OFA’s talking points in Ontario’s 2017 budget

Apr 17, 2017

Budget is scheduled for release on April 27

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Ontario Minister of Finance Charles Sousa announced he will table Ontario’s 2017 budget on April 27.

Farms.com asked Neil Currie, general manager with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, what items are most important to farmers in the upcoming budget.

With the current media coverage of increasing housing prices in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, the answer to some of these issues could lie in rural Ontario, according to Currie.

“We’ve been saying all along that (government officials) are treating the symptoms and not the disease,” said Currie. “The disease is there hasn’t been adequate attention paid to economic development across the province.

Neil Currie
Photo: OFA

“(Investing in infrastructure in rural Ontario) is critical for the Toronto housing market. If we spread and distribute economic development across the province it can relieve the pressure on the housing market in the long term.”

In addition to focusing on the housing market in Toronto, the OFA will monitor the provincial budget for other elements.

“Natural gas is a big issue, we’re working with parents concerned about rural school closures and we’ve been in contact with Minister Sousa about carbon pricing.

“That’s also a national issue we took to Members of Parliament (on March 23, 2017) because the federal government is going to be working with the provinces on carbon pricing,” he said.

OFA is looking for some relief when it comes to the increase in prices of farm fuels, Currie said.

Farms.com will provide coverage of the Ontario budget and its impact on agriculture when it’s tabled on April 27.

Video: 2025 USDA December Crop Report a “Dud” + Trump $12 Billion U.S. Farm Aid

The USDA December crop report was friendly corn, neutral soybeans and bearish wheat. The USDA did surprise and increase the 25/26 U.S. corn export forecast to a new record high at 3.2 billion bushels now up 12% vs. last year vs. prior at +9% vs. the export pace to date up 30% the best in 10 years even higher than 20/21! The USDA left the 25/26 U.S. soybean export pace unchanged at 1.635 billion bushels. Higher global wheat supplies will remain a weight and headwind for wheat into year end and start of 2026.
Mexico is now the #1 buyer of U.S. corn, soybeans (usually China), wheat and pork!
USDA also released its long-term early projections but expect more changes by February of 2026.
Trump announces a $12 billion U.S. farmer aid package to be paid out by February 28, 2026. This helps no one but the ag banks, farm equipment companies, seed and fertilizer companies. It does prevent more farmer bushels from being sold near-term but is not bullish grain prices long-term. The Trump administration should focus on increasing U.S. domestic demand and propping up grain futures so farmers can cover their higher costs, up since COVID of 2020.
The China U.S. soybean purchase tracker now stands at 4.521 mmt or 38% of the 12 mmt promised by China at year end or is it end of February or the growing season? Why the discrepancy vs. the fact sheet. The optics are poor for the Trump administration.
After surging to contract highs U.S. natural gas futures plunged over 30+% in just 5-trading days!
Silver traded to new record highs as the debasement and de dollarization trade continued but technicals remain overbought near-term.
Soybean futures remained in correction mode after the funds went record long futures on Nov. 19 +233,000 contracts but the $10.80 support should hold into year end when the fund profit taking/liquidation comes to an end from the year end, end of month and end of quarter selling.
The U.S. Fed cut interest rates for the 3rd time by 25 basis points to a range of 3.50 – 3.75% and they will only cut one more time in 2026 and once in 20267/ but when Powell is gone next April the replacement is willing to cut more aggressively and we could see U.S. interest rates fall to 2.0% very bullish for ag and stocks as it could reignite inflation into 2027.
After 2 months of being drier than normal in Brazil the rains have finally arrived for the 1st half of December, and a record crop is still in the cards but if this pattern continues and verifies it could start to delay the harvest. Argentina after being too wet has turned dry but they are too small, compared top Brazil in the grand picture.
The Canadian dollar surged to $0.73 after better-than-expected employment data with 180,000 new jobs in the past 3-months and 3rd quarter GDP at +2.6% but this could be short-lived.
The latest CFTC report as of 11-19-2025 reported a record long fund position in soybeans at +233,000 contracts when 2026 March soybean futures peaked on 11-19-25 at $11.724/bu.