Ontario Helps Boost Production at Lassonde Industries

Oct 08, 2015

Ontario is enhancing innovation and productivity at a major Toronto area beverage producer to help create sustainable jobs and strengthen the province's food and beverage processing sector.

Ontario is investing $1.5 million through the Jobs and Prosperity Fund - Food and Beverage Growth Fund to help Lassonde Industries purchase and install a new high-speed, Tetra Pak packaging line that will improve efficiencies and allow the company to fill up to 24,000 juice packages per hour - 18,000 more per hour than they can currently fill.

The project will increase productivity, improve water input efficiency and costs, and improve competitiveness allowing Lassonde to expand into new markets. It is expected that the project will create 15 new jobs and help retain 114 current jobs.

Supporting a strong and innovative agri-food industry is part of the government's economic plan for Ontario. The four-part plan includes investing in people's talents and skills, making the largest investment in public infrastructure in Ontario's history, creating a dynamic, innovative environment where business thrives, and building a secure retirement savings plan.

Source: OMAFRA

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.