Meteorologists predict a quick exit for La Niña exit and a 75 per cent chance of transitioning to ENSO-neutral by Jan-March.
Expect neutral conditions to persist through at least late spring with a growing chance of El Niño in 2026, they said.
Stephanie Zwicker Slavens has been re-appointed to a two-year term as the full-time Associate Chair of the Animal Care Review Board.
She is a lawyer who is also the part-time Associate Chair of Fire Safety Commission and an Acting Associate Chair and Vice Chair at the Human Rights Tribunal.
Maggie Van Camp has secured federal government funding to launch a new service for farmers facing succession challenges.
It will be a gathering of farmers in Eastern Ontario who will discuss the challenges and receive information about financials, family communications and self awareness.
The program offers:
Van Camp calls it Groundworks.
She said it is a collaborative effort among the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing, AgriRisk Managers and her own business, Loft32.
Six years after it left, Grain Farmers of Ontario is rejoining Grain Farmers of Canada.
It has not said whether its concerns about governance and personality conflicts have been resolved. When it left it said it felt it did not have adequate representation, but also said the national organization is needed to deal with a host of issues such as trade and transportation.
Now in its statement about rejoining, Scott Hepworth, chairman of Grain Farmers of Canada,said “for decades, grain farmers have been dealing with the fallout of long-standing issues that have been left unresolved.
“Global market instability is exposing cracks across the system, and Grain Farmers of Ontario joining Grain Growers of Canada reflects just how broad these pressures are and why a unified national voice, representing every major grain-producing region, is critical now.”
When it left in February of 2020, Grain Farmers of Ontario said it was “unable to overlook issues with the structure of the organization and personality conflicts” and was, “concerned with governance and regulation compliance.”
Swine Health Ontario reported an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in Oxford County on Jan. 6.
Waterloo Region has been frustrated in its plan to assemble 770 acres in Wilmot Township for industrial development.
So far it has bought only one 155-acre farm and several residences. It claims to have the rights to 550 acres.
But there are staunch holdouts, such as dairy farmer Stewart Snider who said he objects to the way the land assembly has been launched.
He also told Waterloo Region Record reporter Terry Pender that he doubts the region has legal authority to expropriate the land it seeks because it does not have a buyer or specific development proposal.
His opinion is shared by two groups opposed to the land assembly.
Snider said the economic climate has changed since the project was launched in the fall of 2024.
United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs have changed things, he said, a point conceded by Tony La Mantia, chief executive officer of the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation.
But La Mantia said that could change as soon as the mid-term elections in the United States in November.
The region’s threat to use expropriation to acquire the 770 acres expires in February so holdouts such as Snider will be able to block the full extent of the land assembly.
The Region failed to respond to a request from Ontario Farmer to say how many properties and acres are under purchase agreements.
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness is drafting rules to govern the use of animals in research.
It mentioned dogs and cats, but said the rules will govern all animals used in research.