Andrea Borodenko and Antoine Casimir have acquired Quebec’s Production Lareault.(CNW Group/Production Lareault)

Major strawberry plant producer changes hands

New owners get funding to buy Lareault business

The Quebec company billed as Canada’s largest producer of strawberry plants has picked up new ownership after nearly 70 years. Production Lareault, based on just over 450 acres at Lavaltrie, Que. — about 40 km northeast of Montreal, in the province’s Lanaudiere region — has been acquired by investors Antoine Casimir and Andrea Borodenko for […] Read more


(Glacier FarmMedia staff photo)

Legislation allows Quebec’s UPA to rework funding formula

Bill 28 passes Quebec assembly

Quebec’s legislative assembly has passed a bill allowing the province’s overarching general farm organization, the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), to start the process toward a new funding model. Provincial Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne on Thursday announced the passage of Bill 28, which amends legislation governing organization of farming activities and the accreditation of UPA. […] Read more

(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Olymel to consolidate Ontario, Quebec further-processing

Chicken plant at Paris, Ont., and pork plant at Princeville, Que. to close

Pork and poultry packer Olymel is preparing to permanently shut two further-processing facilities and shift their work to other plants in a new round of consolidation. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Quebec’s Sollio Cooperative, announced Wednesday it will permanently close its pork boning and packaging plant at Princeville, Que. effective Nov. 10, and its […] Read more


A climate change activist plays a violin in New York City’s Times Square as Manhattan is shrouded in haze and smoke which drifted south from wildfires in Canada, on June 7, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Maye-E Wong)

Climate change made Quebec wildfires twice as likely, scientists say

Early snow disappearance led to earlier fires

London | Reuters — The fires that tore through the province of Quebec between May and July were made at least twice as likely by climate change, scientists said on Tuesday. Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, also made the fires as much as 50 per cent more intense, according to the […] Read more

Olymel’s Drummondville, Que. bacon plant.(Drumco.ca)

Olymel bacon plant deal a ‘signal,’ union says

Deal ends three-week strike at Drummondville

Unionized workers at Olymel’s bacon processing plant at Drummondville, Que. have voted to accept a four-year deal, ending a three-week strike and serving as a “signal” to employers in the region, their union said. Olymel announced Friday that CSN-represented workers at the Bacon Inter-America facility, who’d been on strike since May 26, voted 93.6 per […] Read more


Wildlife conservation officers Devon Wadden and Tim Locke keep an eye on sheep while SPCA officers feed a flock during wildfire evacuations in Shelburne County, N.S. on June 3, 2023. (Photo: Communications Nova Scotia/Handout via Reuters)

Canada on track for worst-ever wildfire season

Unusual to see fires nationwide at one time

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada is on track for its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to the fire season, officials said on Monday. Blazes are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories, and federal […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu outbreaks climb in Quebec poultry

Thirteen outbreaks reported in province so far in April

After a relatively quiet March with just one outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in domestic poultry, Quebec has turned up 13 outbreaks so far this month. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency in April has reported detections of high-path avian flu at 13 sites in that province, including: three commercial barns in the regional county […] Read more