and eliminate the animal welfare issue of killing newborn males.

Canadian Egg Technologies is working with the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board and the Egg Farmers of Canada national supply management agency to bring technology from Denmark’s Sanova Technology Group to Canada.

 MatrixSpec Solutions of Quebec is also involved.

The group’s platform uses hyperspectral imaging, via MatrixSpec’s MSE3000 scanner, to gender-type the eggs as early as the fourth day of incubation, according to a June 17 news release. It said this is earlier than other, similar technologies.

Hatcheries will benefit by freeing up space to incubate only female-producing eggs.

Empire profits increase

 

Empire reported a 22.5 per cent increase in profits for its final quarter, a total of $212 million.

Its financial statements did not reveal revenues.

The company said it is pushing back on supplier’s surcharges for fuel costs and price hikes.

Empire owns Sobeys, IGA, Farm Boy and Costco supermarket chains.

Farmers refuse Alto overture

 

Five general farm organizations are refusing to sign “collaborator” agreements with Alto, the organization planning to build a high-speed railway linking Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa.

“These Collaborator Agreements were the equivalent of non-disclosure agreements,” said Josh Suppan, president of National Farmers Union - Ontario. “Signing would have severely limited what we could share with our members, curtailing our ability to advocate in the best interest of food producers. Attempting to silence the voice of agriculture is not how consultations should be done.”  

The five farm organizations said they are willing to talk, but it needs to be “meaningful consultation”.

The five are the NFU-O, Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, L’Union des producteurs agricoles, and L’Union des Cultivateurs Franco-Ontarien.

“We view Alto as a net negative for farmers and for agricultural and environmentally-sensitive land throughout Ontario and Quebec,” said Suppan.

The estimated $90 billion budget for the Alto project will almost certainly ensure that over the next generation our public transit will become even more underfunded, said NFU-O.

Canadians cannot know the project’s true costs or financial implications, because Alto has not publicly released any verifiable cost estimates, feasibility studies, or calculations behind their much-publicized overall price tag, it said. 

We have also received little evidence to support the expected ridership, or the supposed environmental and economic benefits, it said.

Hubers lose tribunal appeal

 

James and Gerdie Huber have lost their tribunal appeal against the Dairy Farmers of Ontario marketing board.

They lost their licence after the marketing board found their premises failed standards.

That led to bankruptcy and a receiver taking ownership of the farm.

The marketing board argued, and the tribunal agreed, that the Hubers lack authority to file an appeal since they no longer own the farm.

Chicken board open to newcomers

Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board has opened applications for people who want to acquire a licence and quota to become a chicken producer.

The deadline to apply is 5:00 p.m.on October 30, 2026.

Board chairman Murray Opsteen said “the Ontario chicken sector is strong, vibrant, and continues to grow}

He said board members’ production supports more than 30,000 jobs and contributes $6.3 billion to the Ontario economy,.

“For individuals interested in pursuing a career in chicken”arming, the CFO New Entrant Chicken Farmer Program provides a valuable opportunity to enter the sector and build a successful farming operation.”  he sad,

Fifty families have joined the chicken business since 2012 through the CFO New Entrant Chicken Farmer Program. 

Those chosen into the program gain a wide range of supportive services and educational resources. They also benefit from a 15-year repayment period involving quota holdings – all in support of the successful transition into Ontario’s chicken farming business.  

“The Ontario chicken sector continues to be strong, resilient, and well-positioned for the future, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to our vision of leading a trusted, prosperous, and sustainable chicken sector,” said Denise Hockaday, the organization’s chief executive officer.

VTL Foods loses its licence

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended its licence for VTL Foods Trading Ltd. of Mississauga because of serious breaches of the Canada Safe Foods Act.

The CFIA said it lacked import controls, misdeclared imported products and imported meats from countries lacking CFIA approval.

The suspension puts VTL Foods out of business until it can satisfy the CFIA that it can and will comply with the law.

Survey finds support for greenhouses

A survey conducted by Campaign Research in Kingsville and Chatham-Kent between April 9 and April 17 has found strong support for the greenhouse industry, but also some concerns about the environment, pollution and resource use. One of the “pollution” issues is night-time lighting.

The survey revealed that 91 per cent of Chatham-Kent residents agree the greenhouse sector provides their community with a net benefit. In Kingsville, the result was 92 per cent.

However, 92 per cent of respondents also think local governments should actively guide and support greenhouse and agricultural development.

"The greenhouse sector is not just an agricultural sector. It is one of the economic engines that helps sustain families, businesses, and community services across the region," said Richard Lee, executive director of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers association.

“As the greenhouse sector continues to expand, we recognize that growth must go hand-in-hand with community dialogue and responsible planning," Lee said.

Competition Bureau targets food supply chain

The federal government’s Competition Bureau is launching a new study announced a new study of the Canadian food supply chain. 

It said it’s in response to recent food price increases and comes after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced $130 million of increased funding for the Competition Bureau to examine the food industry.

The study will be a “broad examination,” of every step in the food production process, interim commissioner of competition Jeanne Pratt said in an interview. It will look at crop inputs, such as fertilizer and seeds, as well as transportation, distribution and pricing practices at grocers.

“The price at checkout starts a long time before the product gets on the shelves,” she said. 

Pratt said the bureau study will build on its recommendations from a 2023 report that examined concentration of ownership in the grocery business,.

Mike von Massow, an agricultural economist at the University of Guelph, said the study seems to be too broad and the meatpacking business alone is a highly consolidated sector worthy of its own investigation, He said he said 85 per cent of Canada’s slaughter is done at three plents. Two are in Alberta and one in Ontario and they are owned by Cargill and JBS. 

“This is so unfocused. It’s kind of like casting a big wide net and hoping we catch something,”  von Massow said.

The 2023 study recommended changes such as limiting property controls, which have been used by major grocers to restrict what nearby businesses can sell. Investigations into property controls are continuing. 

Only one province – Manitoba – has banned the practice.

The Competition Bureau could notch a slam-dunk win by investigating the two companies that dominate Canada's egg supply chain. 

More than five years ago a whistleblower provided the Competition Bureau with electronic evidence of how the two conspired to control the supply chain. 

It could also examine the history of competition in Ontario's dairy-processing industry, including lobbying in the 1970s by the Ontario Dairy Council against provincial government permission to establish new milk processing plants in Ontario.

There is enough anti-competitive behaviour to keep Competition Bureau investigators working for decades.

            

More startup funding announced

Wittington Ventures – an investment arm backed by the Weston group of companies – is partnering with Breakthrough Energy Discovery of the United States to launch a new funding program that would give two to four applicants $500,000 US each in early-stage capital. 

Agriculture will be a priority for the funding.

The applicants must be headquartered in Canada and be from Canadian research institutions. 

Those chosen will become the first entirely Canadian cohort to join Breakthrough Energy Discovery’s global Fellows program. 

The Weston Group’s main holding is Loblaws supermarket business.

Bee regs to be dropped

 

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness is proposing to drop regulations that require a permit to move beeswax refuse from quarantine zones.

The regulations required permits but have not been used for more than 15 years.

OMAFRA said it will still be able to declare quarantine zones to prevent the spread of diseases.

Livestock drug sales under review

 

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness is moving to counter a federal change in regulations that would make it more bureaucratic to be able to buy livestock medicines.

The federal changes have made it necessary to obtain a prescription to buy medically-important antimicrobials.

To reduce delays, costs, and administrative burden, OMAFA is proposing amendments to the Animal Health Act (AHA) and to the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act (DPRA) that would allow for the use of registration instead of requiring persons who sell livestock medicine to hold licences.

If those amendments are introduced and pass, OMAFA would then propose amendments to O. Reg. 584/20: Licences to Sell Livestock Medicines under the Animal Health Act to replace the current requirement to obtain a licence to sell livestock medicines with the requirement to register with OMAFA before operating.

OMAFA is also proposing to drop the requirement for annual renewals of licences to slaughter cattle or pigs on the farm.

Ontario’s proposals are open to public comment until July 30.

                           -30-

Activists appeal court’s trespass decision

 

Animal Justice, an organization that seeks the right to trespass to document alleged animal abuse, said it will appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

It originally won a court challenge against a new Ontario law that protects animal owners from trespassers and undercover agents seeking to document animal abuse.

But that was over-turned by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

“I do not agree that the legislation violates the respondents’ Charter rights,” said the Appeal Court’s decision. “What the respondents (Animal Justice and two co-applicants) claim is a right to access the property of others on their own terms and for their own purposes. Freedom of expression does not provide for this.”

                           

Farm efficiency subsidy extended

 

The federal and provincial governments are offering $12 million in a program aimed at helping farmers improve energy efficiency and soil health.

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership is offering between $6,000 and $90,000 for projects that support soil health, water quality and energy efficiency improvements, including replacing inefficient on-farm technologies, installing geothermal heating and adopting high-efficiency motor, ventilation, heating, cooling, refrigeration, grain drying and lighting systems. 

This is the fourth intake of the program and builds on the $15.5 million already invested to support approximately 1,000 projects since 2023.

                           

Lawyer to head Animal Review Board.

 

Brian Killick of Sarnia has been appointed to a two-year terms as associate chairman of the Animal Care Review Board.

He is a former staff lawyer with Neighbourhood Legal Services in London and at Community Legal Assistance in Sarnia. 

He is also a former Paralegal Program Professor at Sheridan College. 

The review board hears appeals from owners whose animals have been seized because they were allegedly being abused.

The board membership has many lawyers.

NFU decries Swift Current destruction

The National Farmers Union (NFU) is calling for an independent audit of organic-farmed plots at the Swift Current, Sask. research station and restoration of the land to organic standards.

The government abandoned the organic-farmed area and planted wheat this year.

The NFU said when the cuts were announced, the government said there would be a careful, 12-month wind-down period to permit the completion of research in progress, transfer of assets and preservation of data. 

But the destruction of the organic research project lands at Swift Current is a betrayal of those assurances, and deeply disrespectful of Parliament, as it pre-empts the government’s official response to the Agriculture Committee report which has not yet been tabled in Parliament.

Farmers made investments in the organic research yet they had no say in the decisions that interrupted ongoing work, and have  made it impossible to go ahead with commitments for planned organic research, the NFU said.

The Organic and Regenerative Agriculture program at Swift Current has supported farmer-led alternative plant breeding and addresses urgent problems of climate adaptation, reduced-input production, disease issues, and others faced by all farmers, organic and conventional alike, the NFU said.

The program held well-attended annual field days to communicate its results to the farming community and other researchers. 

The Organic and Regenerative Research program is needed to develop and share critical knowledge for a strong agriculture sector, a prosperous economy and Canada’s future food security, it said.

After an independent audit and restoration of the land to organic farming standards, the NFU wants “a formal commitment to a multi-year, supervised remediation process required to rehabilitate the soil structure, address the disruption of biological integrity, and mitigate the damage caused by the loss and mixing of distinct treatment, crop, and soil histories so that valid organic research can safely resume in the future.”

Why is the Canadian Federation of Agriculture silent?

Carney offers $1 billion for food terminals

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney was at the Ontario Food Terminal where he announced $1 billion for food terminals, including the one where he made the announcement.

He said two more food terminals will be established to help Canadian farmers market their produce.

He said the $1 billion adds to $2.3 billion being spent to help lower-income Canadians afford food.

It also includes $150 million toward a new food security fund, $100 million for supporting global innovation clusters and a $1-billion Agri-Food Project Finance Fund to be delivered through Farm Credit Canada.

The government aims to increase Canadian consumption of domestically produced and processed food from 70 to 80 per cent and he GDP growth of the food processing industry from 1.6 per cent a year to 2.75 per cent between 2027 and 2035.

It’s not clear whether two food wholesale operations in the Waterloo Region might qualify for some of the.$1 billion.

One is the Elmira Produce Auction Cooperate Inc. which wholesales food from Mennonite farms and greenhouses.

The other is St. Jacobs Foods which was purchased by Richard and Sherri Good and moved to New Hamburg.

Four rabid bats detected

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed four cases of rabies in bats in Ontario during May.

Nationally there were 28 confirmations of rabies in animals, including 19 racoons in Quebec.

Mexico bans U.S. livestock

Mexico will stop most imports of live animals from the United States because New World screwworms were found in Texas and New Mexico,.

It’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black because the U.S. screwworms were probably from Mexico which has registered more than 28,200 cases of screwworm since November 2024.

Mexico said it is protecting its cattle herd in the northern states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua and Sinaloa, where there are currently no confirmed cases of screwworm.

Dairy farm fined for manure pollution

 

Henro Dairy Farms Ltd., in Blanford-Blenheim has been fined $270,000 plus a $67,500 victim surcharge for a manure spill that killed about 1,700 fish along a three-kilometre ditch and waterway.

The farm’s manure storage overflowed.

Lactalis milk on recall

Lactalis Canada is recalling its Lactantia UltraPur 2% Protein milk because it has been too heavily supplemented with Vitamins D and A.

Much of it was sold in Costco stores in May and June.

It’s lactose-free milk is also on recall. 

Both were packaged in two-litre cartons.

There is no food safety risk with these milks.

The federal government requires milk to be fortified with Vitamins D and A.

Lactalis said only one batch of milk is involved in the recall.

CFIA tallies 19 avian flu outbreaks

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported there have been 19 outbreaks of highly-;pathogenic avian influenza in the first five months of this year.

One of them was in Amherstburg Township, Ont., in February.

There have also been five cases of chronic wasting disease and five of equine infectious anemia, none of them in Ontario.

Goat milk marketing board approved

More than two-thirds of Ontario’s goat milk producers have voted in favour of setting up a marketing board so the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission has granted its approval.

The board will be able to charge a fee on goat-milk marketing to fund research and promotion programs.

It will not have supply-management power.

“The creation of a new statutory organization for Ontario’s dairy goat sector is one of the most significant governance changes the industry has faced in decades,” said Michele Bowering, Ontario Goat president. 

“Of additional concern is the fact that a significant number of eligible producers from Amish and Mennonite communities were unable to participate in the vote due to religious objections to voting.”

She said calling it a marketing board prompted concerns from about 200 goat-milk producers in the province, but she said it’s really just an association with power to raise money for research and promotion.

Agropur recalls Costco organic milk

Sanitizer contaminated a batch of one per cent milk Agropur made for Costco, so the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it’s under recall.

The product involved in the recall is the Kirkland Signature brand Organic 1% Partly Skimmed Milk, sold in packs of three one-litre pouches.

According to the official regulatory filing, the milk carries a best-before date of July 12, 2026 and the plant registration code 1490.

Some milk from the Agropur batch was also distributed by other retailers.

The CFIA said consuming milk contaminated with these chemical agents can cause immediate gastrointestinal distress, burning sensations, or nausea.

There have been no officially verified reports of consumer illnesses or adverse medical events linked to consumption. 

Costco Canada used its membership networks to alert shoppers who purchased the specific organic milk lot to immediately halt consumption. 

Retail managers are authorizing full corporate refunds upon the return of the merchandise to local warehouses.

Japanese soy milk targets U.S. market

The Japanese Soy Milk Exchange (JSME) has launched a campaign in the United States.

It brings together soybean innovators, culinary experts, nutrition professionals and food industry executives to introduce Japanese soy milk.

JMSE will establish Japanese soy milk as a distinct premium category in the U.S. and serve as its authoritative voice, educating consumers on what sets it apart from other soy milks, the organizers wrote in a news release.

It said soy is at the heart of Japan’s food culture, and Japanese soy milk is rooted in centuries of craftsmanship. 

It’s made with soybeans grown in North America, using specialized Japanese technology and processing methods that ensure a silky texture, mild scent and subtly nutty flavor, it said.

Nutritionally, Japanese soy milk is comparable to dairy milk with nine to 10 grams of plant protein per serving and about half the carbohydrates of cows’ milk.

Dyson’s pioneering new strawberry growing system

James Dyson, best known for inventing a new type of vacuum cleaner, is applying his inventive nature to growing strawberries. He wants to grow strawberries year-round and is conducting research at a greenhouse in Carrington where the plants are tended in a series of vertical wheels that resemble a carousel, each about 78 feet long and 16 feet tall populated with 1,225 plants.

Sensors measure photosynthetically active radiation, humidity, carbon dioxide, and temperature and determining when to supplement sunlight with LED lighting and when to adjust the growing environment.  Robots patrol the aisles emitting ultra-violet light to suppress mould so chemical pesticides are not needed.  Machine s detect ripe berries which are harvested by 16 robot arms. The farm harvests 200,000 strawberries a month.  The whole operation runs on a closed-loop energy system: crops from surrounding fields are fed into onsite anaerobic digesters that convert organic matter into biogas, which powers turbines generating enough renewable electricity to run the facility.  The excess heat from those turbines maintains the greenhouse temperature.  Rainwater captured from the roof irrigates the plants. The vertical growing system has increased yields to two and a half times conventional methods.

Almost half of the food consumed in Britain is imported, and the UK produces only 16 percent of the fruit it eats. The same instinct that led Dyson to spend years redesigning the vacuum cleaner because he thought the existing one was needlessly inefficient is now pointed at a food system that imports strawberries from Morocco in February when the engineering to grow them fifty miles from their point of sale already exists.  He owns 36,000 acres across Lincolnshire, the East Midlands of England, and Scotland and grows wheat, potatoes, and oilseed rape. Plus strawberries.

Screwworms might cost Texas $1.8 billion

The United States Department of Agriculture said the last time screwworms got into Texas, it cost Texas $283 to $375 million in the 1970s.

Adjusted for inflation, that would be $733 million lost by ranchers every year and a total of $1.8 billion by the time the pests could be wiped out.

The agency cautioned that direct comparisons are difficult because livestock inventories, veterinary practices and response capabilities have changed significantly over the last five decades. 

Texas’s cattle inventory now exceeds 12 million head, compared with about 7.2 million during the 1976 outbreak, while sheep and goat inventories have declined substantially.

Egg levies have changed

 

The National Farm Products Council has approved changes to egg levies in four provinces.

Ontario’s levy is now 44.45 cent a dozen, Quebec’s 48.05, New Brunswick’s 51.55 and Alberta 51.05.

The national agency increased its levy by six cents a dozen in mid-April and now the provincial levies have been amended

Canada bans cattle from Texas

Canada has banned cattle from Texas because two New World Screwworms have crossed the border from Mexico.

The worms lay eggs and when the larvae hatch, they burrow into flesh, including not only cattle, but also humans.

In response to last week’s discovery of New World screwworm in Texas, Canada has banned livestock imports from the state.

“Animals that originate from or were present in the State of Texas within 21 days prior to border crossing will not be accepted into Canada,” the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) stated in a release. “

States including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Montana have issued emergency regulations tightening veterinary requirements for imports of livestock from Texas.

Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University’s extension livestock marketing specialist, described Canada’s import ban as “a largely symbolic political move as it will affect a very small volume of trade.”

After originating in Panama in 2022 and spreading north through Mexico in the ensuing years, New World Screwworms were found on June 3 in Texas, then later one in New Mexico and another one in Texas.

This is from Facebook

Chapman's Ice Cream just did something EVERY Canadian needs to hear about.

Canada's largest ice cream company used to source their fruits and nuts from US suppliers — some for over 30 YEARS. Then Trump slapped a 25% tariff on Canadian goods.

So what did Chapman's do?

➡️ They called Italy.

➡️ They called Spain.

➡️ They signed multi-year contracts with European suppliers.

And the VP said it perfectly:

"Even if Trump wakes up smarter than he did yesterday, we're about to sign lasting agreements with other countries — and the US companies that supply them are going to be out of luck."

Oh, and on top of ALL that? They're FREEZING their prices so average Canadians don't pay a single extra cent.

This is a family-run business. No shareholders. Just the Chapman family saying: "The least we can do is make sure Canadians can still afford ice cream."

This is what Canadian corporate pride looks like.

Next time you're at the grocery store — grab a Chapman's.
Every scoop is a vote for Canada.

TAG a Canadian who needs to see this!

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