Electricity bills have increased more than 50 per cent since 2001 in Ontario, according to a Fraser Institute report. The increase was largely due to the Green Energy Act of 2009 which enfor... Read more
As of September 23 at 4 p.m., Western Ontario had at least 11,405 cases of COVID-19 and there had been at least 513 deaths associated with it. By September 21 at 4 p.m., Western Ontari... Read more
As of September 23 at 4 p.m., Eastern Ontario had at least 7,088 cases of COVID-19 and at least 566 deaths. By September 21 at 4 p.m., Eastern Ontario had at least 6,867 cases of COVID... Read more
By Connor LynchHEARST — Going north to farm can be a daunting proposition but a promising one, given Northern Ontario’s comparatively inexpensive and plentiful land. But finding a farm or so... Read more
By Connor LynchGUELPH — Most farmers would probably not assume that their personal information is subject to freedom of information requests. They got a rude awakening in July, when an anony... Read more
Canadian tractor sales jumped 42.1 per cent this July compared to July 2019, according to an Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ report. However, this increase is due to the sales decrea... Read more
By Connor LynchTORONTO — Hot and dry has been the story of Ontario’s growing season, and will be the harvest story as well, said Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips. Summe... Read more
So far, up to 25 % of restaurants in the country have now closed for the season and perhaps for good. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce expects 60 % of restaurants to close permanently by Nov... Read more
Canadian agriculture has come through COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns pretty well, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Despite “images of dumped milk and shuttered restaura... Read more
On March 11, when the WHO proclaimed that COVID-19 was a pandemic, I was working in Nova Scotia. We had planned to work with veterinary clinics to run seminars for dairy farmers all week. We... Read more
Farm safety is a ubiquitous topic these days. But how much good has all the talk and awareness done? According to a study to be published in the medical journal Preventive Medicine, next mon... Read more
KEMPTVILLE — The former Kemptville agricultural college will be home to a 235-bed prison. The prison is to be built on about 182 acres owned by the province and on the site of what was the f... Read more
Since it’s more dangerous for a healthy child to ride a bicycle to school than it is to be in school in this pandemic, healthy children can go to school.But you might think the fires of hell... Read more
Many people tell me that we really shouldn’t be sending our kids back to school. I have a lot of educators and health care types in my family and they warn darkly that the virus is bound to... Read more
Vegetable gardens are now as richly productive as they are going to get and the urge to preserve the bounty is in full swing. We’ve had some let downs this year, largely, we believe to the s... Read more
OTTAWA — Despite the world preparing for its largest ever corn and soybean crops, Canada and Ontario yields will not break any records. But yields are expected to be up, at least over last y... Read more
By Connor LynchBROOKE TOWNSHIP — Former mixed-operation farmer and federal Minister of Agriculture Ralph Ferguson died last month at 91. By turns a cash crop, egg and beef farmer, Ferguson w... Read more
GUELPH — Southwestern Ontario once again claimed the bulk of Agricorp payouts this year, but overall payouts are way down from last year’s record-breakers. Of the $13.7 million that Ontario’... Read more
BRADFORD — A 77-year old Bradford-area vegetable farmer was killed after being struck by a tractor last month. According to South Simcoe Police Service, Mario Palumbo was killed after being... Read more
I love my tractors and the front-end loaders. Like most farmers, I have a “few” tractors around. Five to be exact and one backhoe. They range from 40 hp up to 160 hp. The higher horsepower t... Read more
By Connor LynchWOODSTOCK — A man charged with burning down a barn at the Woodstock Fairgrounds was hunted down by a police dog. Police suspected arson after Old McDonalds’s barn at the fairg... Read more
By Patrick MeagherA grassroots drive to end the carbon tax on farm use propane and natural gas is gathering steam across Western Ontario. An exemption resolution was passed unanimously last... Read more
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MP Lianne Rood was named the Conservative agriculture critic last month. She’s taking over the position from Alberta MP John Barlow. She was also deputy ag critic unde... Read more
“Temporary foreign workers are entitled to the same benefits and protections as any other worker in Ontario.” Those aren’t my words, although they are 100 per cent true. They were pulled fr... Read more
HENSALL — The federal labour ministry is investigating after an accident at Thompson’s Ltd. feed mill in Hensall last month. Two workers “were found under bags of soybeans,” according to the... Read more
WEST PERTH — A four-year old was killed at a West Perth-area farm last month after being hit by a piece of farm equipment. According to Perth County police, the call came in just before 6 p.... Read more
BRIGDEN — Winter wheat harvest in Western Ontario was worse than growers had hoped but likely better than they feared. A promising fall set up high expectations said Dale Cowan, senior agron... Read more
One of the core principles of a marketing plan is to put grain growers in a position where they can make a sale in order to take advantage of rallies as they occur and, even more importantly... Read more
By Connor LynchCOBDEN — Demand for local food got a major steroid boost from COVID-19. Many consumers, leery of crowded grocery stores and nervous about empty shelves, turned to buying direc... Read more
By Connor LynchQUEEN’S PARK — Protests continued outside the Burlington hog plant last month where a protestor was killed. On August 20, however, a small group supporting truckers and farmer... Read more
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture asked the federal government for $2.6 billion to get through an economic lockdown created not by a pandemic, but by government response to a pandemic.... Read more
By Patrick Meagher and Connor LynchThe new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is from an East-Central Ontario riding with a significant number of farmers who know little about him bu... Read more
By Connor LynchWINCHESTER — The eternal optimism of a farmer, particularly a self-made one, can carry them through much. But not everything. After too many years of red ink, Winchester’s Dan... Read more
By Connor LynchBEACHBURG —Renfrew County’s Russell Mackay is legally blind. He can see like looking through a windshield veiled by heavy morning fog. That’s only in one eye. The other is com... Read more
QUINTE WEST — A barn destroyed, 60 of 80 cows dead and an uncertain future. Those are the stark realities facing the Suurdt family at Quinte West after a blazing fire tore through their dair... Read more
By Connor Lynch Like everything else in farming, the breeding of dairy animals has been radically transformed by technology. But transformation can have unintended consequences. Dave McDiarm... Read more
By Connor Lynch MOIRA — Back in 2013 Dale Ketcheson, a crop farmer north of Belleville, planned to end his life. He went out into a soybean field with the plan to walk in front of the tracto... Read more
By Elizabeth Gay Jennifer Larocque’s self-guided tour of Prescott-Russell’s seven farm silos, transformed into painted masterpieces, has continued to grow and attract visitors, despite COVID... Read more
By Connor Lynch DUNVEGAN — Interest in rural homes in the last two months has been unprecedented in real estate agent Sylvain Lalonde’s 32-year career. The Dunvegan-based Sutton Group realto... Read more
By Connor Lynch PETROLIA — Four years after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled that download speeds of 50 MBps and upload speeds of 10 MBps were a prerequi... Read more
By Connor Lynch CAMBRIDGE — Much like Christmas shopping, going to the dentist and going skydiving, farm succession planning is one of things that gets talked about a lot more than it gets d... Read more
The dairy sector has weathered COVID-19 fairly well as milk dumping only occurred once for several hundred farmers over one weekend, according to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario. The industry i... Read more
By Connor Lynch COLLINGWOOD — COVID-19 restrictions started to lift significantly in Ontario last month. Much of the province moved into Phase 3 of the re-opening schedule on July 17, meanin... Read more
Brash and costly thefts and vandalism are a perennial summertime nuisance to farmers. Here are three unsolved cases last month: In the early morning of July 4, a Jeep or pickup truck drove t... Read more
By Elizabeth Gay When another stressor is added to an already heavy load, it could just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Wellspring Counselling Services Counsellor Lauren Van Ewyk... Read more
This summer has been the first time in my life that I’ve been reluctant to tell people what I do for a living. If it comes up in conversation, I try to find a way to change the subject. I’m... Read more
The Controversy: When interests collide, OFA defends farming over individual farmers By Connor Lynch GUELPH — The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is the largest farm organization in Ontari... Read more
Dry cow management is a big topic right now. Part of the reason is because there is so much discussion about whether treating every quarter of every cow with an antibiotic dry cow treatment... Read more
As farmers, we are trained from birth to solve mysteries. Most of them present to us as puzzles, as in, why do I never have a half-inch wrench in this toolbox when there are at least a dozen... Read more
By Connor Lynch WINCHESTER — Most of us can only hope we’ll still be upright at 95 years old. But Allison Fawcett, who turned 95 last month, was not only plenty upright but, up until his acc... Read more
