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Rain helps Ontario crops as last of seeding presses on

MarketsFarm — Rains were timely in helping with crop establishment, according to the latest report from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). As some spring planting remained to be completed, amounts of precipitation ranged from 12 to 55 millimetres. While herbicide applications on cereals continued in southern Ontario, planting in the

Lisa Thompson. (LisathompsonMPP.ca)

Ontario ag minister returns in another Tory majority

Lisa Thompson retains seat in election

Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservatives will head back to the legislature with their incumbent agriculture minister at the caucus table. Lisa Thompson, Premier Doug Ford’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs since June last year, easily held her southwestern riding of Huron-Bruce in Thursday’s provincial election by a spread of 15,594 votes over Liberal challenger


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Environment Canada sees cool summer for Manitoba

MarketsFarm — Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan could be in for a cooler-than-normal summer, according to the latest long-range outlook from Environment Canada. The latest seasonal forecast from the government agency, released Tuesday, calls for a 40 to 80 per cent chance of below normal temperatures from June through August across all of the agricultural regions

A view from the Earth Power dealership at Owen Sound, Ont. in 2016. (Earth Power Tractors and Equipment photo via Facebook)

Southern Ontario Kubota dealer chain sold

Robert's, Stewart's buy Earth Power dealerships

A chain of Kubota dealerships in southern Ontario is selling its three links to two separate new owners. Earth Power Tractors and Equipment, owned in partnership by Jim Kelly and Jeff Cook since 2005, said Thursday it has a deal in place to sell its sites at Owen Sound and nearby Meaford to Robert’s Farm


A low-flying bald eagle off the shore of Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley. (SkyF/iStock/Getty Images)

High-path avian flu reaches Vancouver Island

Saskatchewan extends ag fair ban for birds; B.C. restarts lab testing; FCC to offer flexibility

North America’s latest round of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks has now made its way from one end of Canada clear to the other. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday confirmed Canada’s westernmost case ever of high-path avian flu in domestic birds, finding an H5N1 virus in a small-scale poultry flock in the Regional

Corn seedlings in southern Ontario in 2021. (Farmtario photo by John Greig)

Spring planting well underway in Ontario

MarketsFarm — Farmers are well into seeding their crops for 2022, according to Wednesday’s crop report from Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The report noted planting of corn, soybeans and spring cereals started late last week — the exception being where there are heavier soils. OMAFRA projected planting could be 80


File photo of a Salford 5200 Enforcer tillage unit operating in corn stubble. (Salford.com)

MacDon owner Linamar to buy Salford

Linamar to pay $260M for Ontario tillage, fertilizer equipment maker

Canadian industrial equipment and parts maker Linamar, the owner of MacDon Industries, is set to further expand its reach in the ag equipment sector by buying the Salford Group. Guelph-based Linamar announced Wednesday it has an agreement in place worth $260 million to buy 100 per cent of the equity in Salford, which makes fertilizer

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

High-path avian flu arrives in Manitoba poultry

More farms also hit in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, bringing total to 40 across Canada

Federal and provincial animal health officials have confirmed the arrival of highly pathogenic avian influenza on a commercial poultry operation in Manitoba, making it the seventh province so affected. The provincial ag ministry said Sunday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had confirmed high-path H5N1 avian flu in a commercial flock in the RM of


File photo of a small flock of tundra swans taking off from a grain field in early spring. (WWing/iStock/Getty Images)

Spring planting work can kick up avian flu, feather sector warns

Three more poultry outbreaks confirmed in Canada so far this week

Spring planting work could soon start to bring unintended gifts left by wild birds from fields into farmyards, Ontario’s poultry and egg sectors warn, as more cases of avian flu are confirmed at poultry farms across the country. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday reported three additional outbreaks of H5 avian influenza in commercial