Minor hike to farm registration fee

 

There could be a minor increase in the farm registration fee the Ontario agriculture department charges if farmers want access to its subsidies and services.

The proposal is to increase the administration fee the beneficiary farm organizations can charge by $2.30 plus HST per registration. The new fee would be $22.60. 

However, the increase to the fee would only impact the farm organizations which review and provide input on the program delivery budget before it is finalized, the ministry said on the province’s regulations registry.

While farmers pay the fee to AgriCorp, the money goes to support the general farm organization the farmer chooses.

The current fee totals $288.15.

A farm plan for biosecurity

Canadian pork producers have a new plan available to help them with 

The Canadian Pork Council was involved on a team that included the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, provincial pork organizations, swine veterinarians and researchers, to come up with a biosecurity guideline and benchmark.

Ravneet Kaur, director of national animal health and policy with the Canadian Pork Council, outlined the initiative during Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2026 in Saskatoon.

She said African swine fever has been a major focus of the industry’s preparedness efforts over the past eight years. but work is also expanding to include foot-and-mouth disease and highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Kaur identified four central areas of work: biosecurity and prevention, planning and preparedness, business continuity, and communications.

“The common thread between all of this is the coordination that we do as an industry, with governments, with other partners,” she told Farmscape.

The voluntary resource gives producers a framework for reviewing biosecurity alongside their veterinarians and industry organizations.

Drone Spray Canada wins award

 

 

Drone Spray Canada won two of the excellence awards which were presented during the Royal Agriculture Winter Fair in Toronto.

The company won the minister’s award and research and innovation award.

The company is based in Blenheim.

Other winners are:

Agribusiness Excellence: Western Fair Association (The Grove) – County of Middlesex 

Education Excellence: Ottawa Valley Seed Growers Association – City of Ottawa

Urban Agriculture Excellence: Cambridge Food Bank – Regional Municipality of Waterloo 

Northern Business Excellence: Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance – Temiskaming District

Women’s Farming Excellence: Janet Harrop – County of Wellington 

Farm Family Excellence: Hy-Hope Farm – Regional Municipality of Durham 

2026 Honourable Mentions:

Research and Innovation Excellence: Agriculture Environmental Renewal Canada (AERC) Inc. – City of Ottawa

SK8 Biotechnologies Inc. – Regional Municipality of York

Agribusiness Excellence: Elite Agri Solutions Inc. – County of Middlesex 

WOWBUTTER Foods – County of Perth

Education Excellence: Sandi Brock – County of Perth

Women’s Farming Excellence: l’Union Culturelle des Franco-Ontariennes (UCFO) – United Counties of Prescott and Russell

The government also announced $2.3 million in three years of support for 4-H Canada.

Warner Transport loses appeal of fine

 

Warner Transport of Thedford has lost its appeal of a $13,000 fine by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in connection with a load of hogs it delivered to Conestoga Meats of Breslau.

Ten of the 270 market hogs that Warner Transport were either dead or euthanized on arrival.

Despite a spirited defence by William Warner, co-owner of the company, the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal confirmed the fine.

Warner explained that the density guidelines do not reflect the lean body condition of the hogs now being raised and transported in Canada. 

Since the 2001 publication of the Transport Code, hogs have been

bred to have more muscle mass, which is denser than fat. 

Therefore, hogs today are leaner at a given weight than they were when the guidelines were created. Warner testified that their lean body condition means market hogs take up less space and correspondingly have more space available to them in the trailer despite being of

equivalent weight.

There was testimony that the Berdix trailer used in this shipment has a ventilation system that is different from pot-bellied trailers and hogs are less likely to seek warmth by crowding away from side openings.

"Although there is some logic to Warner Transport’s arguments," tribunal member Patricia Farnesse wrote “I am not persuaded that the loading density guidelines in the Transport Code should be set aside in this case.”

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency website reveals that several livestock and poultry trucking companies have been fined $9,000 and 

$10,000 each this year.

Lisa MacDonald appointed

Lisa MacDonald of Elora has been appointed to a three-year term on the Rural Economic Development Advisory Panel.

She is a councillor on Centre Wellington Council and a member of the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators.

She holds a certificate from Osgoode/York University in Administration of Boards, Tribunals and Commissions.

Fuel drives inflation higher

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that inflation in member countries averaged 4.5 per cent in September because fuel cost more.

That’s because Iran has blocked traffic in the Strait of Hormuz as part of its response to the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran.

Average prices across the OECD were more than 40 per cent above their December 2019 levels, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, food prices are almost 50 per cent higher than before the pandemic, while energy prices are close to 70 per cent higher.

There are 38 countries that are members of the organization.

Farm details included in budget

 

The federal budget includes some modest changes for agriculture.

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program will be tweaked to “better align with regional labour market needs, in collaboration with provinces and territories, while improving processing time and strengthening employer compliance.” the budget documents said.

It also proposed to help transition up to 200,000 temporary residents already in Canada to permanent residency by the end of 2027.

Nieces and nephews and their children will be included in farm inheritance tax breaks.

The budget proposes regulatory amendments to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act, Feeds Act, Fertilizers Act, Health of Animals Act, Plant Protection Act and Seeds Act to modernize Canadian Food Inspection Agency fines and penalties and strengthen enforcement.

On the spending side, there is $176.9 million over three years starting in 2028-27 to renew the Wine Sector Support Program, $124 million over three years for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund, which supports food banks and other community food infrastructure such as greenhouses and food storage facilities, and $6.2 million over four years for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to support Canada’s Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, which could help power AI platforms in farming.

It also proposes amending the Agricultural Loans Act “to improve access to capital for farmers, support intergenerational farm transfers, reduce costs and administrative requirements for lenders and producers, and better reflect today’s agricultural realities.”