Former Alberta Farmer Express editor Janet Kanters is the new stakeholder communications manager for the Beef Information Centre (BIC). BIC, with offices in Calgary and Mississauga, is the beef market development division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. Kanters, the Alberta farm newspaper’s editor from June 2006 to November 2007, has previously worked for Alberta’s provincial […] Read more
Beef centre names communications chief
NFU calls on feds to block Lakeside sale
A major beef packing plant sale that would create “one of the most concentrated markets in the North American food system” shouldn’t be allowed to go ahead without major concessions, the National Farmers Union urged Tuesday. U.S. meat giant Tyson Foods announced last month it will sell its Lakeside Farm Industries plant at Brooks, Alta., […] Read more
CPR’s Q2 grain revenue drops
Despite raising its freight rates against rising fuel costs, Canadian Pacific Railway posted a sharp drop in profits plus a four per cent smaller grain handle in its second quarter ending June 30. “This was a tough quarter with the unprecedented rise in fuel prices, the North American economic downturn, and prolonged flooding on our […] Read more
Man. manure research group names new chief
Don Dixon, the retired head of the Manitoba agriculture department’s crops branch, has been named chairman of the Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative. Dixon, who recently retired from the provincial government after 30 years, began work with the department as the provincial apiarist and held several management positions before heading the crops branch based at […] Read more
Maple Leaf’s Burlington pork plant for sale
Maple Leaf Foods has started up the formal process to sell Ontario’s largest pork plant before the end of the year. The Toronto food company’s pork processing plant at Burlington, near Hamilton, now employs about 1,200 people processing about 42,000 hogs per week, about 16 per cent below its capacity of 50,000. “Our Burlington, Ont. […] Read more
Federal swine cull funding still available: CPC
There’s still time for hog producers who might want to downsize their herds or exit the business to apply for federal funds to cull breeding hogs, the Canadian Pork Council said last week. In a release Thursday, the council said that as of July 11, roughly 500 applications to the federal cull breeding swine program […] Read more
Rains help Sask. crops, soak eastern Man.
Rainfall so far in July has left up to three quarters of Saskatchewan’s crops in good to excellent condition but much of the eastern half of farming Manitoba remains wet or excessively soaked. Both provinces’ agriculture departments, in their Monday crop reports, said crops generally are behind normal development for this time of year. However, […] Read more
Grain revenue up in CN’s Q2
Increased grain revenue helped CN improve its revenue picture and offset rising costs in its second fiscal quarter ending June 30. The railway on Monday posted $459 million in 2008 Q2 net income on $2.098 billion in total revenue, an 11 per cent drop in net income and four per cent gain in revenue compared […] Read more
Sask. oat growers fund U of S research
The Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission has signed on for a five-year, $500,000 funding commitment for development of higher-yielding, disease-resistant oat varieties at the University of Saskatchewan. The SODC, which had previously put up a one-time, $25,000 contribution to work at the U of S Crop Development Centre (CDC) on “high groat fat” varieties for potential […] Read more
Cattle’s eyes a marker for temper: study
Selecting cattle to breed for temperament may soon become as easy as seeing the whites of their eyes. In a study outlined Monday in an Ontario ag ministry newsletter for beef producers, University of Guelph researcher and master’s student Sarah Core explored the correlation between the amount of white showing in cattle’s eyes and the […] Read more
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