Reading Time: < 1 minute University of Alberta professor, Michael Dyck has been awarded a $1-million grant for a project that will use genomics to select pigs with improved disease resilience. The funding, which comes from Genome Canada, will build on the work the professor of animal biotechnology has done with funding from Genome Alberta and is being supported by […] Read more
Pork genomics project gets $1 million
ASF virus is deadly but the fallout from an outbreak even worse
Health officials can deal with an African swine fever outbreak, but not its huge market disruption, says top expert
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a nightmare scenario — but if African swine fever arrived in Canada, the economic consequences would be much harder to deal with than the virus itself. “African swine fever is a big problem with very big challenges,” Dr. Egan Brockhoff said during a recent virtual presentation. “Big is an understatement. This is a global […] Read more
Tyson suspends staff as suit alleges managers set up COVID pool
Chicago | Reuters — Tyson Foods said Thursday it suspended employees without pay and hired former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder to conduct an investigation in response to a wrongful death lawsuit that alleges managers at an Iowa pork plant took bets on how many employees would catch COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the […] Read more
Feds back pork producers with new levy on imports
New national pork agency to be up and running next summer
A new agency will use funds from a new levy on imported pork to pay for research and promotion for the Canadian pork sector. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau on Thursday officially announced the creation of the Canadian Pork Promotion and Research Agency (PRA). The Farm Products Council of Canada (FPCC) and Agriculture and […] Read more
Swine flu strain makes first jump to person in Canada
Alberta reports 'one isolated case' in central region
Further risk to people is believed to be low after a person in central Alberta was confirmed to have caught a variant of H1N2 swine flu, in the first case of its kind in Canada. The virus was spotted in mid-October after a patient sought medical care with “influenza-like symptoms,” provincial chief medical officer Dr. […] Read more
Shutdown urged for Quebec pork plant after COVID-19 death
Union calls on Olymel to close site for at least two weeks
The union for over 1,000 workers at a major Quebec hog slaughter plant is calling on the owner to temporarily close the facility against a COVID-19 outbreak now blamed for the death of an employee. Le Syndicat des travailleurs d’Olymel Vallee-Jonction-CSN said Wednesday the death of a worker earlier this week led it to demand […] Read more
Pork innovators urged to enter contest
Entry deadline Oct. 31
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Banff Pork Seminar is going virtual this year but the tradition of awarding the FX Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production will continue. The contest is open to anyone who has developed an innovation — big or small — that is relevant to the North American pork industry. “The creativity and innovation of entries […] Read more
Alberta Pork urges producers to consider marketing co-op
Banding together would fix a ‘broken’ system and force packers to pay a fair price, says organization
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta Pork is urging hog farmers in the province to band together to force packers to pay a fair price for their animals. And that includes thinking about returning to a single-desk model or forming marketing co-operatives to “shift the balance of power back to producers.” In an analysis of the sector covering the past […] Read more
Strong demand, lower supplies support North American hog prices
MarketsFarm — Hog prices in North America typically come under pressure heading into fall, as the end of barbecue season coincides with more hogs coming to slaughter. However, strong global demand has propped up hog prices in recent weeks, with cash prices increasing by over 25 per cent. Fewer hogs coming to market, coupled with […] Read more
Swine fever found in Germany putting pork exports at risk
Country had been fencing off borders against wild boar
Berlin/Hamburg | Reuters — Germany confirmed on Thursday that African swine fever (ASF) had been found in a dead wild boar near its border with Poland, threatening pork exports to China from Europe’s biggest pork producer, which were worth US$1.2 billion last year. Authorities in the German state of Brandenburg quarantined a 15-km area around […] Read more
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