“Continuous engagement” has led to a lighter regulatory load on Canadian wheat bound for Colombia, already Canada’s seventh-biggest wheat export market. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and trade group Cereals Canada on Tuesday announced Colombia has eased phytosanitary import rules for Canadian wheat, “effectively putting Canada on a level playing field with other exporting countries.” Colombia’s […] Read more
Colombia clears paper trail for more Canadian wheat
Bunge, Saudi Arabia to buy control of CWB
Agribusiness giant Bunge and the Saudi Arabian government’s ag investment arm are the joint “successful acquirer” of the former Canadian Wheat Board. Bunge Canada and SALIC Canada, an arm of the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co., on Wednesday announced their new Winnipeg-based joint venture, G3 Global Grain Group, will pay $250 million to CWB […] Read more
Ont. turkey farm’s avian flu confirmed as H5N2
A quarantined southwestern Ontario turkey farm has been confirmed with the same strain of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu seen on farms in British Columbia and several U.S. states. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Wednesday that samples tested at its National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg have confirmed the virus’ subtype and […] Read more
Olymel hog plant workers hit the bricks in Quebec
Unionized workers at Olymel’s hog slaughter and processing plant in Quebec’s Beauce region have walked off the job and rejected the meat company’s “final” contract offer. Olymel’s corporate communications spokesman Richard Vigneault confirmed the workers, represented by CSN (Confederation des syndicats nationaux), went on strike Wednesday evening. CSN, in a release Thursday, said 841 of […] Read more
China to block Canadian beef as BSE probe continues
China has set up “temporary trade restrictions” on Canadian beef and beef products in the wake of Canada’s first case of BSE in a domestic cow since 2011, federal officials report. Born in 2009 and confirmed with BSE Feb. 11, the latest case — Canada’s 19th since its first such finding in 2003 — has […] Read more
BSE case born after tightened feed ban imposed
The beef cow that became Canada’s 19th case of BSE is now confirmed as Canada’s first-ever case to be born after tighter limits were imposed on use of cattle parts in livestock feed. Without specifying a home municipality, spokesmen for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said on a conference call Wednesday that Case 19 […] Read more
Officials chasing down unknowns in new BSE case
The cow confirmed Thursday as Canada’s 19th domestic case of BSE, and just its third case in the past five years, is still somewhat of a stranger to federal officials. Representatives with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), on a conference call Friday, said they haven’t yet confirmed the cow’s age, its past travels or […] Read more
Hens near Chilliwack catch H5N1 avian flu
About 95 layer hens on a “non-commercial” farm near Chilliwack are the Fraser Valley’s latest cases of avian influenza, but not of the same strain seen at 12 other farms in December. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Saturday announced a quarantine on the Chilliwack farm after confirming, effective Feb. 2, that table egg-laying birds […] Read more
Grain shippers’ data show ongoing rail supply/demand gap
Numbers newly crunched by a clutch of Canadian grain shippers paint a picture of a gap that’s wide, and getting wider, between the numbers of rail cars they say they need and what they say they’re getting. The Ag Transport Coalition — which so far includes eight Canadian grain-handling and crop commodity groups, working with […] Read more
Court tosses CP’s appeal on U.S.-bound grain interswitching
Confirming that a deal is as good as a fixed asset, a Prairie grain handler gets to keep using a lower-price rail route from Alberta into Montana, now that a Federal Court ruling has shot down an appeal from the railway taking grain down to the border. Writing on Jan. 2, Judge J.D. Denis Pelletier […] Read more