Green Energy Act won't protect prime farmland from solar farms Friday, May 1, 2009 © AgMedia Inc.by BETTER FARMING STAFFThe Ontario Green Energy Act, in the final stages of becoming provincial law, won’t have a provision to protect prime farmland from solar farm development, says Simcoe North’s Member of Provincial Parliament.Progressive Conservative Garfield Dunlop, a Progressive Conservative member, says the topic was raised but the provision was not among the amendments approved by the Legislature yesterday when the Liberal government moved the Bill to its third and final reading. The bill has now passed beyond the stage where such amendments are made, he says.Amy Tan, a spokesperson with Deputy Premier and Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman’s office, says no formal amendment was put forward. The issue of building on prime farmland “is not something that necessarily needs to be in the legislation, it can be addressed later on through a regulation,” she says.The law gives the provincial government the right to approve solar and wind projects over the objections of neighbours and the municipalities in which the projects will be located.“Here the government’s talking about protecting green land and agricultural space and all this sort of thing with their Greenbelt legislation and then they turn around and right in the Greenbelt I suspect they’ll be able to put in solar farms,” Dunlop says.Farm groups are resisting proposals to locate solar farms on agricultural land near Hawkesbury east of Ottawa, and near Belmont, south of London. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture objects to solar projects on good farmland but supports solar farm establishment in other locations.Dunlop says he has constituents in his riding concerned about the issue too. “We have a case up in Simcoe County where we have a very large, very productive farm that apparently has been leased to some people; they’re going to put in a solar farm and it’s going to use up 260 acres of prime agricultural land,” he says. “I suspect that the solar farm will be built on this prime agricultural land now.”Tan says third reading on the bill begins next week but there’s no timeline on how long the legislative debate will take.Dunlop predicts the bill will be passed before June 4, the end of the government’s spring session. BF Ontario Landowner president fights mischief charge The end of the family tobacco farm
Chinese Tariffs Are Squeezing Canadian Grain and Oilseeds Friday, March 14, 2025 By Aleah Harle, Farms.com Risk Management Intern On March 8, 2025, China announced steep retaliatory tariffs on $2.6 billion worth of Canadian agricultural products in response to Canada’s October tariffs of 100% on Chinese EVs, and 25% on steel, and aluminum. These newly... Read this article online
Canada proactively purchases 500,000 doses of a human vaccine against bird flu Friday, March 14, 2025 By Liam Nolan Canada’s agricultural industry continues to monitor the spread of Avian Influenza (AI). The H5N1 HPAI was first reported in Canada in December 2021, below is an update on recent developments. Avian influenza, or bird flu, continues to impact poultry farms... Read this article online
Farmer Planting Decisions for 2025 Taking Shape Thursday, March 13, 2025 As farmers across Canada prepare for the 2025 crop year, Statistics Canada says their planting decisions reflect a complex mix of factors including moisture conditions, crop rotation considerations, and market prices. Nationally, farmers are expected to plant more wheat, corn for... Read this article online
Grain Growers of Sounding the Alarm Over U.S. Tariffs Monday, March 10, 2025 Not surprisingly, the Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) is raising concerns over the United States' decision to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian grain and grain products, a move that could jeopardize the livelihoods of family-run grain farms and lead to higher food prices for American... Read this article online
International Women’s Day – Angela Cammaert Wednesday, March 5, 2025 As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, Farms.com is asking women in ag about what they’d tell their younger selves about being a farmer, to give a piece of advice to young women entering the ag sector, and to highlight a woman in agriculture they consider a mentor or... Read this article online