Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated, July 15 — The federal government has announced a pilot program that will make it easier for farms and food companies to maintain workers they recruit from around the world. Ahmed Hussen, minister for immigration, refugees and citizenship, announced the program Friday at Maple Leaf Foods in Mississauga. Why it matters: There’s a labour […] Read more
Agriculture foreign workers get new path to residency
Ontario beef checkoff to rise by $1.50
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario beef farmers have approved an increase of $1.50 in checkoff per animal to fund an ambitious industry-wide marketing effort for Ontario beef. Producers at the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) annual meeting in Mississauga on Wednesday voted 87 per cent in favour of the plan. A similar plan was rejected at last year’s annual […] Read more
Greig: Why IBV is such a tough bug
Reading Time: 3 minutes Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) continues to find ways to keep itself relevant to poultry farmers, researchers and veterinarians across North America — much to their dismay. Why it matters: Despite lots of research and efforts to find ways to manage it, the virus continues to mutate and show up in flocks with different symptoms in […] Read more
Ontario organic grain buyer Homestead closing
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of the province’s leading organic retailers and buyers of organic grains will shut its doors Friday. Homestead Organics, founded and still run by organic driving force Tom Manley, will be sold off, likely in parts. The company said its Shakespeare, Ont. mill is in the process of being sold and will continue as an […] Read more
The ‘insight’ bonus
More brothers and sisters: Knowing each other’s characters so well means this family is ready for almost any challenge
Reading Time: 5 minutes Brothers and sisters are working together on more farms all the time. More and more too, there are multiple siblings on these farms, not just one of each. To outsiders, it can seem like so many more chances for family to get in the way, and so many chances for old rivalries to flare up. […] Read more
Honest to goodness
More brothers and sisters: For the Noble family, success means learning how to change open communication from a threat into a strength
Reading Time: 4 minutes Brothers and sisters are working together on more farms all the time. More and more too, there are multiple siblings on these farms, not just one of each. To outsiders, it can seem like so many more chances for family to get in the way, and so many chances for old rivalries to flare up. […] Read more
Industry still looking for new NH3 tank rule break
Reading Time: 2 minutes Fertilizer Canada and the Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers (CAAR) say there will be enough anhydrous ammonia nurse tanks available to supply the fertilizer to farmers during this growing season. New Transport Canada regulations came into force Jan. 12, which affect the frequency of hydrostatic testing and visual inspection of ammonia nurse and applicator tanks and […] Read more
Far-away farming
Do your research, get good help, and maybe farming overseas will work as well for you as it does for these two Canadian families
Reading Time: 7 minutes When Canadian farmers set up farms in distant places around the world, one of the consequences is exactly what you’d think. They learn about those countries. In fact, there’s nothing like farming overseas to learn about a region inside and out. The surprise, though, is how much they also learn about farming back in Canada. […] Read more
Southern Ontario median farmland price jumps in 2017
Reading Time: 2 minutes The threat of interest rate increases hasn’t dampened the prices southern Ontario farmers are paying for land. The annual Valco study of land values showed an increase in value of 9.76 per cent for farmland sold in 2017 over 2016. This increase is the largest since 2013. The median price for land in the surveyed […] Read more
Producers vote down Ontario beef checkoff increase
Reading Time: 3 minutes A bid to increase the checkoff paid by Ontario’s beef farmers to Beef Farmers of Ontario was quashed when it failed to get the 66 per cent support it needed for approval. Why it matters: Beef Farmers of Ontario pulled from its reserves to fund at close-to $1 million deficit in 2017 and was planning […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
