Roundup prices declining, says Bayer

 Bayer’s chief financial officer said prices for Roundup began to decline this fall and  “we expect them to normalize further in the fourth quarter.” 

He made the comments in releasing third-quarter financial results which showed strong profits from the division that markets Roundup.

Its prices increased about 250 per cent after its competitors suffered hurricane damage to their production facilities in early 2021.

Walkerton gains ok for housing on farmland

The Municipality of Brockton has gained provincial approval to develop 500 houses in farmland that was part of Walkerton’s East Ridge Business Park.

The municipality used a Ministerial Zoning Order to avoid the years it would have taken to gain approvals through the regular administrative channels.

Brockton said the land was purchased from a farm family and will be used for several types of housing.

“I am very happy to see the MZO approved, and appreciate the provincial government’s attention to this matter, which will help increase our housing stock, and ultimately, the number of more affordable homes here,” said Brockton Mayor Chris Peabody. “This is good news for the entire community, and something our developers, employers, young families and seniors have been wanting for a long time. We are committed to responsible growth.”

Brockton will spend $6-million dollars servicing the area with roads, water and sewer, hydro, gas, and high-speed internet.

Sarnia-area conservation authority alarmed

Sarnia-area’s St. Clair Region Conservation Authority is the most recent of 38 Ontario conservation authorities to slam the Ford government’s proposals to relax restrictions on developing housing on environmentally-sensitive lands.

General Manager Ken Phillips said if the bill passes, there could be serious negative impacts to the environment.

“It’s fairly aggressive in looking at lands to develop,” said Phillips. “They’re not looking at intensification in already established urban areas, but moving out into more rural areas. That would particularly impact wetlands. As wetlands are very important in terms of flood storage as well as habitat for a variety of species, this is obviously not something that the conservation authority thinks is a good idea.”

Phillips said the province is also telling them to review their inventory of lands that are considered “developable” and said that could result in a loss of green space, and a loss of environmental habitats for a variety of species.

“We’ve acquired lands over time to protect them for generations to come,” he said. 

“Now we’re being instructed to take a second look at some of those properties and determine ‘well maybe we can or should build a house here or a subdivision here.’ That’s obviously something that we don’t feel is appropriate.”

Price-fixing cases still ongoing

Despite paying hundreds of millions of dollars in out-of-court settlements, the biggest meat packers in the United States continue to face price-fixing lawsuits filed by customers and in some cases by farmer-suppliers.

In settlements so far, Smithfield Foods has paid out $183 million for one lawsuit $75 million for a second and $42 million for a third, all related to pork. It is the largest pork producer and pork packer in the United States and is controlled by W.H.Foods, a company in China.

Also on pork price-fixing, JBS of Brazil paid $20 million to settle one class-action lawsuit and $12.75 million to settle another.

For poultry, many more companies have been involved in settlements so far.

Tyson paid $225.1 million for one, $10.5 million for another filed on behalf of farmers In Washington State and $99 million for a third.

Pilgrim’s Pride paid $110.5 million for one, $75 million for a second and $75.5 million for a third.

Peco paid $1.9 million, George’s $1.9 million plus an undisclosed amount for a second settlement reached recently, Fieldale $1.7 million and Mar-Jac $1 million.

Four companies have been accused of price-fixing in the beef industry. 

So far only JBS has settled for $52.5 million.

In all of the class-action lawsuits, lawyers for those filing claims take a hefty chunk before the balance is passed on to those who filed the charges. In some cases, judges have awarded lawyers tens of millions of dollars.

Among those who have filed lawsuits have been distribution companies, such as Sysco, restaurant chains such as McDonald’s and supermarket chains.

Maple Leaf sales up, but $229.5 million loss

Sales increased by 3.8 per cent to $1,194.5 million, but Maple Leaf Foods Inc.’s profits declined from $44 million to a loss of $229.5 million for the third quarter of its fiscal year.

The plant protein division had a sales increase of 12.5 per cent to $42.6 million, but the company took a $190-million write-down of goodwill for that business.

The company completed construction of a poultry-processing plant at London and equipment trials are now underway. The new plant will consolidate operations from a number of smaller and older plants across the province.

Child dies in tractor accident

A young child has died after a 41-year-old man was backing up a tractor.

Ontario Provincial Police said the accident happened Monday morning at a property near Sandy Hills Drive and Arthur Street North in Woolwich Township, Waterloo Region.

Maple Leaf, Sobeys’ cyber attacked

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and Sobey’s supermarket chain both suffered cyber attacks over the weekend.

Maple Leaf has called in technical experts to retrieve its information and repair its systems, but is still experiending problems at some facilities.

Sobey’s prescription service was disrupted.

Maple Leaf said it put its contingency plans in motion, but added it doesn’t know how long it will take to complet4ely resolve the disruptions.