This week on ‘Between The Rows’

This week on ‘Between The Rows’

Episode 307, Dec. 22, 2022

To hear the latest episode of Between The Rows, CLICK HERE. The show is also available to you each week through Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts — and you can also find our episode archive on YouTube.  

NDP MPP John Vanthof praised the OFA’s Homegrown Ontario campaign and didn’t mince words about Bill 23.

Ontario farmers gather once again post-pandemic

OFA annual meeting held in new host city and offered grassroots discussions

Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) president and Thunder Bay-area dairy farmer Peggy Brekveld was re-elected to a third one-year term at the organization’s recent annual meeting. The meeting, held for the first time in London, was the OFA’s first in person in three years. Of the 26 resolutions brought forward to the OFA board from […] Read more

Reg Schellenberg. (Schellenberg family photo via Canadian Cattlemen)

Canadian Cattle Association president Reg Schellenberg dies

Saskatchewan rancher had led CCA since March

Updated, Dec. 7 — Western Saskatchewan rancher Reg Schellenberg, who had led the national organization representing Canada’s beef cattle producers since March this year, died suddenly Friday at age 63. The Canadian Cattle Association reported Schellenberg’s death in a release Saturday, adding that the association’s current vice-president, rancher Nathan Phinney of Sackville, N.B., will now […] Read more

(Luca Piccini Basile/iStock/Getty Images)

Farm equipment demand to remain high, FCC says

Low inventories, high commodity prices and a good crop place pressure on demand

Demand for farm equipment should remain high through 2023 despite higher interest rates and projected price increases, according to Farm Credit Canada. The federal ag lender has released an outlook on the farm equipment market that analyzed data and trends that affect the market. While the outlook attributes much of the current demand to relatively […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Farm cash receipts on the rise, StatCan shows

MarketsFarm — Farm cash receipts improved 13.7 per cent during the first three quarters of 2022, Statistics Canada reported Monday. From January to September, those receipts reached $66.7 billion. That increase of more than $8 billion was due to higher receipts for crops, livestock and program payments. The report noted crop receipts rose 7.3 per […] Read more


File photo of a suspension footbridge in Thailand. (Tinnakorn Jorruang/iStock/Getty Images)

Canada to boost defence, cyber security in Indo-Pacific policy

New policy document puts focus on 'disruptive' China

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada launched its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy on Sunday, outlining $2.3 billion in spending to boost military and cyber security in the region and vowed to deal with a “disruptive” China while working with it on climate change and trade issues. The plan detailed in a 26-page document said Canada will tighten […] Read more

Farmers face a number of uncontrollable factors that can lead to high rates of depression, anxiety, even suicide. (Eclipse_images/E+/Getty Images)

Free mental health training, workshops offered for farmers

Do More Ag Foundation expands programming available

Farmers seeking mental health support will have access to free training and community workshops for the fourth year in a row via the Do More Agriculture Foundation (DMAF) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC). Factors such as financial insecurity, uncontrollable weather and isolating working conditions contribute to high depression, anxiety and suicide rates among farmers, according […] Read more

A G-Mac’s custom seed treatment unit loads a truck with treated peas in a 2020 video screengrab. (G-Mac’s AgTeam via YouTube)

Simplot to buy western Saskatchewan ag retail chain

G-Mac's AgTeam to rebrand under Simplot name

An independent crop input retail chain in western Saskatchewan is set to become part of agrifood firm J.R. Simplot’s retail arm. Simplot announced Nov. 15 it has a deal in place to buy G-Mac’s AgTeam, which owns and operates 15 outlets in the region, for an undisclosed sum. The deal, which will see the G-Mac’s […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill names new CEO

Former proteins boss to lead firm

Reuters — Cargill Inc. said on Monday Brian Sikes will take over as the global commodities trader’s new president and CEO effective Jan. 1. Sikes will succeed Dave MacLennan, who has served as Cargill’s CEO and chairman since 2013. MacLennan will now assume the role of executive chair of Cargill’s board of directors and will […] Read more

Will Wang (left) and Dan Nejman of Terra Optima Labs, pictured holding black soldier fly larva – the mainstay ingredient in its organic amendment products – and a tray of experimental pea shoots.

Western Fair District develops food and ag-product hub

Organization matches District’s Accelerator and Incubator programs to production space for developing companies

There’s a lot of construction at the Western Fair District, all in efforts to spur more made-in-Ontario innovation in food and agricultural products.  The Grove (formerly known as The Progress Building) is in the midst of renovations designed to give new food companies, as well as those in the pre-commercialization stage, a space to work […] Read more