Cargill workers to vote Thursday, February 2, 2012 by DAVE PINK The nearly 800 unionized employees at the largest beef processing plant in Ontario are to vote on new collective agreement Sunday, says Luc Lacelle, a spokesperson for Local 175 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. An Ontario Ministry of Labour mediator met Thursday with representatives of Guelph-based Cargill Meat Solutions and the UFCW in an attempt to work out a new contract and avoid a strike that could have started as early as Friday midnight Union members had already rejected an earlier company offer that called for wage rollbacks. Minneapolis-based Cargill has a world-wide workforce about 140,000 people in the food, agricultural and financial industries. It operates two beef production plants in Canada – the one in Guelph formerly known as Better Beef, and another in High River, Alta. The Guelph plant processes up to 2,000 animals a day, most of them from Ontario farms, and employs a total workforce of about 1,900 people. BF Ontario's grape growers, wineries extend pricing agreement Changes to pesticide testing could take years
A new front in the repair access debate Friday, March 6, 2026 Iowa lawmakers have pushed the right‑to‑repair conversation into new territory with House File 2529, a bill that focuses specifically on diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) systems—the single most common cause of emissions-related downtime on modern farm machinery. The bill would require... Read this article online
March 8 is International Women’s Day Friday, March 6, 2026 Across the United States and Canada, women are taking on increasingly visible roles in agriculture—managing farms, leading ag-tech startups, advancing research, and strengthening the rural economies that feed both nations. Their work reflects a shift in an industry once defined... Read this article online
Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to Visit Toronto and Southwestern Ontario Tuesday, March 3, 2026 The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry will be in Toronto and Southwestern Ontario later this week as part of its ongoing study on the role of Canada’s agriculture and agri‑food sector in strengthening national food security. The fact‑finding mission is scheduled for... Read this article online
AgriStability Program Updated to Include Pasture-Related Feed Costs Beginning in 2026 Monday, March 2, 2026 In case you missed it last week, the Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced that pasture-related feed costs will be added as an allowable expense under AgriStability starting with the 2026 program year. The update addresses rising operational... Read this article online
Bringing more Food and Ingredient Processing Back to Canadian Soil Monday, March 2, 2026 Protein Industries Canada has announced the second cohort of nine companies participating in its Program, an initiative designed to bring more food and ingredient processing back to Canadian soil and expand the nation’s value‑added agriculture sector. The selected companies span the... Read this article online