One of two Maple Leaf Foods plants at Brampton, Ont. has gone into shutdown mode for “deep cleaning” in the wake of three cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus among its workers. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Wednesday that operations at the company’s Kennedy Road poultry slaughter and packing plant in Brampton are suspended “while we complete […] Read more

Maple Leaf poultry plant shuts for ‘deep cleaning’
COVID-19 found in three workers at Brampton facility

Protestors put up new rail, road barricades in wake of arrests
Ottawa/Toronto | Reuters — Protesters in Canada blocked train lines, Vancouver’s port entrance and at least one highway on Tuesday in response to the arrest of 10 indigenous activists when police dismantled a rail barricade in southern Ontario a day earlier. Ontario Provincial Police on Monday arrested some of the Tyendinaga Mohawk campaigners who had […] Read more

Parrish and Heimbecker to expand Hamilton flour mill, terminal
Prairie grain handler and processor Parrish and Heimbecker plans to become the single biggest user of Ontario-grown wheat with a major expansion of its newest flour mill. The privately-held Winnipeg company on Tuesday announced expansion work is now underway on both its mill and adjacent Lake Ontario harbour terminal at Hamilton. Few details were available […] Read more

Gay Lea lays out dairy processing expansion plans
A dairy farmer co-op on an aggressive growth track has mapped out its next four years’ worth of expansions and upgrades, starting with a storied processing plant in southwestern Ontario. Gay Lea Foods Co-operative on Wednesday announced a budget of $140 million over four years to set up what it describes as an “innovative nutrition […] Read more

Ottawa to back P+H’s Hamilton flour mill
Winnipeg agrifood firm Parrish and Heimbecker has lined up more government financing for its planned new flour mill at Hamilton, this time from the federal level. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Thursday announced a $10 million “repayable investment” in the project from the AgriInnovation program, part of the Growing Forward 2 ag policy funding framework. […] Read more

Province backs new Hamilton bulk flour mill
With public funds in hand, Winnipeg agrifood firm Parrish and Heimbecker is set to build Ontario’s first new flour mill in three-quarters of a century, near the company’s grain terminal in Hamilton. The provincial government on Monday pledged a $5 million investment from the Food and Beverage Growth Fund arm of its $2.5 billion Jobs […] Read more

Maple Leaf to cut 400 middle-management jobs
Reuters — Maple Leaf Foods said Wednesday it would cut 400 management jobs, or about three per cent of its workforce, saying it was ready to streamline operations after starting up Canada’s biggest meat plant. Maple Leaf, one of the country’s biggest pork processors, said the majority of the job cuts would be completed by […] Read more

G3 to build Hamilton port terminal for Ont. grain
The grain company formerly known as CWB plans to build up a market share in Ontario grain and oilseed handling for export, with a new Lake Ontario terminal at Hamilton. G3 Canada announced Tuesday it will build a new lake terminal at the Port of Hamilton to ship crops out of southern Ontario en route […] Read more

Bunge resumes canola crushing after fire, soy line down
Reuters — Agrifood firm Bunge Ltd. restarted canola processing at its Hamilton, Ont. plant late Thursday after a fire, spokeswoman Deb Seidel said Friday. She said the plant will resume soybean processing after the investigation into the fire is complete and water is cleaned up. There were no injuries, she said. According to Hamilton’s fire […] Read more
Fire damages Bunge’s Hamilton crush plant
Fire officials in Hamilton, Ont. estimate a fire in a soybean drying unit at Bunge’s oilseed crush plant has caused about $20,000 in damages. The city’s fire department on Thursday said multiple fire crews responded to a report of a fire at the Bunge plant at about 12:40 p.m. The fire, officials said, broke out […] Read more