Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s value in the move by farm groups to include diversity and inclusion as parts of their driving principles. There was significant online debate about Beef Farmers of Ontario’s new diversity and inclusion statement. Beef Farmers of Ontario lists seven points in its commitment to diversity, but this paragraph in its statement on the subject […] Read more
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Editorial: A willingness to be better
Beef Farmers of Ontario adopts anti-discrimination value statement
The commodity organization announces efforts to ally with those promoting diversity
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) has incorporated a values statement calling for “diversity, equity, and inclusion” into its education and advocacy strategy. Why it matters: Diversity policies to better accommodate and understand social groups are becoming increasingly common in both the public and private sphere, although are less common in primary agriculture. According to BFO, […] Read more
Licence fees on veal now apply at sales barn
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sellers of veal through sales barns will now have to pay licence fees to Veal Farmers of Ontario. Veal Farmers of Ontario recently announced amendments to regulations that came into effect Jan. 1 that update the definitions of veal cattle and include the collection of licence fees on veal cattle sold in sales barns. VFO […] Read more
Relationships crucial for farm-to-farm cover crop grazing
Neighboring farmers find mutual benefit in livestock grazing, farming arrangement
Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s opportunity for the grazing of cover crops, whether it’s livestock farmers using their own cropland and animals, or offering services to cash-cropping neighbours. That was the overarching message delivered over three successive Tuesday evening Zoom meetings, hosted through November by the Cover Crop Grazing Committee — a collaboration between OMAFRA, Beef Farmers of Ontario, […] Read more
Guelph Cargill plant shuts down temporarily
BFO looks for cattle support program to be triggered soon
Reading Time: < 1 minute Beef Farmers of Ontario is calling for the activation of the Ontario Beef Cattle Set-Aside Program with the temporary closure of Cargill’s Guelph beef processing plant. The Cargill Meat Solutions plant will be closed after its processing run Dec. 17, and idled indefinitely, with monitoring day to day for re-opening. There are 57 cases of […] Read more
Optimism growing for Ryding-Regency meat plant
BFO hopes to hear about relicensing ‘sooner rather than later’
Reading Time: 2 minutes Will the province’s beef producers soon gain access to much-needed processing capacity at Toronto’s Ryding-Regency Meat Packers? While some uncertainty remains, industry representatives are optimistic. Why it matters: Inadequate processing capacity has been cited as a major barrier to beef industry longevity in Ontario. Ryding-Regency Meat Packers closed late in 2019 after the Canadian Food […] Read more
Beef Farmers of Ontario ask for curb on cull sales
BFO concerned over processing 'backlogs'
Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated, April 15 — Ontario’s cattle producer organization is asking members to consider delaying sales of cull cows until market conditions “normalize.” Beef Farmers of Ontario’s board on Thursday published a memo to beef and dairy cattle producers, asking them to help “prevent a further surge in cull cows in the market” — especially of […] Read more
COVID-19 strains already-battered Ontario beef industry
Limited processing capacity remains financial challenge for province's feedlot sector, despite recent increase in retail demand
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ontario’s beef industry was already in the midst of an economic crisis, but COVID-19 is worsening the financial toll on the province’s cattle feeders. Due to extremely limited processing plant capacity, an uncompetitive market and disruptions to trade and market access, Ontario’s beef industry was losing an average of more than $2 million per week […] Read more
Beef farmers reaching crisis point: BFO
Beef farmers looking for federal government assistance
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s high demand for Ontario beef domestically and globally, but farmers have limited options for processing cattle and are struggling to stay afloat. Ontario’s 19,000 beef farmers are passionate about raising cattle, but the last year has been tough for all of us. A perfect storm of market and trade disruptions has caused average weekly […] Read more
Strong global protein market drives meat production expansion
The growth in American beef and pork is based on export markets
Reading Time: 2 minutes Strong demand continues for beef around the world, along with other proteins. That’s kept prices decent globally despite growing supplies. “The global demand for beef is very very strong,” says John Baker, the director of Business Development with the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program. He also works with the combined beef marketing committee of the […] Read more
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