The Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) will join 14 other grain groups across the country, including Alberta Grains, SaskWheat and the Atlantic Grains Council. According to a Jan. 8 news release, trade, transportation, infrastructure and research will be central to the groups’ unified advocacy under the Grain Growers of Canada (GGC).

Ontario is one of Canada’s top grain producing provinces, including 60 per cent of all corn produced in the country. Prior to the announcement, it was the only province without representation as a GGC member group.

In the Jan. 8 release, GFO Chair Jeff Harrison called the partnership a “a strategic decision that reflects today’s political landscape and positions all grain farmers for long-term success,” saying grain farmers are strongest when standing with peers across Canada.

“We bring deep expertise and a strong voice to national discussions, and we are committed to working collaboratively to advance policies that benefit farmers from coast to coast,” Harrison said.

Scott Hepworth, GGC chair, said GFO’s joining the organization comes as Canadian grain farmers “have been dealing with the fallout of long-standing issues that have been left unresolved.”

“Global market instability is exposing cracks across the system, and Grain Farmers of Ontario joining Grain Growers of Canada reflects just how broad these pressures are and why a unified national voice, representing every major grain-producing region, is critical now,” said Hepworth.

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Why it matters: Free trade is critical for Canadian farmers, as much of what they produce is exported.

“We feel the current agreement is a good one and we’d like to see it continue as is,” said Keith Currie, Canadian Federation of Agriculture president, adding the request includes signing it for the original 16-year completion date without weakening its provisions or introducing any changes that negatively affect the agricultural sector.

“It’s really important to make the job of governments harder to ignore us when we are together as an industry.”

Signed by 98 Canadian food and agricultural value chain organizations, the letter mirrors one signed and submitted to Congress by 124 United States food and agricultural value chain organizations in October for the 2026 Joint Review of CUSMA public consultation, placing pressure on both governments to respect the agriculture industry’s support for the agreement.

Highlighting CUSMA’s instrumental role in building a stable, integrated and thriving North American agricultural market, the letter highlighted specific areas Canadian farmers, ranchers and processors would like to remain untouched.

“We are calling on governments to maintain the agreement’s SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) provisions, which have improved transparency and ensured science-based treatment of agricultural products—protecting plant and animal health,” the letter states. “The continuation of science-based regulatory cooperation is critical to ensuring timely access to agricultural innovations.”

It also reflects full support for the Chapter 31 dispute settlement provisions designed to resolve “barriers that otherwise disrupt market stability and growth.”

Political and geopolitical events of the last decade are shifting the narrative, making it necessary for Canada’s 260-plus commodities, along with Mexico and the U.S. agricultural sectors, to support one another, Currie explained.

The letter said that between 2005 and 2023, CUSMA tripled the value of North American agriculture and agrifood trade to the tune of approximately C$400 billion (US$285 billion).

Currie said the three countries are aligned through a shared language, goals and collaborative relationship-building to strengthen and improve the sector.

“We all need each other’s help, and we can’t get this across the finish line unless we’re all pushing in the same direction,” he explained, adding all three countries are aligned through a shared language, goals, and collaborative relationship-building to strengthen and improve the sector.

“When the deal is all done, I would certainly be happy with an advantage for our farmers, but I don’t want to see it come at the detriment of either my colleagues, my farmer friends in the U.S., or relationships between nations.”

Currie said consumers now have a better understanding of agriculture and the agri-food industry’s role in driving Canada’s economy forward, gaining a clearer perspective on what food security means to them.

A recent Nanos poll asking Canadians to rank the government’s top two priorities for countering U.S. tariffs found that agriculture ranked first with 29 per cent, and 19 per cent ranked it as a secondary priority.

Automotive was second, with primary and secondary priority ratings of 24 and 18 per cent, respectively.

Provincially, Prairie provinces showed 42 per cent agricultural support. In comparison, automotive garnered 18 per cent, while others saw agriculture gain 26 to 28 per cent as the primary priority and automotive from 14 to 24 per cent.

Ontario was an outlier, ranking automotive as the primary with 35 per cent and agriculture at 24 per cent. Softwood lumber was the top concern in British Columbia, with 35 per cent, and second in Atlantic Canada at 24 per cent.

“(Consumers) want to make sure the government understands that they recognize agriculture is important,” explained Currie. “That helps us now go to the government and say, ‘Look, this is in the national interest. Food security is important. Economic security is also important, and agriculture wants to be part of the team.”

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Through a partnership with Grain Farmers of Ontario, Cereals Canada said in a Thursday release its technical team will analyze the quality of four Eastern wheat classes including Canada Eastern Soft Red Winter (CESRW) for the 2025 crop year. Representative samples are provided through Grain Farmers of Ontario’s annual Ontario wheat harvest survey.

Cereals Canada has been analyzing western wheat quality for over 50 years. The Winnipeg-based organization said in the release the expanded program builds on its “established reputation as the globally recognized independent expert in Canadian grain quality, processing quality, and milling technology.”

“Cereals Canada is the trusted source for quality information on Western Canadian wheat, and our technical experts understand the data needed to support our domestic and global markets,” said Dean Dias, chief executive officer at Cereals Canada. “Our partnership with Grain Farmers of Ontario brings that same level of expertise to Eastern Canadian wheat. This united, comprehensive approach will help to strengthen Canada’s global position as a premier wheat supplier.”

To conduct the annual Harvest Assessment, Cereals Canada works with exporters to obtain representative samples from four wheat classes grown in Western Canada: Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS), Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD), Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR), Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW).

Composite samples of CWRS, CWAD, CPSR, and CESRW from the 2025 wheat harvest will be evaluated for milling performance, flour/semolina quality, and end-product functionality for the New Wheat Crop Report. Depending on the class of wheat, bread, pasta, noodles, and/or cookies are produced in the technical labs at Cereals Canada and thoroughly assessed by the team to evaluate quality.

“Partnering with Cereals Canada on comprehensive milling and baking quality analysis of our wheat harvest helps reinforce the strong reputation of Eastern Canadian wheat in both domestic and international markets,” said Crosby Devitt, chief executive officer at Grain Farmers of Ontario, adding the collaboration also creates new opportunities to strengthen international engagement for Ontario wheat growers.

Cereals Canada said data generated from Harvest Assessment activities will be used to create the 2025 New Wheat Crop Report, which will be released to members, global and domestic customers, and stakeholders on November 18, 2025. The report, which will be available on cerealscanada.ca on its launch day, provides detailed information on milling performance, functionality, and end-use applications of this year’s Canadian wheat quality.

Composite sample assessments of Canada Eastern Hard Red Winter (CEHRW), Canada Eastern Red Spring (CERS), Canada Eastern Soft White Winter (CESWW), and Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW) will also be available for customers upon request, Cereals Canada said. Grain Farmers of Ontario said it also continues to work with SGS Canada on real-time wheat grain grading analysis, with results posted on gfo.ca throughout harvest.

Cereal Canada’s harvest assessment activities in Western Canada are funded in part by the Government of Canada under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s AgriScience Program. Grain Farmers of Ontario provided funding for the assessment of Eastern wheat classes.

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Alberta Grains, SaskWheat, Manitoba Crop Alliance and Grain Farmers of Ontario will contribute $13.4 million to the project known as Gate.

All are members of Cereals Canada, which has proposed the $102 million building to advance Canada’s position as a leader in innovation and food security. So far, $18.4 million has been raised with a contribution from Cereals Canada’s coffers.

JoAnne Buth is the capital campaign chair.

“High-quality Canadian wheat starts with the growers, so it is fitting that this capital campaign starts with their commitment,” she said in a news release.

She added that farmers understand the need to stay competitive in a global market.

Gate is to contain state-of-the-art equipment for milling, baking, pasta and noodle making, malt and brewing and oat processing.

Fundraising was delayed earlier this summer. Several members of Cereals Canada had also decided to leave around that time.

Some farmers on social media said after the funding announcement that they opposed the contributions because levies should not be used to construct buildings.

—Updated Sept. 18

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Unifor workers in both Ontario and Quebec walked off the job Sunday following a breakdown in talks between the union and the system operator, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp (SLSMC).

Negotiations with a federal mediator are slated to resume on Friday, but Devitt said there is little time to spare because the longer the seaway is closed, the bigger impact the strike will have.

“What we’re doing is calling on government and the parties involved to get this strike over as soon as possible.”

Devitt said storage capacity in southwestern Ontario, which is home to the province’s grain and soybean production, is limited because of the close proximity to port access. The strike is occurring at a particularity critical point in the harvest, he added.

“We’re in the last third of soybean harvest, and corn is just getting started in Ontario. It’s been a late start for the growing season and wet weather these last few weeks. We’ve got a huge amount of corn and soybeans that are either in the field or need to get to market,” he said.

“We rely on boats moving out the St. Lawrence around the world at harvest in Ontario.”

Port terminals in southwestern Ontario are filling up and deliveries are starting to be restricted.

Storage capacity is currently being used for soybeans, which means corn can’t be harvested and stored, Devitt said.

“If we don’t free up that room in the countryside from beans, we’re not going to have room for corn,” he said.

The strike’s impacts could reach beyond southwestern Ontario if it continues. The seaway usually closes during freeze-up in January, and the backlog could hit western grain shipments coming out of Thunder Bay if a resolution isn’t found before the New Year, he added.

The Canada Labour Code requires workers to continue serving bulk grain vessels at ports in the event of a strike or lockout, as was the case during the longshore workers’ strike at West Coast ports this summer.

The SLSMC has sought a ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) on whether that Labour Code rule applies to seaway workers in this case.

SLSMC vice-president Jean Aubry-Morin said via email Tuesday that no deadline has yet been announced for the CIRB to rule on the matter.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat, Alta. Includes files from Dave Bedard of AGCanada.com.

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Grain Farmers of Ontario, which inherited the pooling system from one of its heritage organizations, the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board, announced Tuesday it will wind down its wheat pool and its forward-contract wheat marketing programs.

The organization’s wheat pool dates back to 1973, when the OWPMB assumed responsibility for marketing the province’s wheat. At the time, GFO said, “there was a single-desk marketing system and fewer ways to market wheat in Ontario.”

Today, GFO said, there are more than 267 licensed dealers and 372 licensed elevators in Ontario. Grain farmers in the province resumed full open marketing in 2003.

GFO’s board made its decision “after several years of gathering feedback from our farmer-members and watching the trends in wheat marketing,” GFO chair Markus Haerle said Tuesday in a release.

“It became increasingly clear that our farmer-members are successfully marketing their wheat on their own through other wheat buyers.”

The GFO wheat pool handled 3,300 tonnes of wheat in the 2019 crop year, when total harvested area sat at 752,000 acres. Ontario farmers grew more than 1.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2019 for the 2020 crop year, GFO said.

GFO farmer-members “have shown through decreased engagement with our wheat pool and contract programs that they are able to market their wheat successfully through other vendors, and that they prefer to do so.”

The 2020 pool and contracts will continue to be marketed without any changes, GFO said. The organization said it will work on an individual basis with any farmer-member who has wheat contracted past the completion of the marketing year, expected by May 31, 2021.

GFO said it will also continue to provide daily price reports and bids as well as the SellSmart market information app it set up in 2010-11. “The only change to information shared by (GFO) about prices and markets is that our own bid will no longer exist.”

The organization said it will also continue to work with the SGS Grains Analytical Lab to provide “credible quality data and enhanced customer confidence” and will still “actively promote Ontario wheat to domestic and international markets.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Ontario organization, which represents about 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers in the province, cited a lack of representation in the national policy group.

GFO publicly announced its withdrawal in a news release on Thursday, days after it informed the national organization of the decision.

“The voice of grain farmers is needed at national policy discussions in many areas; however, at this time, our farmer-members voices are not being represented in key areas effectively through GGC,” GFO said.

GGC was responsible for lobbying the federal government in Ottawa, but GFO had concerns key advocacy work “would be hampered or undermined by conflicting GGC narrative.”

Guelph-based GFO, which joined GGC in 2018, said in a statement it was “unable to overlook issues with the structure of the organization and personality conflicts” and was “concerned with governance and regulation compliance.”

The Ontario group gave detailed reasons for its departure in its resignation letter to GGC and is keeping those specifics confidential, GFO chair Markus Haerle said via email Friday.

GFO now plans to lobby the federal government on its own behalf, having a number of people already registered to do so in Ottawa, the organization said.

GGC chair Jeff Nielsen promised to continue advocating for all grain growers across the province.

“We’re united, we’re focused on moving forward. We speak for all commodities, we know that’s what we have to do,” he said, adding there weren’t any “major issues” between the organizations.

At a December board meeting, some challenges were discussed, and Nielsen said changes were implemented right away.

While the loss of such a significant membership impacts the organization, Nielsen said he doesn’t like to play the numbers game.

“We want to represent our members equally,” he said. “That’s how we were designed.”

Nielsen expects the two organizations to continue working together and is open to Ontario grain growers once again joining the national organization.

“You never close the door in agriculture, you always leave that door open and keep the lines of communication moving,” he said.

‘Priorities’

GFO was one of four farm groups that made a separate joint public statement Thursday in Ottawa “to shine a spotlight on policy priorities for the grains and oilseed farmers they represent.”

Those groups also included the Western Canadian Wheat Growers, Atlantic Grains Council and Producteurs de grains du Quebec. GGC was not mentioned in the statement.

Grain groups including GGC have already voiced concerns at the federal level about China’s market-depressing ban on Canadian canola seed imports.

But the groups speaking in Ottawa Thursday instead called attention to what PGQ’s William Van Tassel described as the “de facto ban of soybeans at the China border” as well as the “unlevel playing field” caused by bailouts for U.S. farmers affected by the U.S.-China trade war.

GFO’s Haerle, in the four groups’ joint statement Thursday, called for Ottawa to “set up a compensation package for soybean farmers who are unable to cover the costs they have paid to grow their crop.”

“We are in Ottawa to educate everyone we meet on the need to make sure the federal government provides compensation for soybean farmers facing border closure in China and highlight fixes required to make (business risk management programs) work for farmers as they begin to recover from these losses over the next five years,” AGC’s Michael Delaney said in the same joint statement.

Canada’s soybean exports to China have indeed tanked in recent months, only in part because Chinese feed demand has dropped due to African swine fever’s impact on the Chinese hog herd.

It doesn’t help that China remains in a diplomatic row with Canada over its December 2018 arrest of a Chinese telecom executive in Vancouver on U.S. charges — and is still noticeably importing soy from other countries.

The availability of U.S. soy due to Washington’s trade fight with China has also depressed prices in other export markets.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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Barry Senft announced Tuesday he will step down as CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario in April 2020, a post he’s held since the 2009 merger of the province’s corn, soy and wheat grower groups under the GFO banner.

GFO, which represents about 28,000 growers provincewide, said Tuesday it will “immediately” start the process of a CEO search.

Senft came to the GFO with a resume that included stints as chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission (1997-2002), second vice-president of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (1993-97) and executive director of Cigi, the Canadian International Grains Institute (2002-09).

Senft, who hailed from a family farm at Lipton, Sask., “led the organization through its growth as the largest commodity organization in Ontario, including the addition of barley and oat growers into membership,” GFO said in a release.

“Having served more than 10 years as CEO, it is time for me to step aside. Grain Farmers of Ontario, its board, and its staff has been a wonderful organization to help lead and grow,” Senft said in the release.

GFO, under Senft’s oversight, “placed an unprecedented focus on public outreach about grains and grain farming, and farmer-members benefited from focused and advanced research investments and a team dedicated to market development,” the group said.

Senft “played a key role in fighting unnecessary government regulations on farming, and ensuring government programs were scrutinized for opportunities to better help farmers,” GFO said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The government has posted its proposal to increase ethanol content in the province’s gasoline from five to 10 per cent to the Environmental Bill of Rights registry, which will result in public consultations on the proposal.

About 34 per cent of corn produced in the province is used for ethanol, says Mark Brock, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario.

“I think for us any time you can create an opportunity to use more Ontario corn, no matter what the market opportunity, it is always a good thing for producers,” he says.

The government is motivated to increase the ethanol requirement for gasoline because gasoline burned in cars with ethanol results in lower greenhouse gas emissions, and press releases from Grain Farmers of Ontario and Renewable Industries Canada (RIC), which represents ethanol producers, reflected that reality. The policy would at the same time have significant effects on rural Ontario.

While the official level is set at five per cent, Jim Grey, president of RIC and CEO of IGPC Ethanol Inc., says that when all blending is taken into consideration there is more than five per cent ethanol used in gasoline. Therefore, the move to 10 per cent won’t be a doubling of demand, but it will be significant. Grey says about 500 million litres more ethanol will be required.

Six ethanol plants in Ontario operate at close to 100 per cent of capacity, and produce 1.046 billion litres of ethanol per year, according to a 2017 study of the sector by Doyletech, which also pegged use of ethanol at 7.7 per cent of gasoline, due to blending requirements. Net import of ethanol is at about 221 million litres.

Grey says the ethanol industry is healthy and doesn’t have any concerns that current and potential new players can fill the demand with expansion. The creation of the sector was helped by a provincial government Ethanol Growth Fund. Grey says there’s no need for government funding to accomplish the growth to 10 per cent. IGPC, based in Aylmer, Ont., is currently undergoing a significant expansion with no government help.

Creating 500 million litres more ethanol in the province will require a lot more corn. Brock and Grey expect most of the increased corn volume to come from yield growth, versus more corn acres.

“Corn yields not going anywhere but up,” says Grey. “I’ve been in this industry many years and if you look at total acres of corn over last long period of time, they have not changed dramatically, but yields and overall production continues to go up. There’s no reason why we can’t supply the increase with Ontario corn in short order.”

Ethanol companies may have to go further afield in the province to purchase supplies of ethanol, says Grey.

Farmers in areas of strong ethanol demand in the United States have evolved toward more corn on corn and corn-soybean rotations, which result in less healthy soils.

Brock says that technology and increases in yield, along with the growing use of cover crops, should help cover those concerns.

The increase in ethanol mandate will mean more local corn demand, says Bruce Burnett, Glacier FarmMedia’s director of markets and weather. Local demand will mean less Ontario corn will be on the move, whether exported or between provinces, he says.

An increase in demand should help solidify the basis in Ontario. The basis is the price that corn sellers are paid over or under the Chicago Board of Trade price once transportation, currency and other local market factors are taken into consideration. A stronger basis in Ontario compared to the American mid-west has cushioned farmers here from the recent stagnant, low corn prices in the U.S.

“We should see more consistency in price,” says Brock, as there will be more steady demand for corn. “It should help on the basis side of things.”

Both Brock and Grey are optimistic that the government proposal will become policy, despite what is likely to be some opposition. There are concerns about using land which could be used to grow food to grow crops for fuel, as well as debate over the lifecycle greenhouse gas emission levels of ethanol.

Grey says that the lifecycle modelling for ethanol climate impact used by the provincial and federal government is the accepted standard. According to RIC, that shows a reduction of 62 per cent in greenhouse gases when ethanol is used instead of gasoline.

Electric vehicles will have a place, says Grey, but the mass adoption of them will take a while. This is a policy the government sees will have an immediate and positive environmental effect, he says.

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After eight months, and a first harvest of wheat analytics, the Guelph lab’s manager says they have found there is interest in the project and its services from across the country — and from industry areas they didn’t expect.

For example, lab manager Paolo Santangelo said, wheat breeders can get an understanding of initial functionality of the varieties they are testing, through a local lab, without having to send that proprietary germplasm to labs in the U.S.

“We didn’t realize how much of a void there was in the ability to serve the Canadian industry,” said Santangelo during an interview at the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) March Classic.

The Grains Analytical Testing Laboratory is a unique partnership between the GFO and Mississauga-based SGS Canada, a major laboratory testing company, to provide quicker response testing of wheat quality than has been previously available for Ontario wheat.

The partnership is the first of its kind between a farmer group and a laboratory company, and that’s a point of pride, GFO CEO Barry Senft said at the March Classic.

The Canadian International Grains Commission (CIGI) and the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) both also provide grain quality testing, but without the mandate to prioritize Ontario grain.

After the 2016 harvest, Santangelo said, growers had wheat quality results to the Ontario industry in October, when it would usually be December or into the new year before Ontario wheat quality results would be available to millers and bakeries.

When growers had to wait until a half year after harvest, the millers and bakeries were already long into the usage of the crop and would manage their risk by purchasing western Canadian wheat, Santangelo said. Now they’ll have the information about the Ontario harvest in time to make buying and contracting decisions.

There are few options for private laboratory testing of wheat in Canada, with most of the work going to the U.S., so customers, such as from the Prairie Grain Development Committee, have come to the Guelph lab.

Santangelo said the lab provides services from breeder to plate, including for farmers looking to know their protein and falling number, for grain elevators looking for quality information and then for millers and bakeries.

He also expects to be able to help with research projects involving wheat, now that the local lab is there to partner with them.

Wheat was the first crop to be analyzed at the lab, but Santangelo said GFO’s plans include the ability to test corn, soybeans and barley as well.

Barley quality information could be used by microbreweries that wish to emphasize an Ontario product, and corn quality information could also be valuable.

Adding new crops to the lab’s roster will take some learning, similar to the work of the past year that Santangelo said the lab’s employees had to undertake in mastering and validating the equipment.

Processes also have been improved.

“To the (GFO) membership, we’ve learned a lot and have taken the necessary steps to improve on our efficiencies and capabilities for the coming year,” said Santangelo. “We’ve solved some of the issues and we’re better now than we were before, as far as the ability to serve industry.”

The unique private/farmer organization partnership model has created interest from across the country.

“I’ve received requests for conversations about such a relationship from other wheat commissions, from outside of Ontario, out west; they have shown interest in knowing how it serves the membership.”

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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