Pork marketing appeal begins Thursday, November 26, 2009 by BETTER FARMING STAFFThe Farm Products Marketing Commission’s October 2008 decision to revoke Ontario Pork’s monopoly powers to market hogs suited “10 per cent” of producers, taking away from the other 90 per cent, Appin area pork producer Rein Minnema told the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal in Guelph today.“We are losing everything we have in our collective marketing powers and we get nothing in return,” he testified in the opening day of the hearing scheduled to run until Dec. 4.Minnema initiated the appeal last winter and was joined by Huron Pork Producers Association and Districts 10, 11 and 12 in appealing the Oct. 6, 2008 decision of the Farm Products Marketing Commission to strip the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board of its monopoly powers to market hogs in Ontario. The hearing opened today in the same rooms in a Guelph hotel as the Commission held the hearings in July of 2008, and also where the Tribunal heard arguments that led to the hearing de novo that began today.Consultant Elbert Van Donkersgoed is representing Minnema in the hearing.Respondents include Ontario Pork, Zantingh Direct Inc., the Open Marketing Group, Quality Meat Packers, Synergy Swine, Paragon Farms, RFW Farms and the Progressive Pork Producers Cooperative.Interveners in the hearing include Dewetering Hill Farms, and Maple Leaf Consumer Foods.The hearings are scheduled to continue until Dec. 4 at the Best Western Royal Brock Hotel and Conference Centre on Gordon Street in Guelph.According to a provincial government website, the Tribunal provides an impartial appeal body available to any person who feels aggrieved by decisions of marketing boards, the Farm Products Marketing Commission or a director appointed under the Farm Products Marketing Act. BF Behind the Lines - December 2009 Hog market recovery still months away says economist
Prairie ag organizations join Global Agriculture Technology Exchange Wednesday, September 18, 2024 Three ag organizations from western Canada have announced their involvement to help position Canada as a world leader in cereal grains. Alberta Grains, the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and the Manitoba Crop Alliance are contributing more than $13 million towards the Global... Read this article online
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BASF introduces Surtain herbicide for field corn growers Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Field corn growers in eastern Canada have a new crop protection product available to them. After about 10 years of research and trials, BASF has introduced Surtain, a residual herbicide for corn that combines PPO inhibitor saflufenacil (Group 14) and pyroxasulfone (Group 15) in a premix... Read this article online
Canada rail union launches court challenges to back-to-work order Monday, September 16, 2024 The union representing workers at Canada's two main rail companies said on Friday it had filed court challenges against rulings by the country's industrial labor board that forced them back to work,Reuters reported. On Saturday, the board accepted a request from the government to order... Read this article online