Ontario Archives - Country Guide

Cattle graze near Dauphin, Man. in late July. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Alexis Stockford)

Feds lock in AgriRecovery funds before election call

Ottawa's pledged share now up to $500 million

By Dave Bedard August 16, 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes Just hours ahead of a federal election call, the federal government has committed $500 million to cover its share of federal/provincial AgriRecovery support plans for drought-hit farmers across Canada’s West. Shortly before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit Sunday to Rideau Hall seeking the dissolution of Parliament for a federal election, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau confirmed […] Read more

Photo of a Nestle facility. (Nestle via Flickr)

Crops

Nestle to shut Ontario foodservice processing plant

Trenton facility to close in mid-2022

By Dave Bedard July 17, 2021

Reading Time: < 1 minute Global food processing giant Nestle plans to shut a southeastern Ontario plant and move its work to sites in the U.S., citing a “highly competitive” market. The company announced Thursday it will start to wind down work late this year at the Nestle Professional plant at Trenton, where dehydrated dry-blend and frozen products are made […] Read more

More intense management of wheat has shown that yields can be increased.

Cereals, Crops, News

Wheat yield program comes to Ontario

New cross-border partnership brings Yield Enhancement Network concept from U.K.

By John Greig July 5, 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Winter wheat producers in Ontario and Michigan are collaborating to drive increased productivity for wheat in the Great Lakes basin. A Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) is being formed for wheat bringing together farmers and researchers in Michigan and Ontario. Why it matters: Wheat is sometimes left out of crop rotations because it […] Read more

Nestle Canada in June 2021 launched Divine, a reduced-calorie line of Haagen-Dazs ice creams, produced at its London, Ont. ice cream plant. (Corporate.nestle.ca)

Dairy Cattle, Livestock

More upgrades planned for Nestle ice cream plant

Two more production lines to be added

By Dave Bedard July 4, 2021

Reading Time: < 1 minute The southwestern Ontario plant supplying Haagen-Dazs, Real Dairy and Drumstick ice cream and Parlour frozen desserts across Canada is set for another $41.3 million expansion, including two new production lines. Nestle Canada said June 23 it expects to break ground in September for a 26,600-square foot expansion of its London, Ont. plant with “additional buildings, […] Read more

Livestock, Poultry/Eggs

Maple Leaf takes up Ontario poultry plant

Option exercised on Cericola Farms' remaining facility

By Dave Bedard June 29, 2021

Reading Time: < 1 minute A southern Ontario processing plant specializing in organic and antibiotic-free poultry products has gone to Maple Leaf Foods in a postscript to a previous sale. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Friday it had closed its purchase of the Sure Fresh Foods poultry plant at Schomberg, Ont., about 30 km north of Vaughan, for an undisclosed sum, […] Read more

(Hexo Corp video screengrab via YouTube)

Crops, Reuters

Hexo steps up cannabis M+A spree with Redecan deal

By Reuters May 29, 2021

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Hexo Corp said on Friday it would buy Redecan, a privately-owned Niagara-region cannabis producer, for $925 million in cash and stock, as the pot producer bolsters its portfolio to tap surging demand and position itself as a top recreational weed supplier. Cannabis demand surged last year as many people turned to pot during […] Read more

General, Markets

Ontario’s RMP rolling out ‘later than usual’

Details pending, Agricorp says

By Dave Bedard April 29, 2021

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario farmers’ coverage under the provincial Risk Management Program (RMP) won’t be affected by ‘a bit later’ rollout this spring, the program’s handlers say. Agricorp, the province’s farm program delivery agency, reiterated in a statement Tuesday that the RMP “will be available in 2021 (and) program details will be shared with customers as soon as […] Read more

File photo of a green soybean crop south of Winnipeg. (Dougall_Photography/iStock/Getty Images)

Corn, Crops, Soybeans

Canada’s soybean, corn acres projected to rise

StatsCan's estimates see Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba planting more

By Dave Bedard April 28, 2021

Reading Time: < 1 minute Statistics Canada’s first read of farmers’ intentions for the 2021 growing season shows more Canadian acres going into both soybeans and corn. Farmers nationwide anticipate planting 5.3 million acres to soy in 2021, up 5.5 per cent from 2020, StatsCan said in its field crop survey released Tuesday. “An increase in anticipated (soy) area is […] Read more

A worker at Cargill’s London, Ont. chicken plant demonstrates the deboning process for a 2014 McDonald’s video on the meat used to make McNuggets. (McDonald’s Canada video screengrab via YouTube)

Livestock, Poultry/Eggs

Cargill shuts Ontario chicken plant against COVID

Other packers being sought to take birds

By Dave Bedard April 15, 2021

Reading Time: 3 minutes Agrifood firm Cargill is seeking slaughter space for Ontario chickens at other processors after temporarily closing its London poultry packing plant Tuesday against an outbreak of COVID-19 among workers. The company said Tuesday it was “taking this step out of an abundance of caution as our local workforce deals with the community-wide impacts of COVID-19.” […] Read more

Crops, Reuters

Canopy Growth to buy rival Supreme Cannabis

Deal comes as pot demand lights up

By Arunima Kumar, Shariq Khan April 9, 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canopy Growth Corp. said Thursday it will buy rival Supreme Cannabis for $323.3 million, as the world’s biggest cannabis producer bolsters its portfolio to tap surging demand. Shares of Canopy, up 15 per cent this year, fell around 4.6 per cent to $36 after it announced the cash-and-stock deal for Supreme, which owns […] Read more

Buyers found for five Prairie pulse plants

‘Two Michaels’ have left China, Trudeau says

Prairie cash wheat: Gains in prices vary by type

GFM Network News