By Tom Collins INDIAN RIVER — To handle COVID-19 concerns, managers are doing everything from postponing sales, to switching to online only, to considering tag sales or a hybrid of all three. Billy Elmhirst, of Indian River Cattle Company, says... Read more
GUELPH — Cattle sales are often as much get-togethers as anything else, with coffee and conversation on the table. Moving them online in the age of COVID-19 lockdowns was a gamble that paid off. So much so that Jersey Ontario decided to do it ag... Read more
Canada set a new record for maple syrup production last year.According to Statistics Canada, the country produced 14.3 million gallons of the sticky stuff, up from 2019’s record of 13.2 million gallons. That’s not too surprising given the weathe... Read more
SOUTH MOUNTAIN — After a lifetime farming, from milking cows to plowing fields, Dale and Lois Keyes recently finalized the sale of their South Mountain-area farm and donated $1 million from the proceeds to the Winchester District Memorial Hospit... Read more
STIRLING — It seems 2020 had one last nasty surprise in store for the beef sector. The largest federal slaughterhouse in the province and one of just two still open had to temporarily wind down operations last month. Cargill’s processing plant a... Read more
2020 ended with more than one elephant in the room. It was difficult to count the elephants, however, which seems odd since they’re elephants. One gargantuan white heap became the dominant elephant because all it did all year was obscure our v... Read more
OTTAWA — Despite COVID-19 and its associated lockdowns wreaking havoc on every level of business last year, Canada’s agri-food exports were on track for a new record, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.According to an analysis of expo... Read more
OTTAWA — Canada has a lot of potential as an agri-food powerhouse, but it’s falling behind. That’s because Canada came up with a great idea that other countries are using and not us. Regulations in many countries boxed in how countries developed... Read more
STIRLING — It seems 2020 had one last nasty surprise in store for the beef sector. The largest federal slaughterhouse in the province and one of just two still open had to temporarily wind down operations last month. Cargill’s processing plant a... Read more
FOURNIER — Last year was the year of disrupted plans, among other things. But disruption can mean opportunity. A pair of siblings who’d always been meaning to come home to the farm found their way there last year, partly because COVID-19 lockdow... Read more
FOURNIER — Last year was the year of disrupted plans, among other things. But disruption can mean opportunity. A pair of siblings who’d always been meaning to come home to the farm found their way there last year, partly because COVID-19 lockdow... Read more
ST. ISIDORE — The federal carbon tax hike is going to cost grain farmers as much as $50/acre once it’s fully implemented in 2030. Last month the feds announced the carbon tax would hit $170/tonne by 2030 as part of its increasingly aggressive ef... Read more
ST. ISIDORE — The federal carbon tax hike is going to cost grain farmers as much as $50/acre once it’s fully implemented in 2030. Last month the feds announced the carbon tax would hit $170/tonne by 2030 as part of its increasingly aggressive ef... Read more
There were six on-farm, farm-related fatalities in Ontario last year, well up from 2019’s historic low of three, according to reports gathered by Farmers Forum. Two were in Eastern Ontario. Farm fatalities have been trending downwards for years,... Read more
There were six on-farm, farm-related fatalities in Ontario last year, well up from 2019’s historic low of three, according to reports gathered by Farmers Forum. Two were in Eastern Ontario. Farm fatalities have been trending downwards for years,... Read more
WINCHESTER – Despite being pursued by police for years, Jimmy Wise is a free man after a jury in a Cornwall court declared him not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter on Dec. 7. Wise has had a complex and fraught relationship with th... Read more
ORMOND — A North Dundas family is planning to rebuild after a blaze broke out at Ayrporte Farms in early October, destroying the barn and killing half the dairy herd. Farmers Ian and Tracy Porteous were away at the time but their children and a... Read more
Hamilton-area broccoli grower Ken Forth will remember the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions of 2020 as a nerve-wracking nightmare for fruit and vegetable growers because of their dependence on foreign labourers.Farmers have been through an extr... Read more
LONDON — After a hectic and challenge-ridden year, Ontario farmers are cautiously optimistic about 2021. After all, the food chain survived. Food got to market and in most rural areas COVID-19 turned out to be more like the seasonal flu. It was... Read more
Hamilton-area broccoli grower Ken Forth will remember the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions of 2020 as a nerve-wracking nightmare for fruit and vegetable growers because of their dependence on foreign labourers.Farmers have been through an extr... Read more
STELLA — Farms in the agri-tourism business are relieved they survived 2020 and its many lockdown restrictions. One farm operation had a stellar year. Topsy Farms, a hippy-founded cooperative farming venture started back in the 1970s, had a grea... Read more
LONDON — After a hectic and challenge-ridden year, Ontario farmers are cautiously optimistic about 2021. After all, the food chain survived. Food got to market and in most rural areas COVID-19 turned out to be more like the seasonal flu. It was... Read more
