Grain Delays Caused By Rail Protests: Grain Farmers of Ontario Urges Resolution

Guelph, ON – Grain Farmers of Ontario, the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers today urges all sides to work to a quick resolution of the current rail blockages that are part of the pipeline protests. CN Rail has just announced that they are progressively shutting down their Eastern Canada operations until the pipeline protest blockages stop.

 

Once again rail issues are set to impact Ontario grain farmers negatively with rail stoppages in Eastern Canada that will result in necessary resources, including food-grade grain, feed grain and fuel grain not being shipped in a timely way, if at all.

 

“These rail stoppages are unacceptable. As farmers, we have dealt with one of the wettest harvests on record, with a rail stoppage that almost crippled our industry, with a growing amount of carbon tax on food production, with price instability for our crops, with markets closed to us due to trade disputes and rash politically motivated decisions, with increased competition from the U.S. into our traditional export markets, and with outdated programs to help farmers remain sustainable,” said Markus Haerle, Grain Farmers of Ontario. “How much more can our farmers be asked to cope with, with issue issues of no fault of their own.

 

“Frankly, the system is breaking and we cannot bear more delays and restricted access to essential services, such as rail for transporting grain. Ontario, and Canada, need farmers to be able to produce food – not just for our own families and communities, but to bring billions of dollars into our economy. We want to see a resolution to these blockages and shutdowns.”

 

The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and supporters have been blocking rail lines in protest of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project for more than a week, as the pipeline crosses the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in BC.

 

“After the CN rail strike in December, Grain Farmers of Ontario called on the government and industry to have rail declared an essential service. Now, we are looking at the same issues – lack of transport for essential products and negative impacts on agriculture – Canada’s leading economical industry,” said Barry Senft, CEO, Grain Farmers of Ontario.

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.