Livestock
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Beef Information Centre (BIC) says it continues to encourage Canadian retailers and foodservice operators to take advantage of the Canadian beef brand logo and the tagline “Canadian beef. Goodness in every bite.” BIC says it has worked with more than 100 industry partners and has signed 49 brand licence agreements with retail, foodservice and […] Read more
BIC continues to promote the Canadian beef brand identity
Early Interest In Hog Transition Program Is Heavy
Reading Time: 2 minutes A federal government program to help hog producers leave the industry could risk running out of money before serving all applicants. The $75 million in the program may not be enough to meet the demand at the rate inquiries are going, said Karl Kynoch, Manitoba Pork Council chairman. The early response to the long-awaited program […] Read more
Will Castration Become A Thing Of The Past?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Trials with four million pigs failed to find any evidence of boar taint in 200,000 pigs using chemical or sensory tests. Bernie Peet is president of Pork Chain Consulting Ltd. of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor of Western Hog Journal. About this time last year, I wrote about the pressure that the procedure of castration is […] Read more
Court upholds new rules on cheesemaking
Three major Canadian cheesemakers’ joint challenge against new federal rules on cheese composition have been dismissed in Federal Court. Justice Luc Martineau, ruling Wednesday in Ottawa, dismissed an application for judicial review brought last year by Saputo, Parmalat Canada and Kraft Canada. Costs were also awarded to the federal government. The ruling relates to the […] Read more
Hog programs aim to cut output to 25M head
(Resource News International) –– More details about Canada’s hog programs aimed at cutting annual production down to the 25 million to 26 million head per year level have made available, according to an industry official. Canada’s annual hog production for calendar year 2009 has been projected at 29 million head, while in 2008 production was […] Read more
Wild birds blamed for Fraser Valley avian flu
Wild birds are seen as the carriers of a “low-path” H5N2 avian flu virus that hit a turkey farm in Abbotsford, B.C. in January. But how a second nearby farm got infected is still unknown, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday. In its report on its investigation of a low-pathogenicity (“low-path”) H5N2 avian flu […] Read more
Que. launches support strategy for food processors
The Quebec government has launched a new strategy to support its food processing and manufacturing industries, adding $12 million in new funding for support programs. The strategy, titled “En marche vers l’excellence” (Working toward excellence), includes a total budget of $35.3 million over three years in three areas: improving productivity; improving food healthfulness and quality; […] Read more
Canada asks for WTO panel on COOL
Consultations with the U.S. government having gone nowhere, the Canadian government has asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to convene a dispute settlement panel over Washington’s mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) laws. Federal Ag Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Stockwell Day on Wednesday announced their request for a panel, “The U.S. COOL requirements are […] Read more
CFIA lays out national poultry biosecurity standard
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has compiled good biosecurity practices for poultry producers into a national standard for the industry. The new biosecurity standard, released Tuesday, focuses on disease prevention and protection measures. “Biosecurity is the best investment producers can make to safeguard the health of their animals on the farm and make the most […] Read more
Aid launched for Que. Standardbred horse breeders
An ad-hoc aid program pledged last week for Quebec’s Standardbred horse breeders is now in place, the province said Monday. The program is in response to the plight of breeders hit hard by the decline in Quebec’s racetrack sector in recent years, Agriculture Minister Claude Bechard said. The program is budgeted for $9.2 million between […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
