Reading Time: 2 minutes A strain of salmonella resistant to multiple antimicrobials is spreading in Ontario and Quebec cattle herds. There have been 23 cases of Salmonella Dublin in 15 herds reported in Ontario since 2012, but the numbers have been increasing each year. There were eight cases reported in 2015 and four in 2016 through August. Dr. Dave […] Read more
Greig: Salmonella strain hard to treat in livestock
Restricted zone tightens for Algonquin wolf hunting
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers will be able to protect their livestock and families from Algonquin wolves in any areas and hunting will only be restricted in areas near four parks, allaying some concerns of farmers after the wolf was declared a threatened species. Kathryn McGarry, Ontario minister of natural resources and forestry, spoke to the Ontario Federation of […] Read more
Greig: Ontario environment minister reaches out to farmers
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Ontario Liberal government appears to be attempting to mend the gap created between the government and rural Ontario. Premier Kathleen Wynne apologized on Nov. 19 to Ontarians for the significant rise in electricity costs, now about the highest in North America. According to media reports she said it was her mistake and her government […] Read more
OFA elects new president
Reading Time: 2 minutes Keith Currie is the new president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture , defeating incumbent Don McCabe in an election this week at the farmer organization’s convention. Currie emphasized the need for unity in the agriculture industry during his remarks before the vote. It’s more important than ever for the agriculture industry to work together, […] Read more
Dairy ingredients strategy starts to drive investment
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ontario’s Gay Lea Foods has announced $140 million in projects to be spent over four years to dramatically increase dairy ingredient processing in the province. The announcement last week in Teeswater, Ont., is the result of several years of work to bring revitalized ingredients processing to the province and to stem the flow of milk […] Read more
OMAFRA seen needing a soil health ‘tuneup’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ontario’s environmental commissioner is calling on the provincial ag ministry to rebuild its soil health expertise and find ways to encourage farmers to adopt soil-friendly production practices, to deal with what she calls a “catastrophic” loss in soil organic matter levels. The report recommends better soil carbon level monitoring and 10-year programs to financially encourage […] Read more
Soil health sensor project largest in North America
Reading Time: 3 minutes A new $2-million soil health research project aims to figure out the impact of different cropping systems on the environment. Research will also be conducted on crop productivity relating to soil health. The result should be new knowledge on productivity of traditional cropping systems versus those with cover crops. The project, at the new Soil […] Read more
Cellulosic sugar co-op looking for farmer investors
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Ontario-based Cellulosic Sugar Producers Co-operative is now ready to sign up farmers to supply 55,000 acres of wheat straw and corn stover to a new plant the co-op will partly own in Sarnia, Ont. The co-op will be supplying the biomass to a proposed $70 million Comet Biorefining plant to be built in Sarnia. […] Read more
PED outbreaks slow, but still top of mind in Ontario
Reading Time: < 1 minute Swine Health Ontario dedicated its recent annual Big Bug Day to continuing toward the goal of eradicating porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) from Ontario. Martin Misener, a vet and chair of the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board, challenged the hog industry to not get complacent about stopping PED. Misener noted he had heard from people who […] Read more
Cull sows no longer stopped at U.S. border
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s swine industry appears to have dodged what could have been an economic catastrophe with quick action on senecavirus A. In August this year, 13 Ontario animals were identified with lesions on their snouts or hooves at a processing plant in the U.S., triggering a memo from the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service to […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
