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Canada’s active PED case count dwindling

Affected Manitoba farms now all presumptive-negative

Reading Time: 2 minutes The number of active outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) on hog farms in Canada has shrunk to a few in Eastern Canada, with affected sites elsewhere now believed negative for the disease. Manitoba Pork announced Wednesday that the last of the premises to report a PED outbreak in that province in 2020 has now […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu insurance plan backed for Ontario turkeys

New plan to be mandatory for turkey farmers

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s turkey producer organization will get federal support to help set up a new mandatory insurance plan to cover costs incurred in any future outbreaks of avian influenza. Southern Ontario MPs Neil Ellis and Tim Louis on Monday announced up to $559,285 in federal funding through the AgriRisk Initiatives: Administrative Capacity Building stream for Turkey […] Read more


Forecast probability of precipitation above, below and near normal for the period from February through April 2021, based on three equiprobable categories from 1981-2010 climatology. Map produced Jan. 31, 2021. (Map: Environment and Climate Change Canada)

Long-range forecast points to cool, wet spring for northern Prairies

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Central and northern agricultural regions of Saskatchewan and Alberta are forecast to see cooler-than-normal temperatures with above-average precipitation over the next three months, according the latest long-range outlook from Environment Canada. The department’s latest seasonal weather maps, dated Sunday, show a 40-50 per cent chance of above-normal precipitation across most of the northern […] Read more

At the company’s Chatham, Ont. research farm, Bayer agronomic systems manager Adam Pfeffer shows a plot of XtendFlex herbicide-tolerant soybeans, comparing an untreated check strip infested with redroot pigweed against a herbicide-treated strip. (Bayer Crop Science video screengrab via YouTube)

Triple-herbicide-tolerant soybean set for limited 2021 release

Bayer's XtendFlex soybeans pick up needed approvals

Reading Time: 2 minutes Bayer Crop Science expects to have “a small volume” of its new XtendFlex soybeans in the Canadian seed market for the 2021 growing season. XtendFlex soybeans, whose trait package is stacked with herbicide tolerance for glyphosate and dicamba as well as glufosinate, will be available in Canada for planting this spring, but not in all […] Read more


“The 2020 growing season turned out to be a fantastic soybean year for the northeast.” – David Schill, Earlton, Ont. grower.

Home is where there’s land to farm

The Schill family has set down new roots in Ontario’s Temiskaming region —and they’re glad they did

Reading Time: 6 minutes Farming takes an uncommon amount of willpower and commitment to make things work despite the many uncertainties that farmers everywhere know all too well. It’s a skill that’s groomed in each new generation as it comes along, and it’s often tied to the peculiarities of the same tract of land that’s been in the family, […] Read more

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Ontario calls off final intake for beef set-aside

'Threshold not met' for further cattle intake

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario has called off the last intake for its federal/provincial beef cattle set-aside program. The Beef Emergency Feed Maintenance Initiative, an AgriRecovery program launched after the temporary shutdown of Cargill’s beef slaughter plant at Guelph, was to have its “final potential intake week” opening Monday (Jan. 18), for cattle to be set aside starting Jan. […] Read more


A horse on a property at Goulais River, north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (Davidfillion/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario backs ‘horse experience’ businesses for horse upkeep

Trail ride operations, riding schools, others eligible

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario horses whose jobs with riding schools, camps and trail rides were lost or cut back during the COVID-19 pandemic may be eligible for funding toward their upkeep. The province on Thursday announced a $3 million equine hardship program would launch starting Monday (Jan. 18) help “horse experience” businesses cover animal maintenance costs. The program […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Cattle set-aside programs winding down

Final enrolment deadlines set for Saskatchewan, Alberta programs

Reading Time: < 1 minute AgriRecovery programs set up in Saskatchewan and Alberta to help cover feed costs for cattle producers unable to ship livestock to slaughter are gearing down, while Ontario’s program begins a third intake. Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. announced Friday that the province’s AgriRecovery set-aside program will end March 31, 2021, with Jan. 19 now set as […] Read more


File photo of an Ontario cherry orchard. (UpdogDesigns/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario extends lost-labour production insurance

COVID-related coverage held over for 2021 program year

Reading Time: 2 minutes A temporary expansion of Ontario’s AgriInsurance program, to cover losses caused by COVID-19-related short-handedness on the farm, will be held over. The province and federal government on Dec. 22 announced the expansion of coverage will be extended to cover the 2021 program year — and that it will insure production of “additional commodities.” Further details […] Read more

Beef cattle feeding in Ontario. (DebraLee Wiseberg/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario’s beef set-aside AgriRecovery plan underway

Applications for first intake due Dec. 22

Reading Time: 2 minutes A set-aside program has formally been launched to help Ontario’s 6,800-odd cattle producers maintain market-ready animals while Eastern Canada’s biggest beef slaughter plant remains closed. Federal and provincial officials on Monday announced applications are now open for the Canada-Ontario COVID-19 AgriRecovery Beef Emergency Feed Maintenance Initiative, with applications for the first intake period due by […] Read more