Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario Premier Doug Ford has drawn another aggie from his existing cabinet to replace Ernie Hardeman as his agriculture minister. Ford on Friday announced a major cabinet shuffle, dropping Hardeman, the long-time MPP for Oxford, from the cabinet table and naming Lisa Thompson as minister for agriculture, food and rural affairs. Thompson, who until Friday […] Read more
Ontario names new ag minister in shuffle
Lisa Thompson replaces Ernie Hardeman
Happiness, Iceland-style
There’s real romance to the history of Icelandic horses and sheep, and maybe real opportunity for these Canadian farmers
Reading Time: 7 minutes Over a thousand years ago, in the year 874, when the Vikings first landed on Iceland, they came with their sheep and horses, and the animals proved essential for the survival of those early Icelanders as they settled the rugged North Atlantic island. The horses served as transport and labour; the sheep provided meat, milk […] Read more
Uruguayan shearers flown in to relieve sweltering Spanish sheep
Expert shearers authorized to enter country amid COVID-19 pandemic
Reading Time: 2 minutes Villafale, Spain | Reuters — Brought to Spain on a special flight amid the coronavirus lockdown, some 250 Uruguayan sheep shearers race against time to shear millions of Spanish sheep as sweltering summer temperatures hit. The Uruguayan shearers come to Spain every year, where farmers value them for their skills, their speed and particular care […] Read more
Agropur halts talks with Quebec goat dairy producers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agropur has gone back to Plan A for the fate of a major Quebec soft cheese processing plant after halting talks with the province’s goat dairy farmer association. Canada’s biggest dairy co-operative had announced in September last year it would close the former Fromagerie Damafro plant at Saint-Damase, Que. in April this year, but delayed […] Read more
Two Alberta sheep flocks quarantined for scrapie
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two flocks of sheep in Alberta are under federal quarantine after a sheep that lived at both farms was confirmed June 21 with classical scrapie. A degenerative nervous system disease affecting sheep and goats, scrapie is one of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family that includes Creutzfelt-Jakob disease in people, BSE in cattle and chronic […] Read more
Canadian cattle’s access to Philippines restored
Reading Time: 2 minutes The regulatory path has been cleared to resume exports of live Canadian cattle to the Philippines, reopening a market worth an estimated $8 million per year. The federal government on Monday announced the resumed export clearance, along with new market access for Canadian sheep and goat genetics exports to both Indonesia and the Philippines. The […] Read more
Agropur to shut Monteregie fine cheese plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes A Quebec cheese plant formerly known as a top maker of Camembert- and Brie-type cheeses is set to shut permanently in April after five years under Agropur’s ownership. Quebec-based Agropur, North America’s biggest dairy co-operative, announced Friday it will start winding down operations at its Saint-Damase cheese plant in January ahead of the April 2019 […] Read more
Sheep producers named farm family of the year
Silver Bend Ranch of Miniota has earned the 2018 honour from the Red River Exhibition Association
Reading Time: 3 minutes A Miniota-area couple who began to farm “from scratch” in the early 1990s is the 2018 Farm Family of the Year, named by the Red River Exhibition Association (RREA). Brian Greaves and Karen Hill, who have two children Mark and Alison, were presented with the award during the Hall of Fame banquet in Winnipeg last […] Read more
Australian lawmaker pushes to end live sheep exports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sydney | Reuters — An Australian backbencher on Monday introduced legislation to parliament to ban the export of live sheep after the death of 2,400 animals led to widespread criticism of the A$250 million (C$241.96 million) industry. The bill threatens to expose fractures within the ruling coalition government, which last week introduced tougher oversight of […] Read more
Ontario to back baby formula plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes A baby formula plant proposed for eastern Ontario has got a major boost from the Ontario government. The $225 million plant is being built at Kingston by Canada Royal Milk ULC, a subsidiary of Chinese company Feihe International. The Ontario government has committed up to $24 million to the project, which will export baby formula […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
