Detroit | Reuters — Ford Motor Co. is working with a key supplier to shift some parts production from Michigan to Ontario, after a fire and subsequent parts shortages forced the automaker to halt manufacturing of its highly profitable full-size pickups, according to sources familiar with the companies’ plans. The supplier, Chinese-owned Meridian Magnesium Products, […] Read more

Ford scrambles to restart truck production after fire at supplier

Ontario backs Mondelez’s Toronto bakery expansion
One of the world’s biggest snack food companies is up for an eight-figure investment from the Ontario government to boost production at its Toronto plant. The province on Monday announced the Mondelez Canada bakery in East York will get up to $22.6 million from the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, by way of that program’s Food […] Read more

Cargill to replace chicken plant’s stunning system
Agrifood firm Cargill has budgeted $22 million to swap out an electric stunning system at its London, Ont. chicken processing plant in favour of a new controlled atmospheric stunning (CAS) system. The CAS system, expected to be up and running this spring, “will help reduce handling stress with chickens, resulting in a higher-quality, more consistent […] Read more

Ontario ponies up for two decades of horseracing
The Ontario government has put its next funding plan for the province’s horseracing sector on a substantially longer track. The provincial government on Friday announced a funding agreement providing the sector with $105 million a year for 19 years starting April 1, 2019, to replace the five-year, $100 million-per-year Horse Racing Partnership Funding Program in […] Read more

Ontario power utilities offer farm water pump rebate
Ontario farmers buying certain types of high-efficiency water pumping systems for irrigation, horticulture or stock watering could now be up for rebates. Hydro One and Niagara Peninsula Energy (NPEI) on Friday announced the AgriPump rebate program, which the two electricity utilities described as the first plan of its kind in the province. For farmer customers […] Read more

Community to ‘transform’ Guelph’s Kemptville ag campus
The home municipality for Ontario Agricultural College’s (OAC) former Kemptville campus is set to remake the site as an “education and community hub.” The municipality of North Grenville, which includes Kemptville, about 40 km south of Ottawa, closed a deal in December to purchase the Kemptville ag campus, with the official transfer due to take […] Read more

Glacier FarmMedia launches Farmtario
Canada’s largest publisher of farm magazines and newspapers has cultivated a new source of news for farmers in Ontario. Launched Wednesday at the London Farm Show, Farmtario will be a biweekly print publication starting April 30. Its website, Farmtario.com, is available immediately. “We see a bright future for Ontario agriculture and we’re proud to announce […] Read more

Nestle to spread out at London ice cream plant
A multi-phase overhaul at Nestle Canada’s southwestern Ontario ice cream factory is moving further ahead with a plant expansion. The company’s London, Ont. ice cream plant, which has operated since 1966 and supplies brands such as Haagen-Dazs, Drumstick, Parlour and Skinny Cow for all of Canada, is in the midst of a four-phase, $51.5 million […] Read more

Rural Ontario leader appointed to Senate
A leader in Ontario’s agriculture and rural community is one of Canada’s newest senators. Rob Black, executive director of the Rural Ontario Institute and a former president of 4-H Canada, was named Thursday as one of two new senators from Ontario by Governor General Julie Payette. Why is this significant? It has been a long […] Read more

Ontario, U of Guelph renew ag research partnership
Up to $713 million in agriculture research will be funded at the University of Guelph over the next 10 years through a renewal of the university’s agreement with the provincial ag ministry. The new agreement has been updated to manage digital data and is aimed to provide a base from which to leverage more research […] Read more