Lambton has new venue for plowing match

 

The Ontario Plowmen’s Association has secured aa farm owned by Clayton and Linda McLauchlin for the 2027 International Plowing Match and Rural Explo.

It is east of Petrolia in Lambton County.

Earlier this summer, the Lambton County Plowmen’s Association withdrew its offer to host the match.

Then a week later the Ontario Plowmen’s Association said it would go ahead with the match in Lambton County.

The OPA said the Petrolia Line property has the perfect open landscape, easy access, and major operational footprint needed to pull off an event of this scale.

The OPA said it demonstrated the county’s ability to bring together agriculture, innovation, community leadership, and visitors from across Ontario.

The match is to be held Sept. 21 to 25, 2027.

U.S. blames Canada for failed trade talks

In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Canadian side had new requests when Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc returned from Ottawa after the tentative deal was struck on Aug. 18.

"We had agreed to, as I've shared before in the press, really the best deal available to any country on the planet with respect to Canada," Greer told CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton in his first one-on-one interview with a Canadian news outlet since trade talks broke down on Friday. 

"When [LeBlanc] came back, they had some additional views. They had some additional requests. They had some additional things that that were too much for the United States."

Yet when Trump was asked who in the U.S. weighed in with last-minute changes, he said “that sounds like me.”

Animal rights activists face uphill battle

 

With food prices escalating, animal rights groups are fighting an uphill battle to persuade the public to buy the scarce meat products they endorse.

Free-range chickens, pasture-raised pigs and chickens all command significant pride premiums.

A July Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that two-thirds of adults describe groceries as “unaffordable”—up more than 20 points since February and that’s for conventionally-raised meat and eggs.

Animal rights activists have had some success with California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sale of non-cage-free eggs and pork produced with the use of individual maternity pens, but now outdoor access seems to be next.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recently issued a supermarket guide for consumers on what kind of animal protein to buy. 

It only endorsed pasture-based systems, while also admitting that very little animal protein produced today actually meets these requirements. In fact, 99% per cent of poultry doesn’t satisfy it’s standards.

Allowing animal rights activists—many of whom don’t even eat meat—to dictate farming practices is not sustainable for family budgets, wrote Jack Hubbard in an on-line post.

Not everyone can afford expensive Whole Foods grocery carts. Veterinarians and farmers should be calling the shots, he wrote.

Rollins kept in dark

The Trump administration has said it will increase permission to import an extra 300,000 pounds of beef, but its Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, has been cut out the loop and doesn’t know where the beef will come from. 

She said Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and President Donald Trump are handling the situation.

She told farmers that the imports are to make up for the loss of imports from Mexico that have been blocked because of concerns about new world screwworms.

Farmers, ranchers and some of Trump’s own elected Republicans have criticized the extra imports which they say will discourage plans to rebuild the U.S. beef herd.

Somebody should give Trump some farmer advice: why keep a dog and bark, too?

Murray Hunt wins dairy award

 

Murray Hunt has been chosen the 2026 winner of the Dairy Cattle Improvement Industry Distinction Award.

Murray held influential leadership positions with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Holstein Canada, the National Advisory Council for Dairy Animal Improvement, the Canadian Milk Recording Board, the Canadian Association of Animal Breeders and the Canadian Dairy Network (now Lactanet Genetics).

He was instrumental in setting up a sire index to help dairy farmers identify bulls that will improve traits they deemed important for individual cows.

He continued contributing to additional traits on the index over his 40-year career.

 

At Holstein Canada, he modernized the national type classification program, strengthened research partnerships, and helped establish governance.

He took over Huntsdale Holsteins, earning a Master Breeder Shield in 1984.

He also was general manager for an association for Ontario sheep breeders, but sued it for wrongful dismissal. An out-of-court settlement, for which the terms were deemed confidential, was reached in 2015.

National cattle herd growing

The Canadian cow herd grew by 3.2 per cent in the past year, the largest year-over-year increase recorded since 2004.

As of July 1 Canadian cattle inventories totalled 12.1 million head, according to a report by Statistics Canada. This is the second year of increases. The key factors were reduced slaughter numbers increased imports and record-high prices.

The Canadian cattle herd had shrunk to its lowest level since 1989 in early 2024 as drought and scarce feed prompted farmers to cull herds.

 This year’s growth was the result of 5.7 per cent more heifers retained for breeding, 1.9 per cent more beef cows, 1.2 per cent more dairy heifers kept for breeding, 0.9 per cent more dairy cows, 3.8 per cent more feeder heifers and 3.4 per cent more feeder steers and 4.6 per cent more calves.

Canada matches U.S. tariffs on honey, dairy and wool

 

The federal government will match the United States dollar for dollar and product by product with retaliatory tariffs, the federal government announced.

On Saturday, the U.S. imposed 50 per cent tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods after negotiations collapsed.

 

The Canadian tariffs include: 

• Milk, cream and dairy ingredients at 50 per cent.
• Natural honey at 50 per cent.
• Various types of cheese at 25 per cent.
• Molasses at 50 per cent)
• Baking mixes and doughs at 50 per cent.
• Wool products.
• Various types of fish and fish products at 25 per cent)
• Harvesting or threshing machinery —mowers and parts — at 15 to 25 per cent.
• 
  

Many steel and aluminum products are also tariffed, which will hit farm equipment repairs and manufacturers. 

The federal government also announced a $7.5 billion aid package for businesses and workers hit by the U.S. tariffs.