(ThornloeCheese.com)

Gay Lea buys northern Ontario cheesemaker

Ontario’s first producer of verified-grass-fed butter and cheeses is set to become part of the province’s biggest dairy co-operative. Gay Lea Foods said Monday it has completed a deal to buy Thornloe Cheese from its current owner, Guelph-based dairy genetics firm EastGen, for an undisclosed sum. Thornloe Cheese on its website says the business takes […] Read more

Agropur’s Fromagerie Damafro had been known as the developer of Quebec’s first-ever soft washed rind cheese, sold under the Saint-Damase brand. (OurCheeses.com)

Agropur halts talks with Quebec goat dairy producers

Agropur has gone back to Plan A for the fate of a major Quebec soft cheese processing plant after halting talks with the province’s goat dairy farmer association. Canada’s biggest dairy co-operative had announced in September last year it would close the former Fromagerie Damafro plant at Saint-Damase, Que. in April this year, but delayed […] Read more

Italian sausages, cheeses and other traditional foods for sale in Milan’s Piazza del Duomo in December 2016. (Florin1961/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. set to widen trade war on EU front

London/Brussels/Washington | Reuters — The United States won approval on Wednesday to impose import tariffs on US$7.5 billion worth of European aircraft and agricultural goods over illegal EU subsidies handed to Airbus, threatening to trigger a tit-for-tat transatlantic trade war as the global economy falters. The decision by the World Trade Organization pushes a 15-year […] Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 25, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

U.S., Japan sign limited trade deal

New York | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed a limited trade deal on Wednesday that cuts tariffs on U.S. farm goods, Japanese machine tools and other products while further staving off the threat of higher U.S. car duties. Trump said the deal would open up Japanese markets […] Read more

Lab-grown dairy: the next protein foray

Lab-grown dairy: the next protein foray

Start-up companies are not going to produce milk in a lab – but the most valued components of it

Lab-grown meat is getting a lot of attention along with plant-based meat substitutes. Dairy proteins may be the next product produced in a lab, for use in fluid “milk” production and processed dairy products like yogurt and cheese, to name a few. What is synthetic dairy? Perfect Day Inc., a California-based start-up, has recreated the proteins […] Read more


Eddie Gibson and his wife, Marcy, own Ed-Mar Dairy in Walton, Ky. With fewer than 60 cows on 130 acres of land, 
they are diversifying to deal with low milk prices.

U.S. dairy farm branches out to make ends meet

Smaller U.S. dairy farms have to diversity in order to stay in business during the long-term price slump

Eddie Gibson is unsure how many generations of his family have farmed at Walton, Kentucky, but he fears he may be the last. He and his wife, Marcy, own Ed-Mar Dairy where they milk fewer than 60 cows on 130 acres of land. Even with diversification into cheese making and agri-tourism small farms like theirs […] Read more

(KraftCanada.com)

Parmalat’s play for Kraft cheeses clears regulators

Dairy giant Parmalat’s proposed $1.62 billion deal for Kraft Heinz’s “natural” cheese business in Canada has cleared federal antitrust regulators. The federal Competition Bureau on Thursday said it issued a “no action letter” to the two companies and would put up a position statement detailing its reasons in the “coming days.” The deal is expected […] Read more

(Toa55/iStock/Getty Images)

Canadian dairies get significant control over imports under TPP

Toronto | Reuters — Canada will give local dairy processors significant control over imports under a new trade deal with Pacific countries that opens the sheltered industry to further competition, according to a notice published by the federal government, which drew criticism from Canadian retailers. New quotas created by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for […] Read more


(KraftCanada.com)

Parmalat to buy Kraft’s Ontario cheese plant, brands

U.S. food processing giant Kraft Heinz is taking one step back from the Canadian dairy processing business with a deal to sell its eastern Ontario cheese plant and the brands made there. The company announced Nov. 6 it has a deal in hand to sell its Canadian “natural cheese” business and its cheese plant at […] Read more

Agropur’s Fromagerie Damafro, now slated to close in April next year, had been known as the developer of Quebec’s first-ever soft washed rind cheese, sold under the Saint-Damase brand. (OurCheeses.com)

Agropur to shut Monteregie fine cheese plant

A Quebec cheese plant formerly known as a top maker of Camembert- and Brie-type cheeses is set to shut permanently in April after five years under Agropur’s ownership. Quebec-based Agropur, North America’s biggest dairy co-operative, announced Friday it will start winding down operations at its Saint-Damase cheese plant in January ahead of the April 2019 […] Read more