Over 30 of Ontario’s standardbred racehorse breeders are set to sue Ontario’s Crown gaming agency for $65 million over the loss of the provincial Slots at Racetracks program (SARP). The breeders, who filed their notice of action March 11 against the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) in the provincial Superior Court in Guelph, said […] Read more
Ont. racehorse breeders suing OLG over slots program
Same EI premiums, no benefits for seasonal farm workers: study
Foreign workers brought to Canada for seasonal farm employment are seeing no employment insurance (EI) benefits for what they and their employers pay into the EI program, a union study shows. While the workers — who come to Canada for specific jobs and are shipped home at the job’s end — don’t usually qualify for […] Read more
CHS to buy 16 Agrium retail, anhydrous outlets
Corrected, March 17 — U.S. farm co-op giant CHS Inc. is set to expand further into the Prairie ag input retail market as the buyer of 16 crop retail and fertilizer outlets up for mandatory sale. CHS announced Monday it will buy, for an undisclosed sum, the 16 outlets for which fertilizer and ag retail […] Read more

Wild horse capture over, but opponents vow to fight on
No decisions made about contraception program to reduce horse numbers or cull in 2015
Reading Time: 3 minutes The wild horse cull has ended, but not the controversy. Just 15 horses were captured — a small fraction of the 196 allowed under permits issued by the province. This year’s short season was likely a factor, said a government spokesperson. Legislation allows the capture season to run from Nov. 1 to March 1, but […] Read more
Governments, Vancouver port propose measures to restart trucking
A package of measures drafted late Thursday by federal, provincial and port officials to end the trucking dispute at Port Metro Vancouver awaits a response from container truckers who’ve been off the job for up to two weeks. A 14-point “action plan” has been collectively agreed upon to restart “normal” marine container operations at Canada’s […] Read more
Canadian lamb co-operative near launch
The Canadian Lamb Producers Co-operative (CLPC) is set to start buying finished lambs this spring and launch a new marketing arm, dubbed the Canadian Lamb Company, this month. The co-operative, the first-ever federally incorporated national co-op, will own and oversee the Canadian Lamb Co. as its corporate marketing subsidiary. Four years in the making, the […] Read more

W. Manitoba feedlot building wrecked in fire
A cattle feeding operation in western Manitoba has lost its office and several equipment bays in an overnight fire. The fire department and RCMP from Hamiota, about 80 km northwest of Brandon, were called at 3:20 a.m. Thursday to nearby Hamiota Feedlot, RCMP said in a release later Thursday morning. The building housing the office […] Read more

Campari makes play in Canadian whisky
Staking a claim in the smoking-hot Canadian whisky market, Italian beverage giant Campari is poised to snap up what’s billed as the only independent whisky maker in Ontario. Gruppo Campari on Wednesday announced a cash deal to buy full ownership of Forty Creek Distillery of Grimsby, Ont. for $185.6 million. Milan-based Campari said Forty Creek, […] Read more
Manitoba moves to find space for ‘at-risk’ grain
A grain bin listing service and “flexibility” in spring load limits on provincial roads are among the moves Manitoba plans to pursue to get “at-risk” grain out of harm’s way in view of the current grain freight backlog. The province on Wednesday announced it will launch a review of flood-prone areas to help farmers move […] Read more
U of Guelph to shut Kemptville, Alfred campuses
The University of Guelph plans to consolidate its agricultural academic and research operations by shutting its Kemptville and Alfred campuses by the end of next year. The university, which operates Ontario Agricultural College and Ontario Veterinary College, announced Wednesday it would wind down operations at the two satellite campuses and lay off over 110 full-time […] Read more