Ron Friesen

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s long-delayed trade challenge to the U.S. country-of-origin labelling rule is finally ready to roll. The World Trade Organization last week named a three-person panel to rule on whether COOL violates international trade law. Canada and Mexico have launched a joint challenge to COOL, which requires U.S. retailers to label certain foods according to their […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes GARY CORBETT “There’s a component of science that has to remain to protect the public trust.” PIPS Canada’s federal agriculture scientists are getting old, their equipment is outdated and their research increasingly aimed at making money for big business rather than benefiting the public good. That’s how Gary Corbett interprets Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s recent […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes The elimination of a non-refundable cattle checkoff in Alberta could cost Canada’s beef industry over $20 million a year in lost economic benefits, according to figures in a new study. A national agency which directs checkoff money toward beef research, promotion and market development has slashed its annual budget, mainly because the Alberta checkoff, once […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes “Do you think they will be friendly to product coming in that’s produced in a different manner?” UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY ED PAJOR Canada may eventually have to ban gestation stalls for pregnant sows if it wants to continue exporting to the United States, where such bans are occurring. A leading Canadian animal welfare scientist warns […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes A new U. S. study has detected a number of pesticides in North American honeybee colonies at far higher levels than previously known. Scientists have found “unprecedented levels of miticides and agricultural pesticides in honeybee colonies from across the U. S. and one Canadian province,” says the study, published March 19 in an online scientific […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes “Removing a crate from the barn has a huge ripple effect. This would be something more in this quote to fille the space” marg rempel ste. anne producer Mention activists who oppose sow gestation stalls and Marg Rempel gets so frustrated she can hardly talk. It isn’t just anti-stall people who upset her. It’s their […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario and Quebec are embroiled in a chicken war reminiscent of trade squabbles between provinces that led to the creation of supply management more than 40 years ago. Chicken Farmers of Ontario has placed a moratorium on interprovincial movement of chicken to stem a bidding war between processors at home and in next-door Quebec. The […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes “This has nothing to do with appeasing the activists. It’s to take us off their radar screen.” Penny Kelly Manitoba Egg Producers Manitoba egg producers have taken a major step toward alternative housing for hens by introducing new animal-welfare standards for layer barns. The new policy will eventually mean the phasing out of battery cages, […] Read more