Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

AALP Class 14 International Study Tour - Saturday, February 23, 2013

AALP Class 14 had an early start to our day as we made our way to the city of Pune. Pune is a growing city of over 5 million people. (http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/mtdc/HTML/MaharashtraTourism/D...) Compared to Mumbai, it looks like a small town.  This city has many universities and towns as well as motorcycles.

After what seemed like ages, we finally reached our first destination, Semex. Semex has been in India for less than a year and has formed a joint venture with Provet Genetics. The dream of this joint venture is to increase local milk production per cow to levels near that of Canadian production.  The parent company for Provet is Baramati Agro Ltd. This company works on many portfolios such as poultry, sugar, and commodity trading. Though the Indian government regulates many aspects of agriculture, this company is very positive in its long term growth.

After a good discussion with Semex-Provet we were treated to pizza India style - that is to say vegetarian including corn niblets, not a pepperoni to be seen. 

Our tour then took us out of Pune and to a dairy that is working closely with Semex-Provet to improve its herd's genetics. The farmer who was formally trained as an engineer "saw the light" and focused on farming, specifically on dairy production.

The land in this area certainly looked more fertile than the area that we visited yesterday. For instance we saw fields of sugarcane, bananas, wheat, and a variety of horticultural crops. The scope of agriculture is truly amazing considering that most farms are 2.5 Ha (5 acres) in size.

 

Todd Austin, Kim McCaw, Teresa Wilbur – AALP Class 14 bloggers

Views: 526

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by OntAG Admin on February 24, 2013 at 5:54pm

Comment by Roadrunner on February 24, 2013 at 5:52pm

Thanks for sharing the pictures and tweets.

I am enjoying learning about India and how the farmers there operate.

Comment by Moe Agostino on February 24, 2013 at 10:08am

I am wondering if anyone asked about the prices the farmers get for milk, grain etc and how that compares to North American prices?

Thanks,

Moe

Comment by Joe Dales on February 24, 2013 at 9:06am

Comment by Joe Dales on February 24, 2013 at 9:05am

Comment by Joe Dales on February 24, 2013 at 7:06am

Check out the photos from the AALP India Study Tour.

http://ontag.farms.com/photo

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

Bull Rider TJ Gray Wins PRCA Top Gun Award at 2025 National Finals Rodeo

Oregon bull rider TJ Gray captured the PRCA Top Gun Award at the 2025 Wrangler NFR, winning big and making history.

B.C. mink farmers drop legal challenge of ban, citing costs after four-year fight

Mink farmers in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada are dropping their legal challenge over a pandemic-era ban in the province due to legal fees they say are “far beyond their means.” The British Columbia Mink Producers Association and the Canada Mink Breeders Association had been petitioning for a judicial review of the province’s ban on mink farming and had been challenging the policy decision, which dates back to November 2021. In a statement, the mink farmers say they remain angry at the move by the province, which they describe as driven by “an aggressive anti-fur lobby.” The farmers say they have fought the province unsuccessfully in several separate court attempts while no financial compensation has been offered to operators who had to tear down their farms. The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in August that the farmers’ lawsuits have “no reasonable prospect of success” and dismissed a bid for damages against the province, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, and othe

Oilseed crushing and major grain deliveries statistics, November 2025

Oilseed crushing statistics Data on oilseed crushing are now available for November 2025. Deliveries of major grains Deliveries of major grains across Canada rose by 14.2% in November from the same month the previous year, totalling 5.6 million tonnes. Increases in total wheat (+21.0% to 3.4 million tonnes), canola (+11.1% to 1.6 million tonnes), and rye (+11.2% to 11.9 thousand tonnes) contributed to higher deliveries. Major grains include wheat (excluding durum), durum wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and canola. Focus on Canada and the United States Producer deliveries capture grain that is destined for a primary elevator, feed mill, crushing plant or flour mill. This includes grain elevators that hold grain before it is exported, as well as shipments to US markets that are not licensed by the Canadian Grain Commission. The imposition of tariffs by the United States may have an impact on producer deliveries of major grains in the coming months. In 2024, Canada exported a tot

Parrish & Heimbecker to buy GrainsConnect Canada

Further consolidation of Western Canada’s grain sector is just around the corner. Parrish & Heimbecker (P&H) is purchasing GrainsConnect Canada (GCC), a joint venture currently owned by Australia’s GrainCorp and Japan’s Zen-Noh Grain Corp. GCC was formed by the two international firms in 2015. P&H is getting four high-capacity grain elevators as well as GCC’s 50 per cent stake in Fraser Grain Terminal at the Port of Vancouver. The elevators are in Reford, Sask., Maymont, Sask., Huxley, Alta., and Vegreville, Alta. The 35,000-tonne facilities are each equipped with 134-car rail loops. P&H has a longstanding partnership with GCC through its shared ownership of Fraser Grain Terminal. The port terminal exports up to four million tonnes of cereals, oilseeds, pulses and other commodities per year. It can handle and discharge 120 railcars and has 70,000 tonnes of storage. It can load grain into vessels at a rate of 2,000 tonnes per hour. The purchase is expected to close in early 2026

Farmers face new challenge as group 14-resistant kochia spreads across western Canada

A new study shows that Group 14-resistant kochia has developed and spread rapidly across Western Canada. Group 14 is an important herbicide group for controlling the prolific weed because it already has widespread resistance to glyphosate, a Group 9 product, and has long had resistance to Group 2 chemistries. Back in 2021, the first known case of Group 14-resistant kochia was discovered in West Central Saskatchewan. In 2022, it was discovered in North Dakota. Charles Geddes, a research scientist in weed ecology and cropping systems at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge is a leading expert on herbicide resistant weeds. His team designed genetic tests to identify Group 14 resistance using leaf tissue samples. This increased the speed and efficiency of identification. In a post recently published on Linked-in, Geddes has published a map showing instances of Group14 resistance across all three Prairie provinces. The greatest concentration is in the brown and dark brown so

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service