Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s pork producers are scrambling to learn more about a major Australian grocery chain’s decision to ban pork from countries that use sow gestation crates. Coles Supermarkets said earlier this month that all its imported pork products, including processed ham and bacon, will have to be from pigs raised without the use of sow stalls. […] Read more
Australian Retailer Bans Imported Pork From Sow Stalls
Scene For BSE Disaster Set In The 1970S
Reading Time: 3 minutes The BSE crisis in 2003 gets the blame for the downward spiral in the Canadian beef business, but industry veteran Charlie Gracey saw it coming before that. Gracey traces the current beef industry slump back to the 1970s which, in his view, set the stage for the post-BSE downturn. “During the four-year period from 1974 […] Read more
Manitoba’s KAP president quits unexpectedly
Manitoba’s general farm organization is looking for a new president after Ian Wishart resigned from the position. A meeting of Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) general council in Portage la Prairie sat in stunned silence Thursday as Wishart said he was stepping down, effective immediately. “With considerable regret, I offer my resignation and my apologies. I […] Read more
U. S. Cool Arguments Called Weak – for Oct. 11, 2010
Reading Time: 2 minutes staff |lac du bonnet, man. The United States showed a weak hand in defending its country-of-origin labelling rule before a recent World Trade Organization dispute panel, says a Canadian Cattlemen’s Association official. John Masswohl, CCA’s government and international relations director, said Canada outscored the U. S. in arguing against COOL during oral hearings earlier this […] Read more
U. S. Egg Contamination Unlikely In Canada: Industry – for Sep. 13, 2010
Reading Time: 3 minutes A recent massive recall of contaminated eggs in the United States probably wouldn’t happen in Canada because conditions are different here, industry officials say. Strict biosecurity and food safety protocols for Canadian egg farmers guard against salmonella outbreaks which occurred last month in the U. S., said Laurent Souligny, Egg Farmers of Canada chairman. The […] Read more
Canadians Head To Geneva To Cool COOL – for Sep. 13, 2010
Reading Time: 3 minutes Eight years after first appearing in legislation and over a year after becoming law, the U. S. country-of- origin labelling (COOL) rule will undergo a legal challenge at the World Trade Organization. A WTO panel this month in Geneva will hear arguments from Canada and Mexico that COOL violates international trade rules. Hearings are scheduled […] Read more
AgriInvest Now Requires Producer Accounts – for Aug. 2, 2010
Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s back to the future for Agri- Invest, the descendant of the former NISA program. Farmers must now open accounts at their local financial institutions to make their Agri- Invest deposits for 2009. The federal government has held producers’ accounts for two years but now it’s time for them to open their own. That’s the […] Read more
New SRM Subsidy Expected To Raise Cow Prices
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cattle producers should see improved prices for cull cows as a result of a federal slaughterhouse program launched last month. Ottawa will spend $25 million, or $31.90 per animal, to help packing plants cover the extra cost of removing specified risk materials (SRMs) from beef carcasses. That’ll encourage Canada’s packers to bid more for cows, […] Read more
Meat May Soon Be Able To Cross Provincial Borders
Reading Time: 2 minutes “This has amazing implications for our smaller abattoirs.” JACK HAYDEN ALBERTA MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE A long-standing promise to loosen up interprovincial trade may finally come true for provincially licensed livestock slaughter plants. Canada’s agriculture ministers have approved pilot projects to see how provincial plants can sell meat to other provinces instead of just their local […] Read more
New report alleges systemic livestock transport abuse
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Do the math. It’s less than half a per cent.” CRYSTAL MACKAY OFAC A new report by the World Society for the Protection of Animals claims farm animals routinely arrive at Canadian livestock auction markets and slaughterhouses dead, sick or severely injured. It bases its findings, not on anecdotal evidence, but on the Canadian Food […] Read more
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