County offers estate planning

Wellington County has launched a new guide for farmers who are looking to set up transition plans for their operations.

It said only 276 of about 1,000 farmers expected to retire in the next 10 years have transition plans.

Wellington County’s new program offers families a practical planning guide: ‘Your Farm, Your Future’. It includes structured questions, real-life scenarios, and specific advice for families with and without identified successors. Hard copies can be requested online or accessed digitally.

It is also offering an online course in partnership with Loft32. Farmers can access Farmers’ Bridge which includes two professionally developed courses: ‘Transition Foundations’ and ‘Transition Communications’. Courses are valued at $250 but are free until April 2026 for the first 100 participating Wellington County farms.

The county is also offering three In-person workshops at the Grandway Event Centre beside the Elora racetrack and casino.

They will be led by expert facilitators including Maggie Van Camp and Patti Durand of Brightrack. Topics include starting the transition process, navigating communication challenges, and redefining leadership roles during succession.

"Farms are the backbone of our community, and the decisions made in the next few years will shape our agricultural landscape for generations," said county councillor Jeff Duncan, chairman of the economic development committee.

"Whether families are passing farms down to the next generation, selling to employees, or seeking outside buyers - a clear transition plan protects their legacy and strengthens the future of agriculture."

 

All resources can be accessed at wellington.ca/transitionplanning.

                           

Two dead in tractor crash

 

Two people are dead after a pickup truck crashed into a tractor near Drayton.

Eighth line in Mapleton Township was closed while police investigated.

The tractor driver suffered minor injuries.

The crash happened Friday night.

British Columbia chickens, turkeys ordered indoors

 

British Columbia has ordered its poultry farmers to keep their flocks indoors this fall to keep them from being infected with avian influenza carried by migrating birds.

Since mid-December the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has reported four commercial poultry flocks in Alberta have been infected and one in Quebec.

There have been a number of outbreaks in the United States plains below Western Canada, including tens of thousands of turkeys.

Two wind farm proposals go to council

Chatham-Kent municipal council will be dealing with two wind-farm proposals near Kempfville when it meets on Monday.

Crossfield Wind, also known as Capstone Infrastructure, wants to construct a 110 Megawatt (MW) farm with 15-18 wind turbines northeast of Ridgetown.

If approved the municipality would receive $15.4 million in community benefits to be used for community purposes and distributed at the sole discretion of the municipality. The project would take until 2030 to complete.

Botany Wind, also known as EDF Power Solutions, is also seeking community support to build a 100 MW project with 15-18 turbines northwest of Ridgetown by 2030.

Botany Wind would provide $14 million for community capital infrastructure.

Both wind farms need to complete an Agricultural Impact Assessment.

Gusta aims to revive Yves products

 

Gusta is trying to replace Yves products after that Canadian plant-protein company was recently shut down by owner Hain Celestial Group.

Gusta is a Quebec company. President Martin Valiquette is talking to grocery stores, offering to make products similar to those made by Yves.

“We went strategically and found we were able to meet demand for three [of the recently discontinued] lines,” he said.

He is offering customers four types of deli slices, mince and burger patties.

“We're going to make you a product that's as similar as possible so that the consumer can rediscover the taste of that No. 1 [seller],” Valiquette said. “We don't rejoice in other people's misfortune, but it certainly gives Gusta a boost. 

“We weren't ready for it, but we quickly turned around to be ready,” he told La Presse.

China’s canola tariffs may backfire

 

China’s tariff of 78.5 per cent on Canadian canola and its ban on canola from Australia because of blackleg disease may backfire as its domestic production comes up short.

The United States Department of Agriculture said China’s rapeseed crop might be vastly smaller than official estimates.

“Private sector contacts continue to maintain that China’s actual rapeseed production may be considerably lower than Beijing’s official number based on their estimates of the operational pace and capacity of crushing plants in their respective regions,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service said..

One leading industry source estimates that China’s rapeseed production is 12.4 million tonnes, far short of the Chinese government’s estimate of 17.1 million tonnes, the U.S. report said.

China’s anti-dumping duty on Canadian canola is under extended review. It was imposed after Canada hit Chinese-made electric vehicles with a 100 per cent anti-dumping tariff.

Ontario farmland prices flat

 

Farm Credit Corporation reports that Ontario farmland prices were flat over the first half of this year, but nation-wide prices were up by six per cent.

Prices increased the most in Manitoba and New Brunswick.

British Columbia prices were also flat.

“Demand for farmland remained strong in the first half of the year regardless of lower commodity prices,” said FCC chief economist J.P. Gervais.

 

“Overall, the market appears to be stabilizing,” the FCC said.

OSCIA fires new boss

 

The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Agency has dismissed Kerry Wright eight weeks after she was hired as executive director.

 

She will not be replaced until the board of directors tries out its new collaborative approach to manage the large and diverse organization that not only answers to its members, but also to federal and provincial governments which have chosen it to deliver some programs, mainly related to soil and water conservation and management.

 

Wright took over from a board member Brady Jones who held the boss position after Ahley Honsberger took over in September, 2023, from veteran Andrew Graham who left two years ago.

 

Weeks prior to Wright taking on her role, three senior managers were simultaneously removed from the organization.

None of them have been replaced.

Gone are Sara Lin Barnes, head of programs, and Angela Straathof, director of research and knowledge transfer, and the director of client services.

Past president Tom Oegema said the board has been working on the new management structure for more than a year.

Wright came to OSCIA with a strong track record with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, the Canadian Agri-food Automation & Intelligence Network (CAAIN) and Mallot Creek Group where she provided strategic advice to the food, beverage and agri-food industries.

Turkey processors pay $5 million

 

Three turkey processors agreed to pay $5 million to settle a price-fixing lawsuit.

Cargill will pay $4 million and Cooper Farms and Farbest Foods will each pay $562,500

Other processors named in the lawsuit will pay nothing. They are Butterball, Foster Farms, Hormel, Jennie-O Turkey Store, House of Raeford, Perdue, and Prestage. Also named was industry benchmarking service Agri Stats Inc.

Other processors named in the lawsuit will pay nothing. They are Butterball, Foster Farms, Hormel, Jennie-O Turkey Store, House of Raeford, Perdue, and Prestage. Also named was industry benchmarking service Agri Stats Inc.