Reading Time: 5 minutes On November 1 last year, when Martin and Teresa Van Raay’s 100-foot-tall steel silo smashed to the ground, it set off a flurry of activity that involved their suppliers, friends and fellow farmers. In the end, it reinforced their faith in their community’s ability to come together at a time of crisis, but that’s not […] Read more
When a grain silo collapses
This silo collapse raises the question: Do you know what your first step would be in the event of major building failure?
Ontario budget seeks tax flexibility for on-farm processing
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Ontario government has balanced its budget for the first time in since 2008 — but Thursday’s budget contained little news for agriculture and rural Ontario. Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s budget mostly highlighted agriculture programs that had already been announced, and maintains $100 million in funding for the provincial Risk Management Program, which helps offsets […] Read more
Ontario tomato farmers to get less on higher yields
Reading Time: 2 minutes The agreement between Ontario growers and tomato processors for the 2017 growing season is expected to drop the price tomato farmers are paid as their yields increase. The agreement, announced last week, maintains the contracted tonnage of 2016 and follows the five-year pricing agreement set by growers and processors last year. Final prices, however, aren’t […] Read more
Ontario greenhouse growers get competitiveness fund
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Ontario government is putting $19 million into a new initiative to support the competitiveness of the greenhouse sector in the province. Provincial Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal announced the funding on Thursday at Link Greenhouse near Bowmanville, just east of Oshawa. The Greenhouse Competitiveness and Innovation Initiative aims to provide funding for the creation of […] Read more
Ontario processing tomato contracts set
Reading Time: 2 minutes An agreement has been reached between growers and processors of Ontario tomatoes for the 2017 growing season, maintaining the 2016 pricing agreement and 2016 contract tonnage. Final prices, however, weren’t released Friday, as they historically have been on the website of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers (OPVG). According to the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Processing […] Read more
Take advantage of growth, guard against risk with new U.S. regime: Frum
Reading Time: 3 minutes Political commentator David Frum says there’s good, bad and potentially ugly for Canadian farmers in the United States’ new and unpredictable Trump administration. Frum, a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine and, more recently, an owner of Ontario farmland, told the Grain Farmers of Ontario March Classic in London recently that global markets have been […] Read more
Ontario cereals lab filling nationwide demand
Reading Time: 3 minutes Grain Farmers of Ontario and SGS Canada took a risk in creating the Grains Analytical Testing Laboratory, as a partnership bringing wheat testing to a province with a comparatively small wheat crop. After eight months, and a first harvest of wheat analytics, the Guelph lab’s manager says they have found there is interest in the […] Read more
Technology could open up hay export markets for Ontario
Reading Time: 3 minutes An Ontario hay co-operative hopes to have a double-compaction facility running by 2018, giving it access to global markets for hay. Ontario hay has traditionally been at a shipping cost disadvantage compared to most competitors, as hay headed for Asia or the Middle East has had to be shipped by rail to the West Coast. […] Read more
Lake Erie plan’s farming recommendations released
Reading Time: 2 minutes A federal/provincial action plan to reduce phosphorus loading in Lake Erie has been released for public comment — and many of its recommendations will have implications for farmers in the Lake Erie basin. None of the numerous recommendations are particularly new or surprising and mostly call for using existing funding programs to encourage certain production […] Read more
Building a new Agriculture Policy Framework
After a decade of “Growing Forward” programs, Ottawa is developing a new five-year Agricultural Policy Framework this spring. What should be in it?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Canadian farmers are watching as the negotiations for the next Agriculture Policy Framework (APF) gyrate to completion, paving the way for the launch of the new, five-year plan in the first quarter of 2018. This new document will be immensely influential, defining how federal and provincial government ag spending will be allocated for the following […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
