Maple syrup producer hurt in tractor crash

A 77-year-old Sparta-area maple syrup producer received minor injuries and was treated and released from hospital after a pickup truck rear-ended the trailer he was towing with a tractor on Quaker Line south of Sparta on Thursday morning, March 12.

An Elgin County Ontario Provincial Police spokesman said a 24-year-old St. Thomas man was charged with careless driving after the 2001 Chevrolet pickup truck he was driving collided with a John Deere tractor and homemade trailer around 8:45 a.m. that morning.

The farmer driving the tractor was transporting maple syrup on the trailer at the time.

He was travelling north on Quaker Road south of Roberts Line and driving slowly when the trailer was rear-ended by the northbound pickup truck.

The tractor driver was thrown from his vehicle.

He was taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries and later released.

The pickup driver was not injured.