Agri Stats has reached another settlement n ongoing turkey antitrust litigation, this time resolving claims brought by commercial and institutional indirect purchasers.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Plaintiffs said they plan to seek preliminary and final court approval of the proposed settlement in the near future.
Microgreens laced with E.coli food-poisoning bacteria are on recall.
They are sold by Farm Boy and other stores in Ontario under the Kyan Culture brand name.
The recall was triggered by the company.
The recall also includes Kylan Brand broccoli and mild mix.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said there have been no illnesses reported with links to these products.
Canadian combine sales in April were up 42.7 per cent compared to sales in April, 2025, reports the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
In the United States, April combine sales inched up by 3.4 per cent.
April sales of agricultural tractors declined by 11.3 per in both the U.S. and Canada.
“The April sales results of farm tractor and combine sales show the lingering softness in the equipment market,” said Curt Blades, AEM senior vice-president.
Shirreza brand Tahini Halva with date sap is on recall in Ontario and British Columbia because of contamination with salmonella food-poisoning bacteria.
The company detected the problem.
The Canadian Food inspection Agency said there have been no reports of illness.
They said the man had regular retail customers for specialty cheeses he stole from places from Hamilton to Barrie.
They laid the charges against a 60-year-old man from Woodbridge.
The Chicken Farmers of Canada supply management agency held to production goal of 6.5 per cent above base for the next quota production period from Aug; 23 to Oct. 17.
The Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board said “demand for chicken continues to be strong. This is supported by competing meat prices, steady per capita consumption and overall positive economic indicators.”
For the second time, Ontario’s increase of 6.3 per cent fell below the national target. For years it was consistently above the national goals.
The new policy came after shoppers complained that some imported products were being marketed as products of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned the company.
Consumers also complained about similar false claims by Loblaws.
Sobeys and Loblaws are the two largest grocery chains in Canada and they were eager to take advantage of Canadian “elbows up” sentiment after United States President Donald Trump launched a tariff war on Canadians.
Most of the money will go to Bioenterprise Canada which administers these types of subsidies.
Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald said “this support will help successful recipients turn innovative ideas into real-world solutions.”
Ontario Agriculture Minister Trevor Jones said “this investment will help local organizations turn research into market-ready solutions that
strengthen Ontario’s position as a global leader in food production.”
Average beef packer losses increased by $120 per head to total $246.42 head, reported Sterling Marketing Beef Profit T
Trackerr.
The reason is higher costs to buy Choice steers..
Feedlot profits averaged $186.70 per head, down by about $7 per head from the prior week.
Pork packers also took a hit with their losses mounting from $1 to $7.60 per head.
Remember when former United States President Joe Biden agreed with farmers that the beef industry needed more packers to reduce their profit margins?
Mushroom Canada is going to fight a new tax on fresh mushroom exported to the United States.
The United States Department of Commerce’s has imposed a preliminary countervailing duty against fresh mushrooms from Canada.
The preliminary ruling means U.S. importers will have to post countervailing duty cash deposits beginning on the date the determination is published in the Federal Register, which is likely to be Monday May 18.
The preliminary rate is not final, and the case remains subject to further review by both the Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission.
“Commerce’s preliminary conclusion is deeply flawed,” said Ryan Koeslag, executive vice-[resident and chief executive officer of Mushrooms Canada.
“The overwhelming basis . . . appears to be mainstream agricultural tax treatment, including provincial sales tax exemptions available to farmers generally. Treating broad-based agricultural tax measures as unfair subsidies is contrary to common sense and unfairly penalizes Canadian mushroom growers for participating in programs available across the agricultural sector in any number of countries.”
Mushrooms Canada emphasized that the preliminary determination does not mean that Canadian growers have engaged in unfair trade.
Under U.S. trade law, a subsidy must meet specific legal requirements before it can be countervailed, including that the alleged benefit be limited to a specific enterprise, industry, or group.
Mushrooms Canada believes those requirements have not been met here.
“It is difficult to reconcile Commerce’s preliminary approach with the fact that comparable agricultural tax treatment exists in the United States,” Mr. Koeslag added. “Canadian mushroom growers are not receiving special treatment. They are operating under ordinary rules that apply to farmers.”
The Commerce Department still needs to issue a final anti-dumping and countervailing duty determinations and the U.S.
International Trade Commission must make a final injury determination.
If the Trade Commission finds that imports of fresh mushrooms from Canada are not causing material injury or threat of material injury to the U.S. industry, the interim duties will be terminated.
“Mushrooms Canada will continue to participate fully in the process and demonstrate that the allegations against our sector are unfounded,” Koeslag said.
“Canadian growers provide high-quality, responsibly produced mushrooms that support consumers, retailers, foodservice operators, and the broader North American market.”
Mushrooms Canada said “the mushroom sector in North America has grown through collaboration, cross-border supply relationships, and shared commitment to quality and food security.
“This case should not obscure the fact that Canadian and U.S. producers, workers, customers, and consumers all benefit when our markets remain connected and reliable,” Koeslag said.
More than 4,000 wells and hundreds of other pieces of infrastructure were recently transferred to the Orphan Well Association following the closure of Long Run Exploration, leaving land owners and municipalities without rent and taxes.
This is the largest transfer to the OWA in Alberta’s history, doubling the association’s inventory overnight. Despite a 100 per cent increase in orphan wells, the levy paid by industry is rising by only seven per cent this year, said the Pembina Institute.
“This is clearly inadequate for the scale of the problem, and it leaves Albertans to bear the harms associated with unremediated wells near their homes and businesses,” said Janetta McKenzie, director of the oil and gas program for the Pembina Institute.
“Industry funding is what drives progress on this long-standing problem, and the Orphan Well Association is persistently underfunded,” she told a meeting in Calgary.
Even before their wells are formally orphaned, some energy companies fail to pay rent to landowners, forcing Alberta taxpayers to pick up the bill. In 2024, Alberta taxpayers paid $30 million to landowners to cover delinquent lease payments.
“Leaving these aging and inactive wells for years and even decades on end with remediation causes real financial harm to all Albertans, and physical harm to landowners,” said Natalie Odd, executive director of the Alberta Environmental Network.
“At best, they’re stuck with obstacles to agriculture, driving up their costs. But in many cases they face toxic contamination of their air, water, and soil from leaking wells.”
Teresa Patry, a livestock producer and farmer in the Vermilion area, said "I am being forced off my land and straight out of my home because if you can't breathe the air what good is the land? It has been very difficult for me to give up my privacy as I have been forced to go public with this problem to hopefully save not only my family but my livelihood as well. When the regulator won't take a landowner's concerns seriously it steals a great deal from them."
Some energy companies also fail to pay their municipal taxes.
According to the Rural Municipalities Association, oil and gas companies owe more than $250 million in property taxes, money the province admits will never be recovered.
"We must not leave the burden of oil and gas well cleanup to our children and future generations," said Claire Kraatz, Clean Air Campaign organizer with For Our Kids.
“Polluters must pay, and our regulator needs to ensure that laws are enforced. We teach our kids to clean up their messes. Why aren't oil and gas polluters cleaning up theirs?”
The provincial government’s newest plan is to transfer ownership of low- and non-producing wells to special-purpose entities created by the government with the hope of using some remaining production to finance the cleanup.
“This mess was created by industry, and industry must pay to clean it up,” said Phillip Meintzer, co-founder of the Coalition for Responsible Energy (C4RE).
“If paying for cleanup with the last few barrels of production actually works, then industry can take on the risk and do it themselves.
“Transferring these wells into public ownership with a totally unproven concept means Alberta taxpayers will be left with the bill – yet again – if it doesn’t work,” he said.
Agropur is offering six per cent milk in selected stores to test the market for the new Sealtest-brand product.
According to Agropur spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé, demand for creamier milk options has been growing, particularly among South Asian consumers, for whom richer dairy products are commonly used in foods such as yogurt, paneer, ricotta, and korma.
The company says it will monitor consumer response before deciding on broader distribution.
Health Canada cited recent studies about children’s health and is recommending two per cent whole milk for children less than two years old.
But it is still recommending reduced-fat milk for adults because it’s considered better for heart health.
A storm with winds of 130 kilometers per hour ripped the roof off a barn near Lucan on Saturday.
It overturned a truck and trailer, toppled solar panels on a pedestal, and snapped large tree limbs.
Maple Leaf Foods reported first-quarter net earnings from continuing operations of $46.1 million, nearly three times as much as the $16 million earned last year.
Sales increased by 6.2 per cent to $962.9 million from $906.7 million last year. Poultry sales were up by 11.7 per cent, The company hiked prices enough to cover increased chicken advertising.
President Curtis Frank, who is also the company’s chief executive officer, said the results came from “disciplined execution” of its strategic plan and operating efficiency, favourable product mix and cost management.
Net debt declined by $544 million to roughly $1 billion after Maple Leaf spun off Canada Packers which now runs its hog farms and Canada’s largest pork-packing plant at Brandon, Man.
United States President is poised to suspend beef tariffs of 26.4 per cent, reports the Wall Street Journal.
However, after that prompted opposition from beef farmers, the White House said it is still pondering its beef tariff strategy.
South American countries would be glad to gain more access to the U.S. market. The United Kingdom ecently signed a trade deal that includes a 26.4 per cent tariff on any beef beyond 13,000 tonnes.
Argentina had been allowed up to 20,000 tonnes until February when Trump increased it to 100,000 tonnes.
Australia has 449,482 tonnes, New Zealand 213,000 and Uruguay 20,000.
For those amounts, the tariff had been 4.4 cents per kilogram.
Soon unlimited amounts will be able to come in at the 4.4 cents per kilogram.
Canada and Mexico face no beef tariffs; they are covered by the free trade agreement among the three countries.
However, as more imports enter the U.S., it will free up some domestic U.S. supplies to enter the Canadian and Mexican markets, meaning Trump’s aim to reduce beef prices will impact Canadian farmers and meat packers.
The North American beef cattle numbers are at their lowest in more than 40 years, resulting in high and still-rising retail beef prices.
The board holds hearings when people complain about farm-related issues such as noises, dust and traffic and it determines whether or not they arise from normal farm practices.
Fuller is a lawyer who specializes in agriculture, business, wills and estates.
Tyson has agreed to pay $47 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged beef price-fixing.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of commercial and institutional indirect purchasers such as restaurants and covers purchases between Jan. 1, 2015, and May 6, 2026,
The covered products include brisket, chuck, loin, rib and round cuts, excluding ground beef, trim, USDA Prime products and further processed items.
The settlement involves Tyson Foods Inc. and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. Tyson did not oppose the motion for preliminary approval.
The United States House of Representatives has passed a new farm bill that includes a provision curbing California’s animal welfare rules from impeding pork from other states that do not meet the standards set out in Proposition 12.
The National Pork Producers Council called the vote a “massive victory” but it must pass the Senate to become law.
Proposition 12 has hindered the sale of Canadian pork to the United States if the buyer sells into California.
Among Proposition 12 rules is a ban on housing sows in gestation crates and minimum space requirements for housing pigs.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence for Tig’s Legacy Collections Inc. of Longueuil, Que.
The CFIA said it failed to keep satisfactory import controls and traceability records.
The company’s main business is women’s fashion clothing.
Canada and Mexico have announced some trade bans on pork from the United States after a recent discovery of pseudorabies antibodies in breeding stock in Iowa.
Canada has banned pig snouts.
Mexico, which is the biggest export market for U.S. pork, is banning non-muscle pork.
The bans are still under negotiation, the U.S. said.
The United States Department of Justice has proposed a settlement of its lawsuit against Agri Stats that would require it to sell its reports and manuals to anyone, including livestock and poultry producers and meat-company customers.
It would also ban the sale of books revealing companies’ sales volumes and also reporting sales volumes other than to the company asking for its own sales data.
The proposals were revealed in a Minnesota court this week.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche described the agreement as a “historic settlement” and said the company’s business model contributed to higher meat prices.
Agri Stats was named in a number of class-action lawsuits alleging price-fixing among the largest chicken, turkey, pork and beef packers.
The agreement also imposes confidentiality and recency requirements on reporting data, including provisions requiring some reports to contain information from at least three meat processors and limiting the use of recent production data.
A court-appointed monitor would oversee compliance for up to seven years, while Agri Stats also would be required to implement an antitrust compliance program that includes employee training, whistleblower protections and mandatory disclosure of potential violations.
Federal officials announced the settlement proposal alongside broader discussions of ongoing antitrust investigations into the meatpacking industry, including concerns over market concentration and information-sharing practices.
The C.D. Howe Institute has chosen Dr. Al Mussell to be its Fellow-in-Residence and Supply Chains Policy Scholar.
Mussell is an agriculture economist who has published many research reports on Canadian Agriculture, trade and policy.
He is currently senior researcher for the Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute. He often co-authores reports with Ted Bilyea and Doug Hedley.
Mussell said “it is a distinct honour, and really quite humbling, to join a remarkable group of people as a Fellow-in-Residence at the C.D. Howe Institute.
"I’m very pleased that the C.D. Howe Institute is taking a focused interest in agriculture, food and all that Canada has to offer, and to be given an opportunity to contribute my insights to its work in this critical area.’
Mussell has also been president of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society, chair of the Ontario Pork Industry Council, and has served on the board of the Progressive Dairy Operators.”
He founded the George Morrris Center at the University of Guelph and Agri-Food Economic Systems.
He will continue to work with Agri-Food Economic Systems.
Mycotoxins have shown up in almost all plant-based proteins and beverages tested in the United Kingdom and Italy, but it’s unlikely to be a health threat to most people.
The researchers studied 212 plant-based products such as burgers, vegan sausages, chicken mimics and milks made of oats, almonds or soybeans.
All of them contained at least one of 19 mycotoxins, with multiple products containing more than one.
The study says that previous research has demonstrated that even at low levels, if consumed often, mycotoxin can build up exposure and lead to potential health concerns, but occasional consumption should not pose a danger.
In extreme cases mycotoxin exposure can lead to liver and kidney damage, immune system suppression, and cancer, the report said.
The researchers advise that monitoring of raw materials be extended.
“Mycotoxins occur naturally in foods and cannot be completely avoided. As consumers, we should not be frightened or deterred from enjoying a variety of products,” said Andrea Patriarca, senior lecturer in mycology at Cranfield University.
“However, a significant concern arises when new foods enter the market, as there are currently no established regulations to monitor mycotoxins.” she said.
The study found that mycotoxin levels United Kingdom plant-based foods that were tested were lower than recommended European Union guideline levels, which it said reflected the high-quality standards of the UK food industry.
The study was a joint effort by the University of Parma in Italy and Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.
Germina brand "Brocoli Calabrese" seeds are on recall due to possible contamination with pathogenic E. coli, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has posted.
The recall was initiated in Italy. It has been offered for online sale in Ontario and Quebec.
Melita Bees has accused Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island of using unfair trade rules to block sakes if $4 million worth of bees from Europe.
It said its bees meet Canadian Food Inspection Agency standards and an international trade agreement, but Ontario imposed extra rules that forced it to cancel orders that were in progress. The bees would have died in quarantine had they been shipped, it said in a complaint filed with Global Affairs in Ottawa.
Melita said Ontario wanted bees to be held for 14 days in indoor quarantine conditions that the bees could not survive.
That was never requested by the CFIA during the federal inspection process, Melita said.
Agropur announced it will spend close to $1 billion to modernize its milk-processing plants in Quebec and Nova Scotia.
It is the largest farmer-owned dairy business in Canada.
The company said the investment will be directed toward upgrading existing facilities, incorporating advanced technologies, and optimizing production capabilities.
Stu and Kim Lang have donated another $51 million to the University of Guelph, bringing their donations total to $100 million.
Kim Lang owns horses and some previous donations went to Ontario Veterinary College.
They own CCL Industries which is a $14-billion packaging and label maker.
This donation goes to the Gordon S. Lang School of Business at the University of Guelph. Neither Stu nor Kim graduated from University of Guelph, but atter Stu and Kim Lang never went to the University of Guelph.
In 2019, the couple’s foundation donated $21-million to the school, which was renamed for Mr. Lang’s father, who founded Toronto-based CCL in 1951. The Lang family’s stake in CCL is worth approximately $2.1-billion.
The Langs are both Queen’s University graduates.
Stu Lang played professional football for the Edmonton Eskimos, helping to win five Grey Cups, and became coach of Guelph Gryphons and led them to win the Yates Cup.
“We see business skills as essential to everything we do as a society, so our gift will have infinite impact,” said Stu Lang, who earned an engineering degree. “Our donation is meant to support Guelph’s vision of business as a force of good.”
The Lang family’s stake in CCL is worth approximately $2.1-billion.
The donation will launch a program called Lang GoodWorks that incorporates values-based decision-making in business. The couple’s gift will also help fund a new three-storey building with more than 60 breakout rooms and a lecture hall that seats 500 students, at a business school that started out with classrooms in a former student residence.
“The Langs’ gift will help us create a collaborative learning experience, with graduates who are competitive but not cutthroat,” said Dr. Sara Mann, dean of business at the University of Guelph.
The business school will also use the Langs’ gift to fund research and the extension of programs that combine business courses with the curriculums at Guelph’s veterinary and agriculture schools.
Loblaws first-quarter profit came in at $594 million, up from $503 million last year.
First-quarter revenue grew by 4.2 per cent to $14.7-billion.
Sales from new discount stores – No Frills and Super C – accounted for almost half of the total sales increase.
Sales from existing stores increased by 2.4 per cent which is about half of the increases due to food inflation.
Both Alarjawi and Royal Green Zaatar are on recall because Canadian Food Inspection Agency testing detected food-poisoning Salmonella bacteria.
The product was distributed in every province except Alberta.
Farmers turned pessimistic when the war on Iran sent fuel and fertilizer costs soaring.
The monthly Ag Economy Barometer based on a Purdue University survey found farmers’ mood was the worst since the fall of 2024. It came down by six points since March to 121 in April.
Two-thirds expect their incomes will decline this year.
Forty-six per cent they worry about prices for inputs and 14 per cent worry they may not be able to get what they need.
The percentage who feel the U.S, is headed in the right direction dropped from 65 on March to 57 per cent in April, the lowest in more than a year.
The percentage of producers who expected good times in the next five years was 37 per cent in April, which is 19 per cent lower than April 2025.
There continues to be a large disparity in expectations between crop and livestock producers.
Approximately 31 per cent of respondents expected good times for crop producers, while 69 per cent expected good times for livestock producers.
The Canadian Cattle Association has warned the federal government to be careful about making a trade deal with Mercosur, a trade group that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay who would like to sell their beef to Canadians.
European farmers also objected strenuously to a Mercosur deal and eventually got a tariff-rate quota that is 7.5 per cent on the first 99,000 tonnes and 40 per cent tariff on any more than that.
The European-Mercusur deal took 25 years to negotiate.
The Dairy Farmers of Ontario marketing board wants its members to ship more milk so it is adding a day’s worth of quota for May.
It also announced it will not be fining producers for exceeding their quotas during April.
The board’s chairman said the decisions came because demand for milk protein has exceeded production.
The province is pausing its plan to begin fining goat-milk producers for high somatic cell counts in the milk they market and now wants to conduct more research before proceeding.
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness had planned to levy fines for milk that contains more than 1.5 million somatic cells per mililitre. They would also have faced a ban on selling their milk until somatic cell counts (SCC) came within limits it established.
Ontario Goats’ animal health and research committee presented international research on dairy goat SCC and its impacts on animal health and milk quality. Together with processors and producers, they consulted with OMAFA officials about the unique properties of SCC in goat milk. This informed the pause.
“By penalizing goat milk producers with unsustainable standards, the regulations will stifle a vital and growing sector,” wrote dairy goat producer Marlie Vanderlip in the Change.org petition launched in December.
She wrote that “Ontario, renowned for its progressive agricultural policies, must recognize that the unique characteristics of goat milk require tailored standards.”
A goat veterinarian said goats store 70 per cent of their milk in the gland cistern. This milk contains a mixture of cellular debris such as cytoplasmic particles and epithelial cells. In contrast, cattle store milk in the alveolar tissues, resulting in cleaner milk.
These non-pathological factors account for up to 50 to 90 per cent variance in somatic cell count in an individual doe, one goat veterinarian said.
The United States federal government remains busy investigating price-fixing in the beef industry.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said a deal his officials reached with AgriStats will end information sharing among the companies that enabled them to discover each other’s plans for production volumes and pricing.
He said the ongoing antitrust investigation into the broader meatpacking sector has involved more than three million documents and many interviews and it continues to urge whistleblowers to provide inside information and has said they could pocket “financial rewards.”
Justice Department officials said the four largest beef processors (Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA and National Beef Packing) control about 85 per cent of the U.S. fed cattle market. The companies have faced private lawsuits alleging price-fixing through supply restrictions, though they have
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins linked the investigation to broader supply concerns, pointing to historically low cattle inventories and a decline in U.S. ranchers. She also raised concerns about foreign ownership among major processors.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it is planning to conduct a small, carefully-controlled trial of a vaccine to counter higihly-pathogenic avian influenza,
Migrating birds have been responsible for hundreds of outbreaks among commercial and backyard poultry flocks leading to the culling of more than 17 million birds to prevent further spread.
Farms in the lower mainland of British Columbia have been particularly hard hit, but no province has remained untouched.
The agency said it will be co-operating with provincial and industry partners to plan and conduct the trials.
So far Canada has been able to avoid international trading bans because of its aggressive virus control program, but a vaccine could trigger tradeing bans because a vaccinated bird is difficult to distinguish from a diseased one.
The plan is to try vaccines on a poultry farm to assess how they perform while managing potential impacts on animal health, surveillance and trade.
“Findings from this trial may inform future decisions on whether HPAI vaccination should be used in Canada,” said Cynthia Philippe, CFIA acting veterinary program specialist.
Farmers in the United States are getting subsidies to offset rising fertilizer costs and might be in line for more but so far Canadians have been promised nothing.
The United States Department of Agriculture has already committed nearly $10 billion to farmers to help with high fertilizer costs, including: $780 million to Illinois; $805 million to Texas; $773 million to Kansas; and $857 million to Iowa.
Reports also suggest it may utilize Trump administration tariff revenue to help with fertilizer costs, although the Supreme Court’s February ruling on tariff policy has complicated the legality of those funds.
In late March, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said a “super majority” of American farmers had pre-booked fertilizers at lower pre-war costs, and therefore, there “shouldn’t be too much of a disruption” to U.S. planting of critical feed crops for meat processing.
However, an American Farm Bureau Federation survey of farmers questions the truth of her claim.
According to the survey, pre-booking differed “significantly by region”: 67 per cent among Midwest farmers, but 30 per cent in the Northeast, 31 per cent in the West, and 19 per cent in the South.
Even with those pre-bookings, 70 per cent of all farmers reported they were unable to afford fertilizer for 2026’s planting, including 48%per cent in the Midwest, 69 per cent in the Northeast, 78 per cent in the South, and 66 per cent in the West.
Specific to crops, the Farm Bureau found that 68per cent of soybean farmers cannot afford all required fertilizer and neither can 66 per cent of corn farmers.