Sara Wood from Perth County was elected to a second term as vice-president and a second three-year term as a director-at-large.
Ethan Wallace, also from Perth County, was elected vice-president after serving as an executive member.
Paul Maurice from Peel, Simcoe and York joins the eecutive.
Sunfed Produce of Arizona is recalling whole fresh American cucumbers packaged in bulk containers with a sticker reading "Agrotato, S.A. de C.V." after some consumers fell ill with Salmonella food poisoning.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered the recall after the illnesses in the United States.
The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission is in the process of updating a long list of regulations governing marketing boards.
The proposals are posted on the Ontario Regulatory Registry.
One change requires the boards to inform all members of an upcoming annual meeting or other producer meetings, to provide them with annual reports and statements of operations and finances.
It proposes to eliminate the requirement for board treasurers to be bonded and for boards to have a corporate seal.
Board meeting minutes would no longer need to be signed by the chair and secretary and boards would be free to establish their own rules about board minutes.
It all seems fine - until something goes wrong.
Grupo Bimbo of Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and its executives including former president and chief executive officer Michael McCain.
The court documents show that Grupo Bimbo wants more than $2 billion in damages arising from a federal competition bureau investigation of price-fixing of bread and rolls from 2001 to 2015.
The papers were filed in the Ontario Court of Justice on Thursday.
Days earlier Maple Leaf filed a defamation lawsuit against Canada Bread and Grupo Bimbo. It seeks $200 million in damages plus legal costs.
Grupo Bimbo claims McCain and Maple Leaf hid information about the price-fixing and competition bureau investigation when it paid $1.83 billion in 2014 to buy Canada Bread.
It said the first it learned of the alleged conspiracy is when the competition bureau executed search warrants in October, 2017.
A 20 per cent tax on imports would increase food prices in the United States and lower farm prices for corn, soybeans and wheat, according to market analyst Ken Goldman of J.P. Morgan bank.
Countries hit by president-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to impose tariffs of 20 per cent across the board might prompt retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports of grains and oilseeds, he said.
If that happens, food processors’ costs would decline and that would offset the price increases arising from a Trump tariff, Goldman reasons.
There are reports that Canadian officials are preparing a list of retaliatory tariffs should Trump impose his tariffs.
Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has said she will stop migrants from moving through Mexico to the United States, prompting a supportive message Trump posted on his news service.
Some of Canada’s premiers are asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step up efforts to stop the illegal movement of drugs and people to the United States as a response to Trump.
Among agriculture sectors that would be hardest hit by Trump tariffs are pork and greenhouse tomatoes and peppers.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has chosen Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace for its nuclear waste site.
Bruce County narrowly voted in October in favour of hosting the site which would have been close to the Bruce County nuclear electricity-generating plant.
Both the Wabigoon Lake Objibway Nation and Ignace also voted in favour of hosting the site which will be deep into bedrock.
The cost of the waste project is estimated at $25 billion.
Youngji Rho has been hired by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness as a feeds specialist.
She comes from Grand Valley Fortifiers of Cambridge and has
a master of science degree from the University of Guelph where she worked on optimizing the nutritive value of corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) for growing pigs.
Her work explored liquid feed systems and fiber-degrading enzymes.
She earned her PhD in 2021, further investigating the physicochemical properties of fiber in co-products and the effects of enzyme supplementation and fermentation conditions.
This fits with maximizing feed efficiency and sustainability.
At Grand Valley Fortifiers she worked on swine nutrition, collaborated with farms, formulated rations, solved on-site challenges, developed new products, and conducted research.
At OMAFA she will be the new Feed Ingredient and By-products Specialist.
The governments of Canada and Ontario are still accepting applications for three programs, the federal and Ontario governments said in a news release.
They are:
• Agricultural Workforce Equity and Diversity Initiative. The deadline is December 3;
• Labour Force Management Strategies Initiative and
• Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program.
Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said “by helping them (farmers) address the challenges they face, we’re making the sector more sustainable and competitive for generations to come."
Rob Flack, his Ontario counterpart, said “we strongly encourage Ontario agri-food stakeholders to apply to these programs and to seize the opportunities they offer for long-term growth and competitiveness.”
More information on initiative details, delivery partners, and application requirements is available on the Sustainable CAP webpage, and can be obtained by contacting the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300, or ag.info.omafa@ontario.ca.
This year’s JCC Pumpkin Patch fund raising has been successful in raising money for the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre.
Scotlynn SweetPac Growers raised $21,470.
Austin’s Pumpkiin Patch added enough to bring its four-years donation total to $153,000.
This year’s event was hosted at Austin’s Farm Market on Cockshutt Road in Norfolk, and was supported by local farmers and suppliers such as Peacock Farms, R. & A. Kukielka Farms, and Campbell Farms .
Durka praised the teamwork, saying, “having a team is massive here. We couldn’t do it on our own.”
Funds raised this year will be directed towards the purchase of apheresis machines to support patients in the Hematology Unit at the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre.
He grew up on a commercial farrow-to-finish hog farm near Gorrie, Ontario, and has been involved in farm management since 2023.
A combination of advanced diagnostics, data-based choices for treatment and information integration with existing management systems are improving early detection and treatment of Mycoplasma hypopneumonia in pigs is helping to detect and treat the infection earlier.
Dr. John Smith, a leading swine veterinarian, said “with this innovation, producers can identify and address Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae challenges earlier and more effectively. This not only benefits animal welfare but also reduces economic losses associated with this disease.”
The Swine Health Information Center in the United States said “tools like this represent a significant step forward in achieving healthier herds and more resilient operations.”
Canada’s hemp growers now have a national agency for research and promotion similar to the ones for beef and pork.
It has taken 10 years to gain the status and the right to collect fees to fund the agency.
The federal government’s National Farm Products Council governs the agencies, including the national poultry supply-management agencies.
Five students will each get a $2,000 bursary from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
They are Alaina MacDonald of Clifford, Bobby Robinson of Finch, Kaylee Wells of Jasper, Mary Brander of Rockwood and Kyla Lewis of Dorchester.
OFA president Drew Spoelstra said “it’s crucial to recognize the emerging talent entering the agricultural sector, and we’re proud to support these young individuals as they embark on their careers.
“Through these bursaries, we celebrate their potential and look forward to helping them achieve their goals and contribute to the growth of our industry.”
President-elect Donald Trump failed to file transition papers by the Oct. 1 deadline, so United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack won’t allow nominee Brooke Rollins, his successor, into the building.
"They can't come into the building, and we can't provide information to them until the documents are signed," Vilsack told Progressive Farmer. "That's the federal law."
Trump is legally required to sign an ethics statement for his transition team, Vilsack said Monday.
The same stalemate remains in place across the federal government, according to the Campaign Legal Center.
The Trump campaign ignored an Oct. 1 deadline under the Presidential Transition Act for major-party nominees to issue transition ethics plans, and Trump has yet to comply since winning the Nov. 5 election.
Under the law, such an ethics agreement should apply to all transition team members, including a pledge to avoid conflicts of interest after taking office on Jan. 20.
Vilsack has not talked to Rollins since Trump announced he has picked her to be agriculture secretary.
Vilsack said "we can't talk to anyone from the incoming Trump administration until they've signed the necessary transition documents, but I would certainly, as a practical matter, I would encourage the incoming nominee to reach out and encourage that those papers be signed relatively soon so that she can be fully prepared and tthe team can be fully prepared for the job that they are undertaking."
The ongoing avian flu outbreak in the poultry and dairy industries is only one of several veterinary health issues under urgent scrutiny by U.S.D.A. agencies.
"There are some pretty significant animal-health and trade issues that need to be monitored and need to be understood on day one," Vilsack said. "An incoming secretary needs to be aware of and be able to respond to any questions that may come up at any hearing that she may have.
There is no winner of the $7 million XPrize for the its “Feed the Next Billion” competition.
Earlier it announced six finalists, all of them producing plant protein substitutes for meat, poultry and fish.
Meatingplace Magazine reports that “after four years of competition, a controversial rule change that prompted several alt-meat companies to drop out of the race, and the promise of $15 million in prize money to be distributed, the XPRIZE “Feed the Next Billion” competition decided not to declare a winner and not to award the hefty $7 million grand prize."
XPrize said on its website that although “a single winner of XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion was not identified, the progress made by our participating teams was nothing short of remarkable and they are all great businesses who will address this need successfully in the coming years.”
It seems another sign that plant protein meat substitutes and a flash in the pan.
Alltech says its testing has revealed a high risk that silage may contain mycotoxins harmful to cattle.
For Quebec, 90 per cent of corn silage samples tested positive for zearalenone (ZEA), with levels reaching as high as 1,369 parts per billion and deoxynivalenol (DON) was found in 68 per cent of samples.
T-2 and HT-2 toxins were less prevalent, found in 25 per cent of samples, but still pose a concern for livestock producers, Alltech said in a news release.
In Ontario, 63 per cent of wheat samples contained DON, while 45 per cent showed the presence of ZEA.
Grain corn samples also showed DON contamination, with a maximum level surpassing four parts per million.
That poses the greatest risk to swine and younger animals, Alltech said.
“Canada has experienced a change in weather patterns from last year, particularly of note the greater rainfall across the Prairies,” said Alexandra Weaver, global technical support for Alltech, in the press release.
“As a result, there appears to be greater mycotoxin risk in the Western Canada 2024 harvest than last year.”
Earlier he chose Kelley Loeffler to be Secretary of Agriculture.
Rollins worked in Trum’s White House during his previous term, headed the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, and was a key figure in establishing the America First Policy Institute after leaving the White House.
If confirmed, Rollins will become the second woman to lead the department; Ann Veneman served under President George W. Bush.
Rollins isd a Texas native with deep ties to agriculture and conservative policy advocacy and is currently the chief executive officer of the America First Policy Institute.
Before her White House tenure, she led the Texas Public Policy Foundation, championing conservative causes such as school choice, fossil fuels and faith-based initiatives.
Kelly Loeffler, who was a senator for Georgia, has been selected to become the United States Secretary of Agriculture.
Establishing connections to agriculture is a stretch; her biography says she grew up on a farm in Illinois and was a 4-H club member and had some tenuous connections to agriculture economic legislation.
She is loyal to President-elect Donald Trump and is co-chair of his inauguration committee.
Trump's previous agriculture secretary was Sonny Purdue, also from Georgia.
Loeffler was chief executive officer of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange, of which her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO.
She is a former co-owner of the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and a Masters of Business Administration from DePaul University.
The first move came from Grupo Bimbo, buyer of Maple Leaf Bread, accusing Maple Leaf Foods as responsible for the bread price-fixing conspiracy which led to a federal government Competition Bureau fine of $50 million on Grupo Bimbo last year.
Now Maple Leaf Foods has filed a defamation lawsuit against Grupo Bimbo and Canada Bread Co. Ltd., saying that its leaders were not aware of, nor involved in, the conspiracy at its subsidiary, Canada Bread.
And coming up the centre is a class-action lawsuit filed by the big supermarket chains against all of them. They claim that over the span of the conspiracy, they had to pay an extra $1.50 per loaf.
All of the allegations have yet to be tested in court.
The only guaranteed winners are the law firms.
Hog farmers need to be careful to avoid leaving cracked teeth and unprotected tails when clipping teeth and docking tails, cautions Dr. Melanie Boucher of Southwest Veterinary Service.
She bases her advice on a research study of market hogs in Portugal that identified infections that led to the condemnation of entire carcasses.
The finding about teeth is new and was discovered by examining jaw bones of carcasses condemned for osteomyelitis bacteria infection.
Her advice is:
“Teeth clipping needs to be performed with care in order to avoid cracked teeth, infection of the deeper tooth pulp and subsequent abscess formation. Further invasion into adjacent tissues such as the jaw bone can result in total carcass condemnation.
“Abscesses associated with improper teeth clipping and tail biting infections can be a source of bacteria that spread via the blood stream to vertebrae, lung and other internal organs. This again can result in total carcass condemnation.”
She also notes that slaughter inspection and monitoring could be used to point out how animal welfare management could be improved.
Maria Sol Perez Aguirreburualde at the University of Minnesota keeps a global watch on African Swine Fever for the Swine Health Information Centre.
She said the recombinant strains are highly lethal and transmissible in pigs.
Based on preliminary evidence, current live-attenuated vaccines based on ASFV genotype II, such as those being implemented in countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, are most likely not protective against these recombinant genotype I/II strains, she said.
They have spread within China and to Vietnam and across China’s border with Russia.
There are also some new strains that are not very deadly and they have been detected in Italy, Sardinia and Africa.
The first case of African Swine Fever was in 2018 in China.
So far the closest outbreak to North America has been in the Dominican Republic.
Wellington County has opened applications for up to $3,000 per project to improve land management.
Jordan Grigg, agriculture coordinator, said the program helps farmers transition to newer agricultural, or regenerative agricultural practices.
"Generally we're looking for projects that will help integrate animals back into the system,” he told CKNX radio.
“It could be things like rotational grazing or bale grazing.
“In cropping systems, it might look like keeping roots in the ground or keeping the ground covered for more of the year. So that could be cover cropping projects, or inter-cropping," Grigg said.
Ultimately, Grigg says the county just wants to support local farmers in being more environmentally friendly and trying new things to improve their operations.
"Farmers are the stewards of our land and they definitely know what's going on on their farms the best.
“So we don't want to come in and tell them what to do, but we're here to help if they decide to try something new because there can be a bit of a learning curve associated with it.”
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reports another case of highly-pathogenic avian influenza in Quebec.
This one is in the regional municipality of comté de Lotbiniére.
There are now three active cases in Quebec, but none in Ontario or the Maritime provinces.
There are 50 active cases in British Columbia and increasing daily, three in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan.
Council went to China to talk trade.
They were with federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay who was also trying to stave off Chinese restrictions on Canadian canola.
China announced an anti-dumping investigation on Canadian canola right after Canada announced a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electrical vehicles.
Canadian Pork Council chairman René Roy said the mission comes at a pivotal time.
“Canadian pork producers are passionate about building strong trading relationships with China. Having one of our government’s most senior ministers attending this mission is an indication of that commitment.”
“We have always been committed to providing world-class, sustainable pork, and we know there is potential to provide even more if required to meet the growing demand in China,” Roy said.
Wolverine Packing Co. of Detroit is recalling 167,277 pounds of ground beef.
The United States Food Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said it found E. coli 0157:H7 food-poisoning bacteria in the meat.
Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay went to China last week to plead for ongoing sales of canola.
China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into canola from Canada.
That came after Canada imposed a 100 per cent tariff on China’s electric vehicles.
Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation members have voted in favour of continuing negotiations to host a nuclear dump on nearby land.
The site is competing with another in Huron County where residents recently narrowly voted in favour of continuing negotiations.
“This is just the beginning of a long process, and our Nation will be leading every step of the way,” said Chief Clayton Wetelainen in a prepared statement.
The team analysed hundreds of genetic samples to conclude that the virus jumped from animals to humans in a food market in Wuhan, China.
Angie Rasmussen, a study co-author and virologist at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infection Disease Organization, told the CBC "it's very difficult to explain any other way, besides that virus was brought there with those live animals and it spilled over, twice actually, into the human population at the market.”
The study has been published in Cell, scientific journal.
They are being accused of sharing detailed, sensitive inside information with each other as part of an alleged conspiracy to raise the price of their goods and make more money off consumers.
In one lawsuit filed in Illinois on Friday, a Pennsylvania-based supermarket chain alleged McCain, Cavendish, Lamb Weston and J.R. Simplot have been working together to fix the price of frozen potato products "above competitive levels," in violation of antitrust laws, since at least early 2021.
The document on behalf of Redner's Markets claimed the so-called potato cartel made "matching, simultaneous or near-simultaneous price increases" in 2021 and 2022. The claim said one restaurant owner in Washington, D.C., noticed the alleged timing and posted about it online on April 19, 2022.
"Amazing how all of the major suppliers for french fries and the like are all raising their prices at the same time and by the same amount," read a post on X from the owner of Ivey and Covey. "Totally not collusion or anything, right?"
It is the first demonstration of its kind in England where farmers have not copied frequent farm protests in France, Germany and other member countries of the European Union.
In the 1990s the inheritance tax was removed and now the government has brought in a 20 per cent tax on inheritances exceeding $1.83 million Cdn.
They demonstrated with banners, shouted through bullhorns and brought toy tractors. Their peers in Europe created tractor blockades, burned straw bales and spread manure to punctuate their protests.
Nutworks Canada is recalling its raw pistachios, which were distributed from its North York facility across Canada because Canadian Food Inspection Agency testing found salmonella food-poisoning bacteria.
October was the third consecutive month price growth for groceries outpaced headline inflation.
Notable contributors to the acceleration were higher prices for other fresh vegetables ( up by 7.3 per cent) and preserved fruit and fruit preparations ( up by 7.6 per cent).
The acceleration was moderated by downward pressure from fresh or frozen beef in October (up by seven per cent compared with 9.2 per cent in September), among other food items.
They build on a major change in approach that began about a decade ago, removing draconian bans on producers and small-scale and innovative processors.
Now a new Market Opportunity Program will open new avenues to produce chickens “to address a market opportunity”.
The New Entrant Processor Policy will be updated. It allows new entrants and existing small-scale processors opportunities to “supply markets as a primary processor”. In other words, they will be allowed to market to further processors.
CFO will re-design the Small Whole Bird program, providing opportunity for primary processors to use available supply to meet or address a market opportunity for birds in the 1.60-1.84 kg weight category, such as the Portuguese barbecue or small barbecue bird restaurants,* the board’s website said.
The Portugeuse barbecue marketers have complained in the past about severe shortages.
The Ontario board has been able to partially relax its bans because it finally persuaded the national supply management agency that Ontario needs opportunities to expand production more than the national average to address chronic shortages.
The other provinces are wary of losing markets to competition from Ontario-processed chicken products.
Ontario was so chronically short of chicken, and large-scale processors were so competitive, that farmers were being offered premiums. That drew criticism from the board's regulator, the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission which banned premiums.
Then Ontario processors began importing chickens from Quebec and Quebec processors retaliated by buying chickens from Ontario growers.
And then Ontario clamped down on processors, in effect applying supply management to them. And they, in turn, resisted any policies that would enable small-scale and new entrant processors to be able to source chickens without buying "allocation" rights.
Fourteen products sold from as far back as Aug, 14 may be contaminated by E. coli which can result in severe food poisoning.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is reacting to findings in the United States. It said there have been no reports of illnesses in Canada.
Swine Health Ontario reports there has been an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in a farrow-to-wean facility in Perth County.
Hours later the CFIA said there was another outbreak.
It big case was in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality, the second in La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality.
There are no active cases in Ontario.
British Columbia has been hit hard, especially in the Abbotsford-Chilliwack area of the Lower Fraser River. The province is dealing with 41 outbreaks, Alberta with three and Saskatchewan with one.
Kraft Heinz has been hit with a class action lawsuit over the use of ‘no artificial preservatives’ labelling on its Kraft Macaroni & Cheese product.
Plaintiffs David Hayes, Kamilah Galbreth and Taylor Ambroisno say the claim is fraud, an unjust enrichment and violates state consumer protection laws in Illinois, New York and California.
They argue that the mac and cheese was marketed as containing ‘no artificial flavours, preservatives or dyes’ despite containing citric acid and sodium phosphates, which they claim are artificially derived and act as preservatives in the product.
They are seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief to prevent the company from continuing to label its products as such.
They accuse Kraft Heinz of using a synthetic form of citric acid manufactured from a type of black mould called Aspergillus niger.
The lawsuit cites academic studies and articles explaining that “approximately 99 per cent of the manufactured (as opposed to naturally occurring) citric acid in the world is cultivated from Aspergillus niger”.
Additionally, they point to the use of sodium phosphates, which are ‘frequently, but not exclusively’ used as preservatives in food products such as cheese.
The plaintiffs allege that these are also artificially synthesised and do not exist in nature as pure compounds or pure minerals like common salt.
Kraft Heinz responded with a motion to dismiss, which the court granted in part and denied in part.
District judge Mary Rowland ruled that the plaintiffs’ allegations regarding the artificial nature and function of the ingredients as preservatives were plausible, writing: “These allegations are enough to withstand a motion to dismiss”.
Rabobank issued a forecast that is basically a repeat of grains and oilseeds production and prices for the 2025-26 crop year.
Specialist Andrick Payen said "we’re not seeing acreage expanding that much (in Canada) and we see yields continue to be a challenge in terms of production.”
Canadian yields have flat-lined while they continue to increase in the U.S.
Owen Wagner, another Raboresearch grains and oilseeds analyst, said “25 per cent of Canadian soybeans were grown for direct human consumption compared to two per cent in the U.S. You get a good idea for the different models both countries have pursued,” he said.
He also noted that Canadian net farm income increased between 2019 and 2022 while it declined in the United States.
Upside Foods of California is continuing its legal challenge of a Florida law banning the production and commercialization of cultivated meat.
A federal district court In North Carolina ruled in October against a move by Upside to gain an injunction against enforcing the law which came into effect in July.
Now Upside and the Institute for Justice are planning to appeal.
"We have not yet appealed the denial of the preliminary injunction, but we plan to," said J. Justin Wilson, vice president for communications with Institute for Justice.
Neither the judge’s decision on the preliminary injunction nor the appeals process end the original lawsuit, which will determine the constitutionality of the Florida law.
The study has been accepted and published by the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (JFSA) Reports.
“With the exception of chorizo for children less than three years old, all pork products have ‘excellent’ protein quality for individuals older than six months of age, with DIAAS (Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score) greater than 100,” the study said.
A team from the University of Illinois studied store-bought pork made from nine pork products — back ribs, tenderloin and shoulder butt, Coppa, prosciutto and speck Italian hams, and chorizo, Italian, and bratwurst sausages.
“Pork proteins can complement proteins with low quality to produce a meal that is adequate in all amino acids,” the report said.
Chorizo fell slightly below the 100 standard sulfur amino acid digestibility for children ages six to 36 months.
Among the nine tested products, prosciutto had the highest score for all ages, while tenderloin and Coppa ham ranked above back ribs, shoulder butt, chorizo, and bratwurst.
Funds from the national pork checkoff fund helped pay for the research.