File photo of propane tanks. (Joe_Potato/iStock/Getty Images)

Union says propane shortfalls may be CN’s own making

Reading Time: 2 minutes Propane shortages for grain dryers and heating fuel in the wake of a strike by Canadian National Railway (CN) conductors and yard workers appear to be “largely manufactured” by the railway, according to the union for the striking workers. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC-CTY), which represents over 3,000 CN staff in Canada who walked […] Read more



Barry Senft, shown here at the Ottawa Valley Farm Show in a 2017 GFO video, is stepping down in April as the organization’s chief executive. (GFO video screengrab via YouTube)

Grain Farmers of Ontario seeking new CEO

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario’s biggest ag commodity organization is on the hunt for a new CEO as its first chief prepares to exit. Barry Senft announced Tuesday he will step down as CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario in April 2020, a post he’s held since the 2009 merger of the province’s corn, soy and wheat grower groups […] Read more

(FIle photo by Allan Dawson)

Winter wheat harvest varies by province

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Depending where a farmer is located, Canada’s winter wheat crop has varied this year. Ontario has long been the country’s powerhouse for winter wheat. Statistics Canada projected the province’s farmers to seed just over one million acres this year, nearly 75 per cent of Canada’s total winter wheat acres. However, Marty Vermey, senior […] Read more


Emergence in an Ontario soybean field. (File photo by John Greig)

Uncertainty could bring changes to soybean acres

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — At this time soybean acres in Canada have been projected to be down this year for a few reasons — not only because of trade issues with China, but also due to back-to-back dry years and declining prices. Statistics Canada’s 2019-20 principal field crop acreage report, released April 24, estimated 5.65 million acres […] Read more

(TobyBarrett.com)

Ontario ag minister downed in Tories’ election win

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Ontario Liberals’ minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs is among the election-night casualties as the province’s Progressive Conservatives get set to form a majority government. As of midnight CT Friday, Doug Ford’s Tories were elected or leading in 76 of 124 ridings, followed by Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats in 40 and Kathleen Wynne’s […] Read more


Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal (Photo courtesy OMAFRA)

Ontario’s RMP stays unchanged for 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s agriculture ministry won’t be making any changes to its Risk Management Program (RMP) for the 2018 program year. Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal, in a recent letter to Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) chair Mark Brock, said he has decided not to proceed with interim changes to RMP for 2018, pending a review of federal/provincial […] Read more

The joint GFO/SGS Canada lab opened in Guelph in July 2016. (GFO/SGS Canada video image)

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


Western corn rootworm larvae. (Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ontario court rejects grower appeal on neonic rules

Reading Time: 2 minutes The group representing Ontario’s corn and soybean growers, seeking a stay on the province’s new restrictions for use of neonicotinoid seed treatments, won’t get its wish from the provincial Court of Appeal. The appeal court on Wednesday dismissed a March 9 application from Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) seeking an interpretation of the province’s new […] Read more