Leaders in Canada’s pork sector are calling on the federal government to give perishable agriculture products the same consideration and protection as grain. The call comes as a longshore workers’ strike at British Columbia’s West Coast ports nears its second week, blocking the shipment of Canadian meat and most other exports. Canadian Pork Council (CPC) […] Read more
Pork sector calls for essential service status amid B.C. port strike
Council says pork should receive same consideration as grains
Olymel bacon plant deal a ‘signal,’ union says
Deal ends three-week strike at Drummondville
Unionized workers at Olymel’s bacon processing plant at Drummondville, Que. have voted to accept a four-year deal, ending a three-week strike and serving as a “signal” to employers in the region, their union said. Olymel announced Friday that CSN-represented workers at the Bacon Inter-America facility, who’d been on strike since May 26, voted 93.6 per […] Read more
Olymel to idle multiple Prairie hog barns
Packer cites 'continued financial losses' in sector
Pork packer Olymel is preparing to dial back its hog production in Western Canada by shuttering six of its sow units in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Olymel, the agrifood arm of Quebec’s Sollio Cooperative Group, announced Friday it has served 80 employees with layoff notices at five sow units in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. The […] Read more
U.S. Supreme Court upholds California’s pig confinement law
Dissent suggests 'substantial burden against interstate commerce'
Reuters — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday preserved a California law banning the sale of pork in America’s most-populous state from pigs kept in tightly confined spaces, rejecting an industry challenge claiming that the voter-backed animal welfare measure impermissibly regulates out-of-state farmers. The justices voted 5-4 to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of a […] Read more
Indonesia confirms African swine fever outbreak
Disease killed over 35,000 hogs on farm
Paris | Reuters — Indonesia has reported an outbreak of African swine fever on a farm on the Riau Islands near Singapore, the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday. The outbreak that killed 35,297 pigs in a herd of 285,034 on a farm located on Bulan island was detected on April 1 […] Read more
Olymel to shut one Quebec hog slaughter plant
New provincial hog supply agreement in works as Vallee-Jonction facility set to close
Quebec-based meat packer Olymel’s bid to stem losses in its fresh pork business now includes closing down one of its five Canadian hog slaughter plants. Olymel, the protein arm of Sollio Co-operative, announced Friday it will wind down operations at its hog slaughter, cutting and deboning plant at Vallee-Jonction, Que. and permanently close the facility […] Read more
New year sees lower hog prices
Reading Time: < 1 minute Hog prices have dipped this year, says provincial livestock analyst Ann Boyda. As of March 10, hog prices had averaged $1.81 per kilogram, down about six per cent from the same period a year earlier, Boyda said in an Agri-News article. However, prices in 2022 (which averaged $2.27 a kilogram for the year) were nearly […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME hog futures recover after ‘complete downhill slide’
Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures ended higher on Friday as the market recovered after sliding to life-of-contract lows this week. The market was due for a bounce as losses were overdone, brokers said. “We’ve been on just about a complete downhill slide,” said Karl Setzer, brokerage research lead at Mid-Co […] Read more
Piglet ‘weaning ramp’ earns Aherne Prize
Temple Grandin praises innovative ramp that saves the backs of workers and is gentler on piglets
Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Two employees of HyLife sow farms in La Broquerie, Man., have won the F. X. Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production at the 2023 Banff Pork Seminar. In most sow farms, the weaning process typically involves picking up piglets, vaccinating them and separating them by sex. But repeatedly collecting and picking up […] Read more
Olymel to shut two pork processing plants
Triomphe ham, deli meat plants to close in late April
Meat packer Olymel is set to close a chapter in its acquisition history when it shuts down two Montreal-area pork further-processing plants it bought five years ago. Olymel, a division of ag co-operative Sollio, announced Wednesday it will close the former Aliments Triomphe plant at Blainville and its sister plant about 18 km southeast at […] Read more
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