(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

In a photo posted Nov. 6, incoming Berthier-Maskinonge MP Yves Perron meets with the riding’s outgoing NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau to pick up active files from her constituency office. (Facebook)

Bloc Quebecois president tapped as party’s ag critic

The Bloc Quebecois will head into the House of Commons next month with a new critic handling the agriculture portfolio. Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has named Yves Perron, the rookie MP for Berthier-Maskinonge, as the party’s critic for agriculture, agri-food and supply management. As the Bloc’s ag critic, Perron replaces Mirabel MP Simon Marcil, who […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Agropur to shut Montreal-area ice cream plant

A Quebec ice cream processing plant absorbed in 2017 by Canada’s biggest dairy co-operative will shut its doors in about 10 months’ time. Agropur Co-operative announced Friday it plans to close the former Les Aliments Lebel plant at Lachute, Que., just northwest of Montreal, in August 2020 and transfer the plant’s operations to other Agropur […] Read more



Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau addresses the 2019 Dairy Farmers of Canada AGM in Saskatoon in July. (Photo courtesy AAFC)

Future payouts from dairy fund still up for discussion

What happens to the rest of Canada’s eight-year, $1.75 billion funding envelope to compensate its dairy farmers for other countries’ gains in market access is still up for discussion, according to the federal ag minister. In a statement Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said Ottawa gets that Canadian dairy farmers want more direct payments beyond […] Read more




Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau addresses the 2019 Dairy Farmers of Canada AGM in Saskatoon in July. (Photo courtesy AAFC)

Supply-managed sector compensation details due before election

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has pledged to lay out details on trade pact compensation for supply-managed sectors before the federal election in October. The pledge comes as the federal Liberals face pressure from supply-managed sectors and the federal opposition Conservatives to deliver on compensation for access granted to the Canadian market under Canada’s free […] Read more


File photo of cattle on Prince Edward Island. (COSPV/iStock/Getty Images)

P.E.I. to manage deadstock removal

Prince Edward Island’s latest provincial operating budget calls for its agriculture and land department to directly manage removal of deadstock for dairy and beef cattle producers. Finance Minister Darlene Compton’s 2019-20 operating budget, presented Tuesday, said the province will take over management of the deadstock contract “to reduce the administrative burden placed on the dairy […] Read more