Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Carol Mitchell - Appointed Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

We picked up the following information from the Ontario Government announcement and the OMAFRA website.


Carol Mitchell - Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Carol Mitchell joins Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Since 2003, Ontario has ensured that farms transferred within a family are exempted from land transfer taxes and has increased efforts to promote locally-grown food. Now, Minister Mitchell will continue the government's efforts to help our farmers build a thriving rural Ontario through our high-tech agriculture and food sectors.


Carol Mitchell was elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 and re-elected in 2007. She first served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture. Subsequently, she served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal. She was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in January 2010.

In her 12 years in municipal government, Carol was on Clinton council and was reeve of Central Huron. She was the first warden of Huron County to serve two terms in more than 100 years. Mitchell was the owner of clothing stores in Clinton and Bayfield. Born and raised in Clinton, she and her husband, Larry, have two children, Gabrielle and Jasmine.

Views: 433

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on January 19, 2010 at 3:47am
Does she have any direct experience in the agriculture sector other than being the Parl Assistant to Leona?
I hope she is a quick study and good Minister...we need it.
Permalink Reply by Tom Murray on January 19, 2010 at 3:55am
She can not possibly be any worse than Leona. Hopefully coming from Huron-Bruce she has a much better understanding of agriculture. We need someone to seriously step up to the plate and vigoursly support and defend agriculture in this province or the US and Quebec will continue to run us over.
Permalink Reply by Wayne Black on January 19, 2010 at 8:53am
Yeah she does. She has a great network of farmers that she routinely talks with being that Agriculture is now the number one industry in her riding. The economic impact of agriculture in 1/2 of her region (Huron) is in excess of $2.6 billion. She is well aware of the impact of agriculture. She also mentioned one day that the Huron-Bruce riding needed one more chicken farmer and she would have the most pig, dairy, chicken, and beef farmers of any other riding. She is aware of these numbers.
The Huron County fed of Ag routinely meets with her every few months on the local issues and neighbours of mine do not hesitate to call her office also.
She could be a great Minister but as long as we have the same bureaucrats behind her, same old - same old.

Roadrunner said:
Does she have any direct experience in the agriculture sector other than being the Parl Assistant to Leona?
I hope she is a quick study and good Minister...we need it.
Permalink Reply by rein minnema on January 19, 2010 at 1:13pm
congratulation Huron /Bruce
congratulation agriculture Ontario

Wayne Black said:
Yeah she does. She has a great network of farmers that she routinely talks with being that Agriculture is now the number one industry in her riding. The economic impact of agriculture in 1/2 of her region (Huron) is in excess of $2.6 billion. She is well aware of the impact of agriculture. She also mentioned one day that the Huron-Bruce riding needed one more chicken farmer and she would have the most pig, dairy, chicken, and beef farmers of any other riding. She is aware of these numbers.
The Huron County fed of Ag routinely meets with her every few months on the local issues and neighbours of mine do not hesitate to call her office also.
She could be a great Minister but as long as we have the same bureaucrats behind her, same old - same old.

Roadrunner said:
Does she have any direct experience in the agriculture sector other than being the Parl Assistant to Leona?
I hope she is a quick study and good Minister...we need it.
Permalink Reply by AgOntario on January 28, 2010 at 4:35am
What advice would you give the new ag minister? What would your priority be???

Check out responses to "What would you do if you were ag minister for a day?" at http://betterfarming.com/online-news/what-would-you-do-if-you-were-...
Permalink Reply by bert on March 21, 2010 at 11:20am
when mc ginty was opposition leader Pat hoy was agriculture critic but wgen liberals became govt party they bypassed hoy put in whats his name as minister then leona dom , hoy know agriculture and could have been good

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

CCGA Selected a Manitoba Top Employer

Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) has been recognized as one of Manitoba’s Top Employers, a competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top Employers, now celebrating 20 years of exceptional workplaces in the province. Earlier today, the results of the 2026 competition were announced online at Eluta.ca and in a special feature in the Winnipeg Free Press. “Being named one of Manitoba’s Top Employers for 2026 is a proud achievement for CCGA,” says Rick White, President & CEO at CCGA. “This honour reflects the dedication and passion of our amazing team and their commitment to our vision of Helping Farmers Succeed and advancing agriculture within the province and across the country.” To achieve recognition through Manitoba’s Top Employers, CCGA was assessed on eight criteria, including 1) workplace, 2) work atmosphere, 3) benefits, 4) vacation and time off, 5) employee communications, 6) performance management, 7) training and development, and 8) community involvement.

Farmers’ Markets Ontario names new executive director

Farmers’ Markets Ontario (FMO) has announced that Melanie Anderson, Ottawa, will assume the role of executive director, effective April 1, 2026. FMO is the only official provincially recognized organization representing more than180 farmers’ markets across the province.

Farmers again caught in geopolitical crossfire

A week ago, things were looking up for Prairie farmers. Canola prices were rising on news China would follow through on its promise to reduce its 75.9 per cent anti-dumping tariff on canola seed after Canada eased steep tariffs on imported EVs. Those canola tariffs have now dropped to 5.9 per cent, plus the nine per cent standard import tariff already in place. While not zero, tariffs of just under 15 per cent make it possible to restore trade flows and maintain China as Canada’s second-largest canola customer. As well, Canada’s prime minister was in India on another diplomatic defrosting mission with positive implications for agricultural exports. Any time the world’s largest exporter of pulse crops such as peas, lentils and chickpeas can make inroads into the world’s biggest market for those commodities, the sun shines a little brighter. While more sales to India weren’t on the agenda, the talks between Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi still shouted progress.

Pulse Market Insight #293

StatsCan Pulse Acreage Numbers (Mostly) Not Surprising The first official forecasts of 2026 seeded area were recently issued by StatsCan, with some “interesting” estimates for a few crops. For pulse crops though, most of the acreage numbers weren’t really out of line with expectations. It’s important to note that even though StatsCan’s estimates were issued in early March, they were based on a farmer survey that occurred between mid-December and mid-January. Since that survey, there have been sizable market developments that could influence acreage decisions. That said, crop rotations are largely fixed and a portion of the acreage was already decided back in December. But there is still room for some late tweaking around the margins. The most noteworthy event was the announcement by the Chinese government to scale back or eliminate import tariffs on canola seed, canola meal and peas, which injected more optimism into those markets. This development added some support for prices whic

Mustard Breakthrough Brings Yield Gains — But GM Concerns Echo Flax Triffid Crisis

Committee chair says a nearly 10% yield jump in mustard is encouraging for growers, but warns GM mustard contamination and federal research cuts could create long-term challenges for Prairie oilseeds. Big yield gains, high-stakes market risks and mounting concerns over federal research cuts dominated flax and mustard discussions at last week’s Prairie Grain Development Committee (PGDC) meetings in Banff, Alta. “We’re seeing a real leap forward in mustard,” said Ken Jackle, chair of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oilseeds (PRCO), pointing to a new condiment mustard line expected to go forward this year. “It’s quite a yield bump. It’ll have quite a yield advantage over the existing checks.” How big a jump? Almost 10%, he said. For mustard growers, that kind of jump matters. Yield improvements in recent years have been steady, and Jackle credited Dr. Bifang Cheng’s breeding program at AAFC Saskatoon for keeping progress moving. “It’s good to see these increases in their yield

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service