Cattle ordered destroyed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be eligible for more compensation, the federal government said.
The maximum amount for purebreds has been increased from $10,000 to $16,500 and for non-registured cattle from $4,500 to $10,000.
Kerry Wright will take over as executive director of the Ontario Soil and Crop Association on July 28.
The Ontario Soil and Crop Association advocates for farmers and has been chosen by federal and provincial governments to administer a number of subsidy programs.
The association cited Wright’s career in strategic planning, marketing, communications, governance and management.
She has worked for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, the Canadian Agri-food Automation & Intelligence Network (CAAIN) and Mallot Creek Group.
The Thamesvfille Threshing Festival this weekend will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
There will be a parade on Friday, a midway and a drone show.
Publicity for the event features a long list of attractions, but not threshing machines.
Stu and Kim Lang of Guelph are donating $10 million towards a building at Lakehead University for the joint veterinarian training project with the University of Guelph.
Kim Lang said she has long been interested in animal welfare and wants to help address the “crucial” veterinary shortage in Northern Ontario.
"They do go up into Indigenous communities and take care of animals up there," she said.
"One of them is just about three hours north of Thunder Bay, so I thought this was a great place to start because there is such a shortage of vets."
Under the joint venture, students spend two years at Lakehead and two at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College.
Stu Lang was head coach of the University of Guelph’s football team, the Guelph Gryphons.
The couple founded the Community Healthcare Partnership Program (CHPP) which identifies, understands and removes barriers to healthcare for companion animals in under-resourced and made-vulnerable communities, its website says.
Remember about four years ago when farmers were complaining about the lack of competition among meat packers and then-president Joe Biden prescribed multi-million-dollar subsidies to entice investment?
How things have changed!
Last week packers lost $278.44 per head, according to Sterling Marketing’s weekly Beef Profit Tracker by Drovers.
Losses have been hovering at a level of nearly $300 per head, according to calculations covering a week earlier and a month earlier. A year ago packers were taking losses of $82.22 per head.
Steer and heifer slaughter declines by 4.2 per cent from the week earlier, to 453,096 head. Total beef production dropped the same percentage to 484.9 million pounds from the week-earlier total.
Slaughter is at 76.8 of plant capacity, down from 80.1 per cent the week earlier, and compared with 78.8 per cent capacity a month ago.
Choice steer prices averaged $239.91 per hundredweight while breakeven prices for finished cattle were $179.98 per hundredweight, supporting feedlot margins of $839.06 per head, up by 10.9 per cent from a week ago and 124 per cent from a year ago.
The Senate has passed Bill C-202 and “Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg farmers welcome any effort aimed at ensuring no further supply managed concessions are made in trade negotiations,” said a news release from the marketing agencies.
“We won,” said Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet enthusiastically, hours after the Senate adopted his party’s bill.
But Senator Paul Simons said “It does seem strange to allow a separatist party to set Canada’s national trade policy to such an extent.”
It will have an immediate impact on negotiations with United States President Donald Trump, which seemed to make progress during the G-7 meeting in Alberta this week, and upcoming negotiations with the European Union where Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is this week.
Negotiations with the United Kingdom are another sensitive issue for supply management.
Livestock farmers can't be happy that Canadian trade negotiators will face even greater difficulty persuading countries to lower their trade barriers to Canadian meats, especially pork.
John Jaques, Bryan and Shannon Prince, and Bill and Jean Sloan have been chosen to be added to the Kent County Agriculture Hall of Fame.
Jaques, famous for promoting asparagus and sporting a long beard, was instrumental is gaining risk management programs for farmers.
The Princes promoted sustainable practices, championed innovative farming techniques, and advocated for policies that benefit both farmers and the environment, the Hall of Fame said in a news release.
The Sloans, who died in 2011 and 2013, “have significantly contributed to the economy in East Kent. Through their family farm enterprise, they have added value to the area with significant employment opportunities and support for local businesses,” the Hall of Fame said.
The five inductees will officially join the Hall of Fame on November 18, 2025, during a ceremony in Oungah.
Empire Co. Ltd., owner of supermarket chains such as Sobeys, Farm Boy, IGA and Freshco, reported a three per cent increase in sales and a profit of 173 million compared with $149 million for the same fourth quarter last year.
Sales totalled $7.6 billion.
The company said its chains took market share from competitors. Loblaws is Canada’s biggest chain, Metro is third-largest and Costco and Walmart are significant competitors. Empire ranks second.
On-line sales via Voila increased by more than 80 per cent during the quarter after a partnership with Ocado Group PLC was ended and new partnerships were struck with Instacart and Uber Eats.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leaders are defending its raid on Glenn Valley Foods of Omaha that took ou halt of its workforce.
The owner said he used information provided by the government to ensure the workers were qualified for employment.
But ICE said there was a big a big identity theft scheme involved affecting nearly 70 undocumented immigrants who allegedly used stolen personal information to gain employment at the plant.
The multiagency investigation found that the workers used fraudulent Social Security numbers and identities to obtain jobs, wages and health benefits at the facility. Federal officials say more than 100 U.S. citizens were victimized, suffering financial, legal and emotional harm.
“These so-called honest workers have caused an immeasurable amount of financial and emotional hardship for innocent Americans,” said Mark Zito, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Kansas City.
“If pretending to be someone you aren’t in order to steal their lives isn’t blatant, criminal dishonesty, I don’t know what is,” he said.
The raid sparked widespread protests and President Donald Trump responded by saying ICE will stop targeting migrant field and meat-packing plant workers.
Business groups in the United States are petitioning the Supreme Court to take up the issue of the legality of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
They don’t want the Supreme Court to wait until lower courts rule on the legality of the tariffs.
“In light of the tariffs’ massive impact on virtually every business and consumer across the Nation, and the unremitting whiplash caused by the unfettered tariffing power the President claims, challenges to the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) tariffs cannot await the normal appellate process (even on an expedited timeline),” the petition states.
A new report from CoBank advises agriculture retail companies to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) “to optimize workflows, inventory management, employee performance and other key business functions.”
It said AI “can also enhance their position as trusted advisors and essential partners in the ag supply chain.”
It can be utilized in a company’s back office, front office as well as within agronomy and supply chain operations divisions said Jacqui Fatka, farm supply and biofuels economist with CoBank.
While AI is unlikely to eliminate ag retail jobs, it can help simplify tasks and reduce human error or bias. In addition, as labor continues to be a challenge for many rural enterprises, it can provide continuity during labor turnover. AI can also help agronomists and other staff cover more acres or customers.
“Early adoption and reliable partnerships will provide an advantage for those willing to test the AI landscape. Ag retailers should research companies and pick AI partners who understand agriculture and promise value beyond just lofty ROIs.”
She suggested starting with recording virtual meetings with CoPilot and then for standard business tasks such as human resources accounting, operations and sales.
While AI is unlikely to eliminate ag retail jobs, it can help simplify tasks and reduce human error or bias, she wrote.
It can provide continuity during labor turnover and can also help agronomists and other staff cover more acres or customers.
“The stakes are high for agribusinesses operating in an environment where margins are tight,” Fatka said.
Broiler chicken customers at the end of chicken supply chains have asked a federal courtt to grant final approval of settlements totaling $22.35 million with 11 remaining chicken processor defendants.
They include Claxton, Foster Farms, Harrison Poultry, House of Raeford, Koch, Mountaire, O.K. Foods, Perdue, Sanderson, Simmons and Wayne Farms.
If approved, total recoveries would exceed $203 million.
The national agency for chicken supply management is calling for production this fall to be eight per cent above base quota, and in Ontario 8.3 per cent above.
It is the most ambitious production target in more than a year.
Chicken Farmers of Ontario said demand for chicken continues to be strong. This is supported by competing meat prices, population growth, steady per capita consumption and overall positive economic indicators.
Ontario’s goal for the six-week quota period that begins Sept. 21 is more than 78 million kilograms as part of the national goal of more than 224 million kilograms.
Call for improved pesticide cautions
A Canadian union and an activist organization are suing the federal government because they say it has not done enough to protect workers exposed to agriculture pesticides.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada and Ecojustice say Health Canada has failed by not enforcing material safety data sheet (MSDS) requirements. The data sheets are summary documents that provide information about the hazards of a product and advice about safety precautions.
UFCW alleges some Ontario farms are relying on more complex and less easily understood product labels instead of comprehensive safety data sheets.
“We are noticing that, basically, there’s deficiency in the pesticide labels as compared to the safety data sheets,” said Rosemary Quinsey, national communications representative for UFCW.
“We want firmer regulations about these, we want to make sure that every single agricultural worker has adequate training, has access to the information they need in the languages they need.”
Quinsey said Health Canada is “suggesting that pest control labels can serve the role of those safety data sheets,” but said that’s not the case.
Ecojustice lawyer Laura Bowman said workers not knowing what pesticides they have been exposed to has been a consistent issue. She said there’s a legal requirement, aside from the labour requirement, that safety data including material safety data sheets be a condition of registration, and that the firms producing the pesticides would provide those to workplaces.
“Health Canada has been treating that as voluntary,” Bowman said.
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Bowman said the lawsuit is targeted at Health Canada and pesticide companies, not producers. Farmers are relying on the materials provided to them by the pesticide producers.
Bowman added there have been some issues with non-compliance, but those mostly relate to existing regulations. She encouraged farmers to stay up-to-date on what is required of them as an employer, like making sure all pesticides have proper labels on them,
Quinsey said agriculture workers — primarily temporary foreign workers — have told UFCW they are not being properly trained on use of pest control products. They also say safety information is often not accessible in their languages, a problem when many TFWs come from Spanish-speaking countries.
“We have, as part of numerous different consultation processes, asked Health Canada numerous times to make labels available in other languages,” Bowman said.
She noted the documentation can be complex, lengthy, and contain very specific instructions that can vary from crop to crop and application method.
“They are not user friendly in any way,” she said.
That means a simply mistake or misunderstanding can result in a high level of exposure for workers, and that can be due to lack of information, or because the worker gave up in frustration because the information they got wasn’t understandable.
She said this is not the fault of farmers because neither they nor their employees canbe expected to have a full grasp of the very technical details of pesticide use.
She said this is where proper safety data sheets would be necessary.
In a press release, a Guatemalan agriculture worker named Francisco said he has been told to use pesticides without any PPE or training.
“I don’t know how many times I have felt my skin burning, my head spinning, or my stomach turning until I throw up,” he said. “But what can I do? This job in Canada is my only chance, my family back in Guatemala depends on me. Without it, my kids won’t go to school. The boss knows that and takes advantage of that.”
Quinsey said this problem was flagged to them during a 2024 report on the state of health and safety for migrant workers.
The union filed the lawsuit because it represents more than 2,000 workers in the primary agriculture sector who are directly affected by exposure to pest control products in the workplace. She added it’s the federal government’s responsibility to ensure workers are protected.
“They have a right to know what the products are they’re using, … what the risks are, and what protection they should be entitled to,” Quinsey said.
Bowman said the ideal next step in the process would be to hear from Health Canada that they’ll be implementing the regulation and all pesticide registrations in the future will require an MSDS as a condition of registration.
“It shouldn’t be complicated for them to implement that,” Bowman said. She added there’s a need for other improvments to farm worker safety, including ensuring workers are “fully covered” by occupational health and safety legislation provincially, and clear worker protection standards need to be put in place on farms at the federal level.
A judge has agreed to a $13 million settlement between Clemens Food Group and a class of indirect pork buyers, who claimed they were victims of price-fixing.
The deal, first reached in May, is the fifth in the ongoing pork price-fixing litigation and would bring total recovery for the class to nearly $123 million.
Previous settlements include $75 million from Smithfield Foods, $20 million from JBS, $10 million from Seaboard Foods and $4.465 million from Hormel.
Steve Lake of Elora has been appointed to a three-year term on the Grain Financial Protection Board.
He is a grain farmer from the Palmerston area, a Pioneer seeds salesman and member of Grain Farmers of Ontario.
Six people have been chosen to be added to the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame - John Anderson, Dori Gingera-Beauchemin, Gaétan Desroches, Joe Hudson, Dennis Laycraft and Peter Sikkema.
Anderson rose through the ranks of Oppy, a global fresh produce retail business, to become chief executive officer.
Gingera-Beauchemin was deputy minister of agriculture for Manitoba until she retired in 2024.
Deroches led Solio Cooperative Group, Canada’s largest agriculture cooperative.
Hudson founded Burnbrae Farms and grew it into Canada’s largest egg-producing, egg-grading and egg-processing business. He was a long-serving director of the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board. He died last year.
Laycraft spent 40 years working for beef farmer organizations.
Sikkema was a popular weed scientist at the Ridgetown campus of the University of Guelph.
Swine Health Ontario has reported an outbreak of Porcine Deltacaronavirus on a finisher hog farm in the Niagara Region.
It is the first outbreak of that virus this month, but there have been 10 outbreaks of related Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus.
Farm organizations called on their G7 governments to reach a trade truce at the meeting in Alberta this week and for a return to stable rules-based trade, modernized regulations and other measures to help farmers weather “unprecedented pressures,” the Canadian Federation of Agriculture said in a joint news release.
It said farmers in all seven countries are facing complex challenges that demand coordinated, forward-thinking solutions.
“We are committed to working with our global partners to strengthen food security, drive innovation, and advance climate resilience,” said CFA president Keith Currie in.a news release.
“With the right tools, policies, and support, farmers can continue to lead the way toward a more sustainable and secure future for all.” Currie said.
Purdue University holds the rights to a new test for highly-pathogenic avian influenza that can be used by farmers.
Avian flu has so far claimed more than 14 million Canadian birds and 131 million in the United States since February 2022.
The researchers have developed a paper-based assay test that requires minimum training and only a water bath to deliver the results on the presence of the virus.
Farmers and those who manage commercial poultry operations can use an oral or nasal swab and transfer the sample to the paper-based devices that can be more easily read than current diagnostic methodologies, the Purdue research team said.
The technology is owned by the Purdue Research Foundation and has been exclusively licensed to the start-up Krishi, a Purdue Strategic Ventures portfolio company.
The technology is flexible enough to ultimately be used to test other potential candidates for HPAI transmission, including cattle, humans and other mammals, the release said.
Maple Leaf Foods has filed an appeal against the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board, but that’s the only information that has been disclosed.
During a pre-hearing conference with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal, the nature of the appeal was not revealed.
Three lawyers for the marketing board and one for Maple Leaf were in attendance.
What did come out is that both sides agree on the facts, but Maple Leaf objects to a direction issued to it by the board and to any disciplinary followup.
Geoff Spurr, outside attorney for the chicken board, did mention that “criminality” is not in dispute. There were two in-house lawyers for the chicken board.
Marc Huneault, who chaired the hearing, took a pause for a secret session with the lawyers to determine whether an Ontario Farmer publications reporter would be allowed to attend the ZOOM meeting as an observer.
Spurr said he has never known a reporter to be allowed to attend a pre-hearing, but in fact the reporter involved has attended other tribunal pre-hearing ZOOM meetings.
Canada is expected to see a warmer-than-usual summer with uncertain amounts of rain in most provinces says Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Jennifer Smith, a warning preparedness meteorologist, said Tuesday that Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario and northern Manitoba are especially likely to experience warmer weather this summer.
Statistically, she said the above-average warmth may be skewed by extreme short-term heat waves.
"Canada's average summer temperatures have warmed by about 1.8 degrees since 1948, which is about double the warming of the global average temperature during that period," said Bill Merryfield, a research scientist with Environment Canada.
However, strawberry growers say the season is about two weeks later than usual because of cool spring weather.
In mid-Ontario, they say the peak of pick-your-own business will be delayed until the end of June, but will likely extend beyond mid-July.
The Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) plans to allow licensed wineries to sell wine produced at another site at their on-farm retail outlet.
There are conditions.
The wine must have been produced by the same manufacturer at a production site they no longer operate that had a retail store endorsement.
Also permitted is the sale of wine that was produced by a related licensee (i.e., a different manufacturer with a common shareholder) that is surrendering its licence.
The related licensee who made the wine would need to have a retail store endorsement for their production site, and the wine being transferred would need to be a type of wine eligible to be sold under the retail store endorsement held by the licensee receiving the wine.
There would be other technical/administrative restrictions, including a ban on paying for the transferred wine.
L’Union des cultivateurs franco-ontariens (UCFO) was quietly granted a five-year approval as a farm organization eligible for special funding under the farm registration and funding act.
There was no notice of a hearing posted on the website for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeals Tribunal, but there now is a posting announcing the approval.
Rea brand Genoa salami and Bona brand Genova salami are under recall because Salmonella has been found in some of those products.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency found the contamination when it was participating in an investigation into food poisonings.
Olymel said it is going to invest $142 million at its pork and poultry plant at La Fernandière in Trois-Rivières and will close plants at Anjou and Cap-de-la-Madeleine next spring.
Olymel is owned by Solio Co-operative. It had a tough time in 2022 and 2023 and closed a number of pork facilities in Quebec and scaled back hog purchasing in Quebec and Alberta. Ontario had to divert market-ready hogs to the United States and as far as Manitoba because of Olymel’s crisis.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it has chosen Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health and Biogénesis Bagó SA to build a vaccine bank to immunize cattle, sheep, hogs and other susceptible farm animals should there be an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Canada.
The project was part of the 2023 federal budget.
Warburtons bakery business in the United Kingdom is giving $650,000 towards building a new Winnipeg head office and lands for Cereals Canada.
Warburtons has a longstanding partnership with Cereals Canada and has sourced significant volumes of Canadian wheat from Western Canada, according to a press release from capital campaign chair JoAnne Buth.
“Cereals Canada and Warburtons share a deep commitment to quality and innovation,” she said.
Peter Hannam has died at age 85.
He owned Woodrill Farms, on the east side of Guelph and also near Georgetown, was a president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, one of the founders of the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program and an entrepreneur who developed a seed company and a food-grade soybean exporting business.
He was a leader of a group of about a dozen people who started First Line Seeds, famous for developing early-maturing soybeans and for introducing Roundup-Ready soybeans to Ontario. Monsanto bought First Line Seds in 2004.
He worked with a developer to build the Ontario Agri-Centre in Guelph to host farm organizations.
He initiated Project Spy at the University of Guelph, and annual competition for students who developed new uses for soybeans.
He was a director of the Canadian Seed Trade Association and chairman of the Canadian Soybean Export Association.
Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life hosted a cow wedding Friday that was a hit with tourist fans who snapped up all 32 available $95 tickets soon after the hosts issued invitations.
The farm is popular for hosting goat yoga, goat cuddles, an alpaca sunset picnic and a mini Highland cow experience. It is located about 25 km. southwest of Kitchener.
Cheryl Haskett, the CEO (Chief Everything Officer) told CBC Radio Kitchener that the wedding was the "momentous" culmination of months of hard work from staff and volunteers.
The ceremony between Muriel, a Highland cow, and Rhett, a mini-Highland bull, with Queen Victoria, a goat as maid of honour.
Muriel had a crown of flowers on her head, a white wedding skirt and pink painted hooves..
Rhett quickly shucked off his cloak.
New research led by the University of Minnesota and supported by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) confirms that samples taken from the tip of a pig’s tongue work to identify diseases such as Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Sydrome (PRRS).
But the sampling needs to follow protocols.
The researchers found that pooling samples offers broader herd surveillance at a lower cost but with slightly reduced sensitivity.
They said samples should immediately be frozen and that’s better than refrigeration.
And they found that the time gap to cooling or freezing is critical to maintaining diagnostic accuracy.
The province announced three-year funding of $597,000 for Farm and Food Care Ontario.
Chair Janelle Cardiff said the money will help support public outreach initiatives and enhance its ability to expand programming and connect with a broader audience across Ontario and beyond.
“This show of support by the province is extremely encouraging for the direction of FFCO’s work,” said Cardiff. “It reiterates the importance of engaging farmers and the public in meaningful conversations.”
Ontario is proposing legislation that would allow workers who hold a licence in another province to work in Ontario for six months while they await approval from Ontario’s licensing professions.
The law would have to await passage and proclamation of Ontario’s Bill 2 free trade bill.
The government said this proposal will apply to 57 regulatory authorities governing more than 240 occupations such as engineers, architects, and electricians.
It will also apply to 26 health regulatory colleges governing 28 health professions.
The Doug Ford government is proposing legislation it could use to force municipalities to supply information so it can expedite its infrastructure projects.
One of them is Ford’s announcements that he wants to build a tunnel under Highway 401 which would obviously impact a lot of municipal water and sewer lines.
The online posting by the government said “this power is intended to only be used where municipal information or data is necessary for the timely delivery of provincially funded projects, and where a municipality has been unwilling to provide this information through voluntary means or good faith negotiations.
“The proposed amendment would help the province ensure that it has the information necessary to determine which municipal lands are needed for a project and what other constraints may exist to accelerate property negotiations and meet project timelines.
“It aims to facilitate faster, more efficient infrastructure development, which can enhance connectivity, reduce congestion, support economic growth, and improve quality of life.”
Reseachers at the Western College of Mediciine have identified a molecule they believe could revolutionize swine health.
Dr. Matheus Costa, Associate Professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, and his research team identified the molecule that not only kills bacteria but also strengthens a pig’s immune response.
That helps fight off multiple pathogens, including viruses and potentially even fungi.
The discovery emerged during trials focused on swine dysentery, a costly and persistent disease in global pig production.
All pigs in the study shared the same genetics, environment, and feed—but some remained resilient. Upon deeper investigation, the researchers found that these pigs carried higher levels of a specific peptide or protein—a naturally occurring molecule that appeared to be doing double duty: fighting off harmful bacteria and modulating the immune response.
Unlike antibiotics, this molecule works across a broader spectrum—impacting bacteria, viruses, and potentially fungal infections—without contributing to antimicrobial resistance, they reported.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence of Marché Africain de Sherbrooke Inc., located in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
The company markets foods in “surprise” packages which it says on its website have items “from pantry staples to fresh produce (and) your surprise bag may contain some items close to or past 'best before' date however still good to enjoy!”
Some surprises!