One of your first steps is to find out what markets are offering.

Review your last year, plan for next year

This is a good time to look at last year’s marketing plan, and do the math for next year

In my last column, I asked if you know your costs of production for every crop you grew last year. Then I asked if you ran a breakeven analysis for each crop, so you would know what prices you needed to sell at a profit. If you had done these things and stuck to a […] Read more

The proposal to increase checkoff funding for Beef Farmers of Ontario passed with a significant majority this year. (John Greig photo)

Ontario beef checkoff to rise by $1.50

Ontario beef farmers have approved an increase of $1.50 in checkoff per animal to fund an ambitious industry-wide marketing effort for Ontario beef. Producers at the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) annual meeting in Mississauga on Wednesday voted 87 per cent in favour of the plan. A similar plan was rejected at last year’s annual […] Read more



(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Online cattle market AgriClear goes dark

Canada’s TMX Group has pulled the plug on its AgriClear online cattle exchange after almost three years of operation. TMX, which operates the Toronto-based TSX stock exchange among other services, announced on AgriClear’s lone remaining web page that the AgriClear platform and website have been decommissioned, effective Monday (April 16). “As part of the active […] Read more



Don Mayo discusses the promotion of Canadian milk at a Dairy Farmers of Canada policy conference in Ottawa. (John Greig photo)

Milk ad awareness beating top brands

Dairy Farmers of Canada is trying harder to track how well its marketing efforts boost milk sales, after Ontario members pulled promotion funding over a lack of information. Dairy Farmers of Canada’s (DFC) policy conference this week in Ottawa included a presentation by Don Mayo, global managing partner for IMI, an organization that measures media […] Read more


Dairy Farmers of Ontario CEO Graham Lloyd says dairy marketing activities need to show that they can build the market for milk. (John Greig photo)

Ontario’s dairy farmers ramp up own marketing

Dairy Farmers of Ontario is starting to build its own consumer marketing department, now that it’s retaining marketing funds collected from farmers and no longer sending tens of millions of dollars to Dairy Farmers of Canada. What does it mean? Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s withdrawal from national marketing of milk has meant upheaval at Dairy […] Read more

Bags Of Money On A Farm Field

What’s the price of that crop input?

Everyone likes a rebate. Cash-back cheques are nice to have, but we know they don’t have a lot of influence over your purchasing decisions. It would be much more helpful if you could turn to these pages and see the actual product prices. I’m sure you’ve noticed that most news stories about improved fungicides, newly-registered […] Read more