Fed’s Guelph research centre to close

The federal agriculture department said a research center in Guelph is one of seven research centres across Canada that intends to close.

The only Agriculture and Agri-Food research centre in Guelph was opened in 1997. 

Other main research centers on the hit list are at Quebec City and Lacombe, Alta.

Satellite research farms at Nappan, N.S., Scott, Sask., Indian Head, Sask. and Portage la Prairie, Man., will also close.

 

The AAFC said it will remain Canada’s largest agricultural research organization, with 17 research centres nationwide and research farmland in every province. 

There are no imminent site closures, and any wind-down of scientific operations would follow a careful decision process that could take up to 12 months. Many employees may be retained, reassigned, or relocated. It is too early to determine final workforce impacts.

 

Keith Currie, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) called the cutbacks a “necessary evil”.

“There’s nothing wrong with efficiencies,” Currie said. “And if … there were hirings that didn’t make sense, taking a look at it and getting leaner and meaner, I think that’s what we do in business. That’s what you do on our farms.”

Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute told a reporter for Glacier News “hopefully this reminds everyone else in the ag ecosystem that research and development and innovation is critical to competitiveness, and we need to double down on making that a priority going forward.”

It could be a chance for the AAFC to do more with less. McCann said there is an argument to be made that the department “had too broad of a research footprint for the research funding envelope that they had.

“What will determine whether or not we can be competitive at a time of cuts is whether or not they’re going to make other changes to how they fund and do research to streamline and improve the efficiency of the work that they do.

“That is a real opportunity for governments and the stakeholder community around them to double down on innovation and to say, yes, we know that (AAFC) shrank its footprint, but in the Next Policy Framework, for the next five years, governments are going to commit more resources and more energy and more focus to innovation,” McCann said.

The Canadian Wheat Research Coalition said the staff cuts and resulting impacts are a tremendous loss for the industry.

“It is a loss of not only expertise and people who have contributed to farmers’ success, but also of agricultural research capacity that is crucial to fueling innovation and maintaining progress throughout the industry,” said chair Jocelyn Velestuk in a news release.

The feds have been chipping away on research for 75 years, forgetting that it was once the nation's largest and oldest research institutions and responsible for Canada's world lead in agriculture quality and success.

During that same 75 years subsidies and supply management have taken precedence and Canada's leadership has been lost.

         

More hog disease outbreaks

 

Swine Health Ontario reports outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea at a nursery barn in Perth County and a finisher farm in Oxford.

It reported an outbreak of porcine deltacoronavirus on a farrow-to-finish barn in Perth County.

Chinese supplier implicated in massive infant formula recalls

 

A Chinese supplier of an ingredient that contained cereulide which proved to be toxic has been implicated in the massive global recalls of infant formulas made by Nestlé, Danone and Lactalis.

Cereeulide can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

The situation has prompted European officials to increase their scrutiny of ingredients.

 

So far there has been no indication that any of the recalls are of products distributed in Canada. 

Trucker loses hog welfare appeal

 

William Warner and his company, Warner Transport, failed to convince the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal that his driver acted responsibly in trucking 190 hogs to Conestoga Meat Packers in warm and humid weather last summer.

But the tribunal did reduce the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s proposed fine of $13,000 to $10,000.

Warner said his driver twice reduced the load size – from 220 to 200, then to 190 – because it was hot.

But the evidence at the hearing was that there was overcrowding in some of the compartments of the transport trailer and some pigs died or were euthanized at the plant near Breslau. 

Delivery rules for dairies up for amendment

 

The public has four days to comment on proposals to amend regulations under the Ontario Milk Act that require special permission for dairy processors to deliver their products to the public.

The proposed changes would allow delivery services such as Uber Eats, Skip the Dishes, Door Dash, or individual delivery entities, to deliver milk products that they have processed,

The Ontario Regulatory Registry posted the notice this week and said it came from the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission and from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Agribusiness and Food.

Feds cut 600 staff from agriculture department

Pink slips will soon be issued to about 600 of the 5,690 people the federal agriculture department employs.

The news came in a letter from deputy minister Lawrence Hanson, not from Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald.

The budget chopped the Agricultural Clean Technology Program and the Youth Employment and Skills Program, so staff involved in those programs are among them losing their employment.

There will also be some retirements and employees moving to jobs elsewhere, and they will be calculated into the job cuts.

I guess MacDonald only wants his name linked to good news.

Partners renew 4R support

Leading farm organizations and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Agribusiness and Food have renewed their commitment to the 4R program.

It now covers more than 1.4 million acres where owners commit to using only the right fertilizers at the right rates at the right time and the right place.

It involves farmers and suppliers and crop advisors and it aims to sustain agriculture soils and waters and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The program is based on science and it certifies nutrient suppliers.

The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, Fertilizer Canada, Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Ontario Agri Business Association and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture joined the agriculture department in signing a memorandum of understanding to extend the program for a third term.

But where are the Ontario Branch of the National Farmers Union, Ecological Farmers of Ontario and the Organic Growers Ontario, the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Association and the Ontario Greenhouse Growers Association?

Those who signed on said that through continued collaboration among industry, government, and farm organizations, the initiative improves soil health, protects water quality, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in support of climate-smart agriculture. 

By certifying agricultural retailers, engaging qualified professionals, and measuring progress, the MOC enhances sustainability and delivers long-term economic and agronomic benefits for Ontario farmers, the program said in a news release.