Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal (Photo courtesy OMAFRA)

Ontario’s RMP stays unchanged for 2018

Ontario’s agriculture ministry won’t be making any changes to its Risk Management Program (RMP) for the 2018 program year. Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal, in a recent letter to Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) chair Mark Brock, said he has decided not to proceed with interim changes to RMP for 2018, pending a review of federal/provincial

(Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Chair, directors named for Ontario vegetable board

The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission has named a new chair and four directors for the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers board, with another four directors to be elected by growers this week. Suzanne van Bommel, a farm co-owner with a long history of work in the agriculture sector, has been appointed chair. The province dismissed


Close up of a pile of marijuana bud

Weeding out what is missing

Ontario’s approach to marijuana distribution is full of unknowns and ambiguity

Ontario has become the first province to define how it intends to sell non-medicinal marijuana to the public. Around 150 stores across the province will open and will be operated by a division of the province’s liquor board, the LCBO. Marijuana won’t be sold alongside wine or liquor, but in separate, independent stores, as was






Delegates discuss soil health issues, solutions and what should be included in a hypothetical soil health kit during a breakout session of the Global 4-H Summit.

4-H’ers dig into soil health policy and education

Soil health was a repeat topic as 4-H members from around the world turned their attention to sustainable agriculture and food security

It’s time to think about what lies below our feet. That was the message delegates from 35 countries received from multiple speakers at the recent Global 4-H Summit in Ottawa. Soil health emerged from several workshops during the third day of the July 11-14 conference, themed around sustainable agriculture and food security. Syngenta Canada, also



An adult small hive beetle. (Omafra.gov.on.ca)

Small hive beetle appears in New Brunswick

An emerging pest in honeybee colonies has made its way into New Brunswick for the first time. The province’s agriculture department last month quarantined 12 beekeepers’ colonies that were in “close proximity” to colonies imported from an Ontario beekeeper to pollinate wild blueberries in the Acadian Peninsula. However, the department said Friday, two beetles have