AGCO weathering tough market

 

"AGCO delivered resilient third-quarter results in what is the weakest global industry demand environment in more than a decade," said Eric Hansotia, AGCO's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

He said machinery companies face higher input costs and uncertainty in commodity markets and trade, but AGCO survived by adjusting production to demand, maintaining cost discipline and managing dealer inventories.

“We also advanced our Farmer-First strategy by strengthening the market position of our premium brands and expanding precision agriculture solutions that help farmers automate tasks, address labor constraints and get more from their equipment," he said.

Net sales for the first nine months of 2026 were approximately $7.2 billion, an increase of seven-tenths of one per cent from last year.

Net income was $177.2 million compared with $625.8 million.

Kosher meat packer disgruntled

 

Mendy Boyarsky said he is being shut out of an important part of the kosher meat market in Montreal and is considering a legal challenge to Canada’s Competition Tribunal.

He believes the Jewish Community Council of Montreal (JCC), which operates Montreal Kosher, known as MK Kosher certification, has used its dominant position in the market to squeeze out competition among meat suppliers — such as himself — and pressure local congregations to buy only MK approved kosher products. 

“They don't allow competition in the market. So they're able to charge exorbitant prices,” he said.

The market he covets is sales to synagogues and banquet spaces. He is surviving on sales to shoppers who come to his store., Adelph Meats in Côte Saint-Luc, in Montreal's west end.

“There hasn't been another option other than the MK in Montreal for who knows how long,” he said.

He chose to operate outside of MK Kosher’s certification system and to use a different kosher meat certifier — Kashrut Supervision du Rabbinat (KSR).

“We have to be able to sell it to the synagogues, we have to be able to sell anywhere we want to be able to sell to,” he said.

He has support from many in the Montreal Jewish community who want to see his situation put before the Competition Tribunal, said Joshua Krane, a competition law specialist and partner at MLT Aikins in Ottawa.

Quebec cheese company licence suspended

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence for Le Fromage au Village Inc. of Lorrainville, Quebec.

The CFIA said the company failed to identify food safety hazards, to develop and implement monitoring, control and response procedures to prevent Listeria monocytogenes food-poisoning bacteria and lacked an adequate product traceability program.

Ontario wants to map underground services

The Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure wants to create a province-wide map of underground services.

A proposal that is open for comments for 30 days said “information about Ontario's underground infrastructure is currently maintained by hundreds of organizations, including municipalities, utilities and other owners and operators. 

“This information is often fragmented across different systems and formats, making it difficult to access the reliable information needed to plan and build infrastructure projects. 

“Improving access to accurate and timely information about the location of underground infrastructure assets can help reduce project delays and costs, improve planning coordination, and contribute to the efficient delivery of Ontario's $236 billion capital plan to build transit, highways, hospitals, schools and childcare spaces.”

NFU worried about pesticides reviews

 

National Farmers. Union President Phil Mount is worried about the federal government’s plan to stop automatically reviewoing the safety of pesticides every 15 years.

He worries it may reduce Canadian access to markets such as the European Union which has stiffer requirements than Canada.

But Pierre Petelle, president and chief executive officer of Crop Life Canada which speaks for companies making and selling pesticides, defended the proposal that is contained in the federal government’s omnibus Bill C-30.

And he raised a different issue: there are other countries such as the United States that are approving new pesticides before they receive clearances from Pesticide Regulatory Directorate which is within the Health Canada department.

Mount said “eliminating mandatory pesticide re-evaluation is one of those very low bars that that is required by many of these new markets that we’re theoretically looking for. It’s going to do nothing but harm.”

Mount also criticized the government for “hiding” the new regulations in the omnibus bill.

Mount argued the changes in C-31 were designed behind closed doors without input from producers nor the special scientific advisory committee at Health Canada.

 

Petelle said concerns about Bill C-31 may be misleading. The Pest Management Regulatory Directorate will still be required to determine if risks associated with products have changed so “no one’s scrapping anything.” 

Data that suggests a problem with a product would still initiate a review, and that could happen at any time, he said.

Canada Packers lost money

 

Canada Packers lost $28.1 million in the third quarter since it was spun off from Maple Leaf Foods.

It made substantial profits in the first two quarters – eg. $25.6 million in the second quarter.

The results included a $47.6-million non-cash decrease in fair value of its hogs compared with $4.9-million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Canada Packers says it earned 23 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.13 per share a year earlier.

Sales in the quarter totalled $420.7-million, down from $481.80-million a year ago, when they included operations not acquired in its spinoff from Maple Leaf Foods Inc.

Change would gut official plans

The province has posted its plans to prevent people, including municipalities, from appealing official plan changes when the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has referred the issue to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

The provincial cabinet appoints the members of the Ontario Land Tribunal which has also vetoed a number of municipal government decisions after developers have filed appeals. 

This recent change is up for public comment. It is posted on the province’s regulatory registry.

Good luck if a developer persuades the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing that it wants to change your farm from agriculture to residential development in your local official plan.

P+H closing Owen Sound terminal

 

Parrish and Heimbecker (P+H) plans to close its grain elevator in Owen Sound on Dec. 18.

"The decision is part of P&H's ongoing evaluation of its grain network and long-term infrastructure needs as we continue to align our operations and investments with the future needs of the business and the customers we serve," Monika Robertson, P&H marketing manager, said in an email to the Owen Sound Sun Times.

Robertson said they have made no decisions regarding the future of the site and the iconic grain elevator buildings after P&H shuts down operations.

Locally, crop farmers use the Owen Sound terminal as an outlet when capacity at inland elevators becomes limited.

Some tariff relief

 

United States President Donald Trump has removed some tariffs he placed on Canadian products this fall.

They are:

·      Industrial machinery, plant or equipment for the treatment of materials, by process involving a change in temperature.

·      Packing or wrapping machinery.

·      Refrigerating or freezing equipment.

·      Machines for cleaning, sorting or grading food items.

·      Machinery for filling, closing, sealing, capsuling or labeling bottles, cans, boxes or other containers.

·      Plywood not over 6mm thick.

·      Sacks and bags.

·      Nonadhesive plates, sheets, film, foil and strip.

·      Bleached paper and paperboard, coated, impregnated or covered with plastics.

·      Cartons, boxes and cases of corrugated paper or paperboard.

Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine who is in the midst of a tight reelection campaign, issued a press release taking credit for the tariff changes.

NFU supports food hubs

 

The National Farmers Union has come out in favour of new food hubs but said the federal government’s promise of $432 million spread among dozens of pilot projects would be a mistake because they would collapse after the subsidies end.

Instead what is needed is well-funded hubs that include food-processing ventures with support from local farmers and run as locally-controlled co-operatives, it said.

It should not be food hubs run by large established companies such as Sysco and Gordon’s Food Services, the NFU said.

It also noted that the promise of a Food Link Fund with $1 billion pales when compared with the profits of Canada’s biggest supermarket chains.

Food hubs could provide the missing link between regional farms and institutions—such as prisons, schools, hospitals and universities, it said.

Mandating that publicly-funded programs—like the National School Food Program—purchase a fixed proportion of their food from local hubs would create a stable demand for farmer goods.

“The NFU maintains that new food hubs should be publicly owned, co-operatively owned, or farmer owned-and-operated,” it said.

It pointed to the Summerland Food Hub in British Columbia as an example that will operate as a partnership between a non-profit producer cooperative (the LocalMotive Farmers Network Cooperative) and a non-profit processing organization (the Okanagan Food and Innovation Centre).

Ontario idea wins international award

An idea that started in a field in Merlin, Ont. has won the Ig Nobel prize in Switzerland. It is awarded to science that makes a person laugh, then think.

The idea came from Anne Verhallen who was working for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food at the time. She thought burying cotton would measure microbial activity, so the trial was to bury cotton in two fields, one that was conventionally farmed, the other that had cover crops and no till management.\

And the cotton she chose was men’s underwear briefs, prompting farmer Woody Van Arkel to call it the “soil your undies” project.

Two months after they were buried, the one in the conventionally-farmed field was fine, the one in the no-till, cover-crop field was decomposed.

And that became an easy way for farmers to get a measure of their soil health.

The 2026 Ig Nobel soil science award was presented recently in Zurich, Switzerland, to Franz Bender, Marcel van der Heijden, Atlant Bieri and Pia Viviani, for burying 1,000 identical pairs of underpants across Switzerland, then digging them up after two months to measure decomposition, and by extension, the level of soil microbial activity. 

Nine hundred soil samples from the burial sites were also collected.

As detailed by Bender and van der Heijden, the citizen-science project helped “collect a unique dataset,” and provided “the opportunity to advocate for soil conservation in Switzerland and beyond.”

Their research was simply a larger number of fields and briefs than the first triial 11 years earlier in Chatham-Kent.

Grain farmers seek diesel price relief

Grain Growers of Canada asked the federal government for a 50-cents per litre diesel subsidy 18 days before United States President Donald Trump announced a $8-billion diesel subsidy for farmers.

Grain Growers said in its letter to federal finance minister Francois-Philippe Champagne that it wants immediate help, but failing that, help when Champagne tables his budget Nov.8. 

“This is just highlighting that other countries are recognizing it as an issue as well,” said Kate Sauser, executive director of Grain Growers.

Grain Growers calculated that a Class 8 combine consuming 70 litres of diesel per hour, seven days a week over 30 harvest days, would use 16,800 litres of fuel.

“This calculation excludes fuel used by grain carts, trucks and other equipment supporting harvest,” Grain Growers stated in its letter.

At the proposed rebate of 50 cents per litre would be $8,400 for that one combine.

Farm Credit Canada estimates that a 5,000-acre farm in Saskatchewan

is experiencing an increase in its fuel bill of between $68,000 and $106,000 in 2026, not including the increase in trucking costs and rail freight.

                  

Conagra plans to leave Dresden tomato plant

Conagra is planning to either sell or close its tomato plant in Dresden. It said it is in discussions with Highbury Canco of Leamington.

Highbury Canco emerged when Heinz closed its tomato-processing plant.

The plant in Dresden has been in business since 1947.

Conagra didn't explain why it plans to leave the area, only that its decision was made after a careful review.

Steve Pinsonneault, the provincial member of the legislature for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, said “the potential closure of the Conagra tomato processing facility in Dresden would have a significant impact on the local community and surrounding agricultural sector. I understand the potential consequences extend well beyond the facility itself. Local tomato growers, employees, suppliers, and other businesses all have a stake in its future, and the effects would be felt throughout the community." 

In 2022 Conagra said it employed 175 workers at the plant full time and roughly 225 seasonally.

Chicken consumption increasing

 

Per capita chicken consumption in Canada is at record levels and expected to climb further, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

In its annual report on the Canadian poultry market, the agency projects 2026 chicken meat consumption at a record 39.5 kilograms (87.1 pounds) per person, still about 16 pounds below U.S. per capita consumption, leaving room to grow. Canadian prices are more than two times higher than the U.S.

The Canadian data represents a 10.3 per cent increase per person from a decade ago and 5.6 per cent in the last two years. FAS is forecasting another increase next year by 0.8 per cent to 39.8 kilograms.

“Total chicken meat consumption in Canada has nearly tripled over the last 35 years, due in part to the country’s steady population growth, which peaked in 2025 at 41.6 million people, up from nearly 28 million in 1990,” FAS’s Ottawa bureau said in the report.

Chicken has been steadily available and cost less than beef and lamb and Muslims and Jews shun pork. Rising per capita consumption is expected to keep the country’s total demand rising. The federal government is about to announce updated immigration targets.

Total Canadian domestic consumption is projected to increase by 1.7 per cent to 1.63 million tonnes in 2027.

“Increased chicken consumption can also be attributed to the proliferation of chicken-based quick-service offerings, as well as Canada’s changing ethnic composition,” FAS wrote.

“Canada’s immigrant population increasingly originates from countries with stronger dietary preferences for chicken rather than beef or pork.” said FAS. “Rising diversity has also expanded the range of foodservice outlets offering chicken-based dishes. As in the United States, chicken’s popularity in foodservice and at retail is indisputable.”

U.S. exporters last year sold 191,000 tonnes of poultry worth $609 million to Canada. Exports through August are 1.8 per cent behind the 2025 pace. 

Canada’s chicken marketing agency has repeatedly raised concerns about spent fowl imports that escape tariffs, noting that the total have at times exceeded total U.S. supply of spent fowl.

FAS also said a significant fraction of U.S. chicken exports to Canada receive further processing for re-export to the United States, as well as some other markets. The only other meaningful source of Canadian chicken imports are Brazil, Thailand and Chile, which has only gained a notable market share since 2023.

PED in Perth County

 

Swine Health Ontario reported an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at a finisher barn in Perth County.

Chicken demand remains strong

 

Because consumer demand for chicken remains strong, the national supply management agency is calling for production at 4.5 per cent above base quota for the period from Feb. 7 to April 3.

Ontario’s production target is 4.7 per cent above base, putting it back in the lead after two quota periods of lagging the national targets.

The Ontario board said on its website that “demand for chicken continues to be strong. This is supported by competing meat prices, steady per capita consumption and overall positive economic indicators.”

Americans challenge Trump’s Canada tariffs

 

Gellert Global Group of New York has filed a court challenge against United States President Donald Trump’s most recent tariffs on Canada, including his ban on Canadian dairy products.

The court filing argues Trump lacks authority to use a Depression-era law to impose the tariffs which hit thousands of small Canadian businesses with a 50 per cent import tax.

Global Group argues that Trump’s tariffs are not justified by the use of the old law, but are a response to provincial bans on U.S. liquors, to dairy supply management and auto trade.

Canada and the U.S have long trading relationships underlined by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement negotiated during 
Trump’s first term as president.

“These tariffs disrupt those relationships overnight and create costs and uncertainty that ripple through the entire supply chain,” said a news release from the Gellert Global Group.

John Weber dead at 95

 

John Weber, a farmer in the Elmira area, has died. He was 95.

He was active in agriculture and community organizations and opened his farm to host school children.

He was a president of the Ontario Maple Syrup Association and a founding member of the Elmira Syrup Festival, the largest event of its kind in Canada and perhaps North America.

He lived 92 of his 95 years on the family farm.

                           

Virus outbreak in pig nursery

 

There has been an outbreak of porcine deltacoronavirus in a nursery barn in Huron County, reports Swine Health Ontario.

CFIA holding off on zinc supplements

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will maintain the current interim maximum zinc concentration of 3,000 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) in piglet starter feeds, delaying a proposed reduction to 300 mg/kg while regulators review additional evidence submitted by Canada’s pork industry.

The Canadian Pork Council has been in consultations with the CFIA on zinc supplements since 2018.

Had that reduction gone into effect, feed manufacturers and nutritionists, would have needed to change ration formulations and seek alternative nutrition or management strategies.

In its response to proposed feed regulation changes in 2021, Ontario Pork advocated maintaining access to zinc oxide at concentrations up to 3,000 mg/kg for a limited period following weaning.

The organization argued that elevated zinc concentrations could provide benefits associated with feed intake, gut health and post-weaning performance.

The Canadian Pork Council has been providing technical information and developing supporting documentation related to zinc oxide use in Canadian nursery diets.

 

In its response to proposed feed regulation changes in 2021, Ontario Pork advocated maintaining access to zinc oxide at concentrations up to 3,000 mg/kg for a limited period following weaning.

The organization argued that elevated zinc concentrations could provide benefits associated with feed intake, gut health and post-weaning performance.

The current regulations are:

Feed category	Maximum zinc concentration
Piglet starter feeds, pigs under 25 kg	3,000 mg/kg
Grower and finisher feeds	300 mg/kg
Sow and boar feeds	300 mg/kg

Hog outlook positive for Canadians

 

The United States is likely to increase imports of Canadian hogs and pork this fall and winter said a report from the United States Department of Agriculture.

There will be fewer market hogs from U.S. producers this fall, it said, and a survey indicated they intend to reduce farrowings by two per cent and then increase production next spring and summer.

It said “imports of live Canadian hogs and pigs will take on added importance as a way to increase the supply of domestic market hogs.“

Its survey found that producers’ first set of farrowing intentions for the December 2026−February 2027 quarter are two per cent higher than a year earlier and may result in higher domestic numbers in the summer of 2027.

Trump to subsidize farm diesel

 

United States President Donald Trump announced an $8-billion subsidy for farm diesel while campaigning recently in Kansas State.

He said the subsidy will be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

He has been making big subsidy promises as he tries to stem the loss of supporters in the upcoming Nov. 3 election for members of congress and the senate.

Trump has proposed sending $5,000 checks ⁠to all adult citizens if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate in the midterms, though analysts, economists and even some Republicans in Congress have reacted with skepticism.

Earlier this month, Trump said the US. government would send a one-time payment of $90 to more than 20 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, a health ‌insurance program for the elderly.

Maple syrup sold out

 

Quebec’s maple syrup marketing board said it is sold out for the first time in more than a decade.

It said demand has been exceptionally strong, including some bulk buyers such as Rogers Sugar Inc. and Les Industries Bernard & Fils.

The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, known by its French acronym PPAQ, said “at the end of next February, all the remaining syrup sold under contract will be gone.

 “Our warehouses will be at zero,” said Simon Doré-Ouellet, deputy director-general for PPAQ. 

The PPAQ sets minimum prices for bulk shipments, regulates production volumes through quotas, and monitors safety and quality standards. 

Maple syrup that’s not sold goes to three warehouses in Quebec with a combined capacity of 133 million pounds (218,000 barrels worth $400-million if the space is all full) that can be drawn on when weather conditions yield a lower crop. 

The aim is to have a greater stability in supply and pricing from season to season.

Five more rabid bats

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency identified five more bats with rabies in Ontario during September.

That brings the total to 66 this year.

There were no other cases of rabies in Ontario so far this year.

Extra hens approved for vaccine production

 

The Farm Products Council has approved applications from the provinces of Quebec and Ontario for 423,690 vaccine quota layers for the Glaxo-Smith-Kine (GSK) production during the period of

December 27, 2026, to December 25, 2027. 

In July it approved a request for 492,000 Sanofi quota layers.

Grocery prices finally moderating

Grocery prices rose by 1.7 per cent over the previous year in September while overall inflation increased by 3.1 per cent.

It was a welcome change from more than a year when grocery prices increased more than overall inflation.

The September increase was the smallest since May 2024.

Prices for fresh vegetables declined by 2.9 per cent. 

Beef prices rose at a slower pace in September, up by 8.7 per cent compared with an 11 per cent increase in August.

Statistics Canada said prices for groceries have increased by 33 per cent since September 2020.

CFIA suspends Morales Food licence

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence held by Morales Food Ltd. of Montreal.

The CFIA said Morales failed to identify and analyze food safety hazards and failed to develop and implement a food safety plan.

The company imports exotic foods.

U.S. subsidies issued

 

The United States Department of Agriculture is releasing $13.2 billion in crop subsidies for 2025 just days before the federal elections.

The payments will vary by state and county.

This is a record high farm subsidy under two federal crop programs, yet is less than th $13.9 billion estimated earlier.

Rice subsidies are the highest and are estimated at $120 per base acre for medium-grain and $344 for long-grain. Rice estimates could still shift because final prices for the three rice types have not been set.

Maud Murray heads Ontario ag. department

Maud Murray has been chosen acting deputy minister for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness.

She is also deputy minister of Red Tape Reduction.

“She brings extensive leadership experience to the role, including work supporting small businesses and economic growth across Ontario,” Michelle DiEmanuele, secretary of the cabinet, said Tuesday on social media.

Murray is a lawyer and served as the agriculture ministry’s deputy legal director from 2013 to 2015.

John Kelly is retiring after six years as deputy agriculture minister.

Agriculture now has two new people at the top. Sam Oosterhof, who was the youngest person elected to the Ontario legislature, was recently appointed agriculture minister.

Hoekstra named head of new UG position

 

Paul Hoekstra has been named executive director of Agri-Food Strategy and Partnerships, a new position at the University of  Guelph.

Hoekstra has been vice-president of  strategic development for Grain Farmers of Ontario since 2020.

His main job at University of Guelph will be advancing the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a province-wide platform for agri-food research, training and innovation.

Hoekstra holds a PhD in environmental biology from the University of Guelph and a bachelor of science (B.Sc.) from the University of Waterloo.

 

 

         

PED hits Waterloo farm

 

Swine Health Ontario reported an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at a hog finishing barn in the Waterloo Region.

It is the first outbreak in Ontario since September 10.

Perth County invites grant applications

Perth County is open for applications for its Stewardship Program Spring 2027.

Past experience indicates the money will soon be snapped up.

The grant program "supports local landowners and community groups in enhancing the natural environment through projects focused on planting windbreaks, block plantings, forest restoration, forest health assessments, and community tree sale events," said a posting on the county website.

Since 2024, the Stewardship Program has had 99 project applications, planted 28,429 trees, and 43 kilometers of windbreaks across Perth County. The 2027 program offers four grant streams:

·       Forest Management: supporting management strategies for woodlots and woodlands.

·       Living Snow Fence: supporting rural landowners planting trees along roads to make a windbreak.

·       Landowner Tree Planting.

·       Community Tree Planting: supporting non-profit community groups that plant trees on public lands.

More information is available online at www.perthcounty.ca/stewardship.