Reading Time: < 1 minute An Ontario meat processor specializing in the halal market has a deal in place to boost its capacity by buying a nearby chicken and specialty fowl packer. Amir Quality Meats, which operates a federally registered HACCP-certified boning and cutting plant at Brampton, has an agreement in place to buy the processing plant and “associated supply” […] Read more
Ontario halal processor to buy poultry packing capacity
Amir Quality Meats taking up Wellington Poultry
Becel maker Upfield to relocate Ontario plant
Company to make vegan cheese substitutes, other spreads at Brantford
Reading Time: 2 minutes The maker of Becel margarine, Imperial spreads and, most recently, vegan near-cheese Violife plans to boost its Canadian manufacturing capacity with a move from Toronto to Brantford, Ont. The Canadian arm of Amsterdam-based Upfield said Wednesday it has bought a 164,000-square foot industrial building at Brantford and “brings a significant investment involving the purchase of […] Read more
Toronto’s golden Greenbelt
Now that the world’s largest greenbelt has outlasted the political controversies, could you farm there?
Reading Time: 8 minutes When Ontario’s Greenbelt turned 15 this past February, all four of Ontario’s political parties gathered at Queen’s Park to celebrate. According to Michael Young, communications advisor for the Greenbelt Foundation, the event was “a positive and convivial occasion, with a sense that we were all coming together with the shared belief that the Greenbelt must […] Read more
Royal Agricultural Winter Fair cancelled for 2020
Near-century-old annual ag showcase put off to 2021
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two years shy of its 100th anniversary, Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair has been called off for 2020. Organizers said Wednesday the event, which was scheduled for Nov. 6-15 at Toronto’s Exhibition Place, has been cancelled “due to our ongoing concern regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.” First held in 1922, spearheaded by Ontario cattle producer W.A. […] Read more
A food tour of Toronto’s Kensington Market
When city dwellers get curious about where their food comes from, they take tours like this one to Toronto’s Kensington Market. Country Guide sent writer Steven Biggs to buy a ticket and answer the question: Should a farmer go too?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Our tour guide is Leo Moncel, and as he looks over the English-Chinese menu, he calls out, “Does anyone have dietary restrictions?” In a restaurant like this after everything we’ve seen on the stands and in the windows of Toronto’s Kensington Market, it makes us wonder. What could he mean? It turns out it’s the […] Read more
Maple Leaf to consolidate Ontario poultry processing
Reading Time: 2 minutes A new $660 million plant at London, Ont. will house Maple Leaf Foods’ Ontario fresh poultry processing operations by mid-2021 as the food processing firm prepares to shut three older facilities. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Monday it will build a 640,000-square foot plant at London, billed as “one of the most technologically advanced poultry-processing plants […] Read more
Walmart’s LatAm delivery app Cornershop eyes Canada
Reading Time: 2 minutes Mexico City | Reuters — Cornershop, a Latin American grocery delivery app being acquired by Walmart, plans to expand into Canada early next year as a test market for the U.S., an executive for the three-year-old mobile app said. Walmart is buying Cornershop, which offers deliveries in Mexico and Chile, for US$225 million. The deal, […] Read more
Sobeys parent to buy fresh-food grocer Farm Boy
Reading Time: 2 minutes The owner of the Sobeys and Canada Safeway chains has a deal in place to buy southern Ontario grocery retailer Farm Boy, a well known patron of the region’s producers. In a deal still subject to review by the federal Competition Bureau, Empire Co. announced Monday it will pay $800 million for the grocery chain, […] Read more
Ontario backs Mondelez’s Toronto bakery expansion
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of the world’s biggest snack food companies is up for an eight-figure investment from the Ontario government to boost production at its Toronto plant. The province on Monday announced the Mondelez Canada bakery in East York will get up to $22.6 million from the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, by way of that program’s Food […] Read more
Campbell to shut Toronto soup, broth plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes Campbell Soup Co. will call a halt to all Canadian soup and broth production by mid-2019 when it closes the doors on its Toronto manufacturing plant. The Camden, N.J. company’s Canadian arm announced Wednesday it will close the plant in phases over a period of up to 18 months and move its production to three […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
