Barn parties to test McGuinty

The rural-urban divide in the recent provincial election could get its first test over the Ontario Fire Marshall's Office and its crusade to make barns safe for parties.


The rural communities where no Liberals were elected are up in arms over orders that will cost barn owners tens of thousands of dollars to get their local fire departments off there backs whenever they decide to hold a neighbourhood party.

The Ontario Fire Marshall's Office has issued an advisory to all fire departments telling them to enforce the Ontario fire prevention code, else their municipality could be held liable in the event of an injury or death.

That means the barns will need fire separations, sprinkler systems and a sprayed-on coating of fire retardant which may contain a carcinogenic chemical.

This is a rural issue that is likely to become more contentious than the long-gun registry.

It seems that common sense is anything but common among snivel servants.

Press barred from chicken meeting

The Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board has postponed its Industry Insight 2011 meeting from Oct. 24 to Nov. 14.

Notice of the change was posted on its website the day the meeting was scheduled to take place.

The board earlier told me I can't attend the meeting, a change from the policy of previous years when the board welcomed reporters so its messages could get out.

All those involved in the industry are supposed to be welcome at this meeting.

The topics are listed as an outline of the Ontario Industry Strategic Plan, which has been under development by a new Chicken Industry Advisory Committee with membership from the chicken board, the Association of Ontario Chicken Processors, one of two associations that represent processors, and the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission.

The plan will include an outline of how Ontario intends to implement its part of a deal with Quebec to stop the movement of live chickens between the provinces.

Also on the agenda is an update on a “Major Industry Initiative” and a report on the board’s performance.

Maple Lodge fined 22 times

Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. was hit with 22 fines totaling $122,400 for transportation violations caught by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Information about the fines assessed between April 1 and June 30 this year is posted on the CFIA website.

Others that were fined in Ontario were Little Rock Trucking, caught 12 times and fined $45,000, and M&J Carriers, caught three times and fined $6,000.

In Atlantic Canada, Integrated Poultry Farms paid $11,800 for three infractions and L. Bilodeau & Fils $5,200 for two offices.

There were 19 fines totaling $127,000 assessed in Ontario for violations of Plant Protection Act provisions. The website does not say who was fined or why, but it’s likely that most, if not all of them, apply to moving wood out of quarantine zones established to contain infestations of ash borer.

McMeekin's the new ag. minister

Ted McMeekin of Waterdown is the new agriculture minister in Ontario following the election election defeat of both women who held the post under Premier Dalton McGuinty.

McMeekin represents the mainly urban riding of Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough and Westdale  near Hamilton.

Carol Mitchell of Clinton was defeated in her riding north and west of London and Leona Dombrowsky of Tweed, who moved from agriculture to education minister, was defeated in her riding north and east of Oshawa.

The Progressive Conservative Party candidates won in all the rural ridings and the Liberals fell one seat short of a minority by holding downtown urban ridings in Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor, Hamilton, Kitchener and Guelph.

Longo's leads in innovation

Farmers who want to know what’s coming in food retailing ought to visit a Longo’s supermarket.

“They are considered the most innovative in North America,” says John Scott, president and ceo of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

Even Wegman’s, a supermarket chain in upper New York State, respects Longo’s, he said. For years a trip to Wegman’s provided a good idea about what Loblaws would be doing within the next three to five years.

John Scott

Scott said Longo’s is innovative across a broad front, but it is the stores’ produce section that is a favourite with shoppers.

The buzz in the industry this year is what the entry of Target will bring, he said.

Sobeys has signed a deal to supply Target’s groceries, just as it did when Wal-Mart began selling groceries in Canada. Wal-Mart is now on its own and is gaining market share as shoppers see that it is able to offer a full range of groceries, meats and fresh produce at highly-competitive prices.

Target will be up against Loblaws’ Supercentres and Wal-Mart in terms of store size and pricing.

Scott said the more than 4,000 independent grocers who have joined his association since it launched in 1962 are in a different competitive category.

He is urging them to “stick to your knitting,” the factors that have helped the remain competitive so far.

The market is splintering into retailers who cater to specific ethnic groups, to geographic communities – eg. the buy local movement – and commodities.

Scott said shoppers no longer go to one store to buy everthing, but will pick up paper goods at Costco and while they’re there will buy meat and will go to Longo’s for produce.

“They are shopping at different stores for different things,” he said.

That’s a trend that suppliers need to watch to ensure they maintain access to the customers they want.

Scott said another major trend now is increased consumer awareness about the link between food and health.

That’s why Grocery Innovations, the big trade show the association puts on every year in Toronto, will be featuring seminars during this week’s show that begins Monday at the Toronto Congress Centre.

Another trend is the fast-increasing use of Twitter and Facebook to draw attention to new products and services retailers and food suppliers are offering, Scott said.

In the space of three minutes during a telephone interview, he noted that three companies sent him Twitter notices about new things they’re offering, companies such as Nature’s Path and Longo’s.

The people who are in their 20s and 30s are using Twitter and Facebook to find the foods that interest them and the stores that are stocking them.

Hog marketers

After a long battle, the Ontario Pork marketing board lost its monopoly on selling market-ready hogs.

The pork board remains responsible for helping hog farmers with their marketing, such as reporting prices.

It would seem reasonable that the pork board would also want to keep producers informed about all the people and companies that are now in the business of marketing hogs.

I asked and was told there are 11. I waited more than 10 days for the pork board to provide a list of the 11. I finally got an answer earlier this week, but there were only two companies on the list.

Today, on the pork board's website, there is a new category under producer services, and it lists the following four:

Hudson Marketing Ltd.

Phone: 204-940-1502 Fax: 204-940-1515

John Werden Livestock Ltd.

Phone: 519-659-6900 Fax: 519-695-3278

Parks Livestock of Canada LP

Phone: 519-595-8555 Fax: 519 595 8552

Zantingh Swine Inc

Phone: 519-845-0362 Fax: 519-845-0003


Frankly, I don't think the pork board knows who is marketing hogs these days.

Schneider plant closing

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. has decided to close the J.M. Schneider Inc. meat-packing plant in Kitchener as part of a massive restructuring of its meat-processing business.

It is building a new $395-million plant in Hamilton which is also where it recently opened a new bakery to consolidate operations from three other Ontario bakeries it is closing.

It will also be investing in plants at Winnipeg, Brampton and Saskatoon, which is the former Mitchell Gourmet Foods business that was bought by Schneider before it was taken over by Maple Leaf.

Also closing will be the distribution centre in Kitchener.

The packing plants and distribution centres in Coquitlam, B.C., and Moncton, New Brunswick, are also closing, all by the end of 2014.

A small plant in Winnipeg and another in North Battleford, Sask. and one in Brampton, Ont., will be closed.

President Michael McCain says the changes will improve efficiencies and profits.

About 1,550 people are employed at the places that are closing, 1,200 of them in Kitchener; about 1,150 will be hired at Hamilton and for consolidated distribution centres in Winnipeg and two for Ontario, one of them in Eastern Ontario.

The total investment will be $560 million.

Kitchener and other cities have been nervous ever since McCain announced plans more than two years ago for a massive modernization of the company’s meat-processing facilities to become more competitive on a North American scale.

Some competitors, such as Tyson, Cargill, Smithfield and JBS, are far larger than Maple Leaf and have recently been taking an increasing share of sales through Canada’s largest supermarket chains which relentlessly push suppliers for lower prices.