Livestock

Manitoba’s opposition Progressive Conservatives named new critics for agriculture and rural initiatives in a shadow-cabinet shuffle Thursday. Cliff Graydon, a grain grower and Charolais breeder from Woodmore, about 65 km south of Steinbach, is the new critic for agriculture, food and co-operative development, taking over from Lakeside MLA Ralph Eichler. Graydon, the MLA for the […] Read more

Canadian hog producers trying to take advantage of a federal loan loss reserve program say they’ve run up against lenders’ tough criteria for granting the government-backed loans. That’s according to Jurgen Preugschas, president of the Canadian Pork Council, who said Wednesday at the Manitoba Swine Seminar in Winnipeg that financial institutions appear to be using […] Read more

Canadian pet food maker Menu Foods has scored a fully-underwritten credit facility that it plans to use to repay all its existing debt. The Toronto company, which makes private-label “wet” pet foods for U.S. and Canadian retail chains, on Wednesday announced an agreement with its banker for provision of US$105 million of credit facilities, expected […] Read more

The New Brunswick processor that’s now mandated to handle all chicken produced in the province says a proposal by its main chicken producer wouldn’t stop most of the layoffs at the packing plant. Nadeau Poultry Farm, a subsidiary of Ontario meat company Maple Lodge, was designated by the New Brunswick government Jan. 20 as the […] Read more

Recent acquisitions by Canada’s largest dairy processor helped offset a dip in U.S. cheese prices in Saputo’s third fiscal quarter. The Montreal dairy giant on Tuesday posted net earnings of $104.3 million on $1.497 billion in revenues in its third quarter ending Dec. 31, 2009, compared to $57.8 million profit on $1.518 billion in revenues […] Read more

“Explore Local,” an Alberta government initiative to help promote and pull together the various threads of Alberta’s local food sectors, is officially on the drawing board. “Explore Local presents new growth opportunities for agriculture food products and services in Alberta and helps connect and support the many different people and players involved or interested in […] Read more

With no new talks in sight to end a lockout at XL Foods’ beef processing plant at Moose Jaw, Sask., the province’s labour leaders have called for a boycott of the Alberta parent company’s beef. As of Wednesday, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada) Local 1400, which represents 200 employees at the Moose […] Read more

The Nova Scotia agency tasked with boosting awareness and consumption of the province’s food products is offering sponsorships of community suppers featuring local food. Select Nova Scotia said Friday it still has 12 of 24 sponsorships available worth $500 each for community groups that would like to hold what the agency has branded “IncrEdible Community […] Read more

Farmers in British Columbia will be able to get up to $3,000 each in public funds for approved on-farm food safety projects through a new program. The new Food Safety Systems Implementation (FSSI) program will get up to $2.4 million to help farmers carry out their individual plans on the way to safety certification, the […] Read more