A potential buyer’s study could soon show whether a former beef packing plant in southern Saskatchewan has the bones to support a pork processing operation for cull sows. Richmond, B.C.-based Donald’s Fine Foods, which since 2010 has operated the Thunder Creek Pork hog plant at Moose Jaw, announced last week it plans to run a […] Read more
Pork packer considering Moose Jaw’s ex-beef plant
Donald's Fine Foods announces 'feasibility study'
Olymel pork plant workers take slaughter into OT
Over 800 volunteered for added shifts with charitable twist, packer says
Workers at three Olymel hog slaughter plants in Quebec volunteered for overtime shifts over the weekend to help clear the province’s backlog of market-weight hogs, the company said Saturday. Sollio’s meat packing arm said over 800 workers at its slaughter plants at Yamachiche and St-Esprit and the former F. Menard plant it now owns at […] Read more
HyLife buys pork packing, hog production capacity
Firm buys stake in U.S. packer, Manitoba hog farming business
Canadian hog production and pork processing firm HyLife has moved to expand its reach in North American pork packing as well as Manitoba hog farming. La Broquerie, Man.-based HyLife announced last week it has bought a 75 per cent stake in Taylor Corp.’s Prime Pork, a packing and processing operation at Windom, Minnesota, about 200 […] Read more
Tyson to shut Iowa pork plant against COVID-19 outbreak
Plant handles up to 3.5 per cent of U.S. pork output
Chicago | Reuters — Tyson Foods said on Thursday it will temporarily close an Iowa pork plant due to the coronavirus pandemic, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered slaughterhouses to stay open to protect the country’s food supply. Meat processors such as Tyson, WH Group’s Smithfield Foods and JBS USA temporarily closed about […] Read more
Alberta hog farmers say financial aid not nearly enough
Reading Time: < 1 minute The provincial government has made a number of moves to support farmers in the province. In addition to providing $17 million for the cattle set-aside program, the province is increasing the interim payment under AgriStability from 50 per cent to 75 per cent for the hog sector. “This will put up to $25 million in […] Read more
Smithfield starting to reopen Sioux Falls hog plant, union says
Major plant was shuttered by COVID-19 outbreak
Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, resumed limited operations on Monday at a massive South Dakota slaughterhouse it closed last month because of the coronavirus pandemic, the union representing plant employees said. The closure of the plant and other slaughterhouses due to coronavirus cases among employees has led to temporary […] Read more
Major Ontario pork packer expects to re-open Monday
Conestoga Meats went offline April 27
The hog slaughter and processing plant billed as Ontario’s second-biggest pork producer expects to be back in business Monday after a week-long COVID-19-related shutdown. Conestoga Meats, based at Breslau, just east of Kitchener, notified hog farmers and shippers on Friday that it would suspend “most operations” during the week of April 27 to May 1, […] Read more
Producers need $35 a hog immediately, says Alberta Pork
Sector facing losses of $675 million and ‘desperately needs a lifeline’ in the face of plunging prices
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s pork producers need government aid of $35 a head just to keep their heads above water in the short term, say industry officials. “The hog industry desperately needs a lifeline,” said Alberta Pork chair Brent Moen. “Our producers are drowning in a sea of red ink, and we have our federal and provincial bureaucrats […] Read more
JBS reopens Minnesota pork plant to cull pigs
Chicago | Reuters — Meat producer JBS said Wednesday it was reopening a Minnesota pork plant shuttered by the pandemic to euthanize up to 13,000 pigs a day for farmers, not to produce meat for consumers. U.S. farmers have been forced to cull livestock as they run short of space to house animals after some […] Read more
Pork sector’s calls for aid heard, not yet answered
Federal government says it's examining "all options"
Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s office said late last week the government is working “around the clock” to respond to the pandemic’s impact on farmers and agri-food businesses. But there was no commitment to the direct support Canadian pork industry officials say is now necessary to carry the sector through a crisis which has led […] Read more
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