BetterFarming.com News Headlines

Tobacco growers opting to take a federal government buyout for their quota can't return to the industry, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada confirms.

On June 1, Dairy Farmers of Ontario changed what organic milk would qualify for a premium. One organic producer says he's growing concerned about how to cover the expenses of generating this niche market product.

This week, the federal government collected fines and civil compensation from tobacco companies totaling $1.15 billion for orchestrating a cigarette smuggling operation in the 1990s, and promptly passed on a little more than $300 million to hardpressed growers and tobacco belt communities. Provincial agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky says nobody told her about the buyout and she strongly disagrees with the way it is being financed.

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Better Farming has garnered another award for its coverage of a Waterloo-Ontario based pigeon breeding business.

LANGTON – If manufacturers of a recently introduced local brand of cigarette can get into tobacco export, it will be a major boon to an industry severely battered over the years, says the new company’s president.

A summary of Better Farming's news coverage of Pigeon King International

LIVE REPORT:

UPDATED Wed. July 30 08 11:19 a.m.

UPDATED Wed. July 30 08 1:06 p.m.

KITCHENER - The amount an insolvent pigeon breeding business owes creditors is creeping towards the $40 million mark and may balloon even further as the bankruptcy trustee processes records. Meanwhile, at a meeting here this morning, creditors elected five inspectors from their ranks to look more closely at what next steps the trustee should take.

Despite strong hints the Ontario government may back away from its earlier ethanol commitments, it’s full steam ahead for the $132-million ethanol plant in Aylmer, says a company official.

High grain prices are fueling a robust demand for farm equipment not seen since the 1970s.

Corn, soybean and wheat farmers could vote as early as September on forming one organization representing their interests.

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Police conducting a preliminary investigation into an insolvent pigeon breeding business say written complaints are now rolling in but a decision on whether to launch a formal investigation is still pending.

GUELPH - There were few pork producers in the conference room in a hotel here this week as the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission put the future of marketing hogs in Ontario under a microscope. And that bothered Perth County producer Larry Skinner.

Pigeon King International never intended to get into the squab business says a former employee who claims credit for promoting the idea to owner Arlan Galbraith.

Dairy Farmers of Ontario is asking Ontario’s agriculture minister to review a recent Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal order requiring the provincial commodity organization to repay an assessment on quota sales.

Pennsylvania’s attorney general’s office confirms it has fielded concerns about the operation of Pigeon King International (PKI) but it’s uncertain whether any arm of the state will launch an investigation.

New federal food labelling guidelines will go into effect at the end of this year.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED May 24, 2008

UPDATED July 18 2008

They have signed a cost sharing deal for one portion. But as the federal and provincial governments’ ministers of agriculture laud their progress on the Growing Forward agricultural framework this week, details about how they will approach the resolution of the other major portion of the framework – business risk management programs are sketchy.

Farmers began harvesting their winter wheat on Monday in Essex County about week later than expected and it looks like that late start will apply to farmers in other parts of Ontario too.

The results of an audit on Agricorp show some serious deficiencies and should be followed up with an investigation into how such a situation could have developed, says a Lindsay area farmer.

Agricorp should continue to deliver farm financial support programs in Ontario such as CAIS and it’s successor, AgriStability, because it is considerably cheaper, per file than delivery through the federal government, says Ontario’s auditor general, Jim McCarter, in a report made public on Tuesday.