Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) chair Brendan Byrne, left, and Crosby Devitt, GFO CEO, discuss issues such as carbon tax exemptions, fertilizer tariffs, increasing input and inflation costs, and concerns about agriculture land protection.

GFO members bring land planning and protection concerns to annual meeting

Fertilizer and carbon tax relief remain ongoing issues

Grain farmer concerns on land use and planning gained traction against ongoing fertilizer pricing and carbon tax issues. Brendan Byrne, Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) chair, and CEO Crosby Devitt fielded questions on what measures the organization was taking toward agricultural land protection and intensification planning to address increasing housing pressure during the organization’s annual […] Read more




Undated image of a participant at the fall ag fair at Rocklyn, Ont., about 40 km southeast of Owen Sound. (Ontario Visited video screengrab via YouTube)

Ontario trims minimum memberships for ag, hort societies

Eligibility thresholds for provincial operating grants lowered

Rules taking effect with the new year are expected to make it easier for Ontario agricultural and horticultural societies to qualify for provincial grants in the face of a membership crunch. The province on Friday confirmed amendments to regulation 16, attached to its Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act, kick in effective Sunday (Jan. 1, 2023). […] Read more

(SaskTel.com)

CRTC asks big telcos to share network with smaller rural players

Big firms also told to negotiate wholesale access rates

Reuters — Canada’s top wireless firms will now be required to accept requests for access to their networks from smaller companies, particularly those serving rural areas, and also to negotiate on wholesale prices, the country’s telecom regulator said Wednesday. The ruling comes as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) looks to lower the cost […] Read more


File photo of a rapeseed field in southern China’s Yunnan province. (YuenWu/iStock/Getty Images)

One-third of China’s land protected under ecological ‘red line’ scheme

Authorities crack down on farm encroachment

Shanghai | Reuters — Nearly a third of China’s land is now off-limits to development under a scheme known as the “ecological protection red line,” a senior official said at a news briefing on Monday, bringing the country in accord with global biodiversity targets. China first proposed its “red line” scheme in 2011 to put […] Read more

Catapult Grey Bruce chair Courtney Denard, far left, vice-chair, Mia Toose, director Courtney Miller, executive director Jen Christie, Mike Comello, treasurer, and Grey County Warden Selwyn Hicks marked the grand opening of Crashpad, an entrepreneurial acceleration and advisory space, at the Sydenham Campus: Regional Skills Training, Trades and Innovation Centre in Owen Sound, Dec. 2, 2021.

Catapulting rural entrepreneurs to the next level in Grey-Bruce

Investment in regional rural business hub already paying dividends locally

Owen Sound is ready to help rural entrepreneurs take a leap to the next level while keeping innovation at the local level. The Sydenham Campus Regional Skills Training, Trades and Innovation Centre received an $845,000 non-repayable Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) fund early in 2021 to host a small and medium-sized […] Read more