Livestock
Farmers, rural municipalities and First Nations in Saskatchewan can apply this year for a one-time rebate on the costs of products used to poison problem gophers. The new rebate, announced Thursday, will cover 50 per cent of the cost of any of 25 eligible products bought between Aug. 1 last year and Oct. 1 this […] Read more
Sask. offers rebates on gopher poisons
U.S. court approves Menu Foods settlement
Beleaguered pet food manufacturer Menu Foods has picked up approval from a U.S. district court for a US$24 million settlement of over 100 class action suits coming out of its major pet food recall last year. With approval from a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey, the Toronto income trust now must wait for […] Read more
New margarine too buttery for Quebec: report
Unilever’s new margarine, Becel Gold with Buttery Taste, may have crossed the line in Quebec’s food labelling laws, according to an interview with Agriculture Minister Laurent Lessard in the farm newspaper La Terre de Chez Nous. In an article Tuesday on the newspaper’s website, Lessard said he has asked the multinational food and consumer product […] Read more
Korea to resume beef talks: report
South Korea plans to reopen negotiations with Canada on beef imports early next month, the Yonhap news agency reported Sunday, quoting “Seoul officials.” The decision comes almost a year after talks between the two countries were suspended, Yonhap said. Before Korea closed to Canadian beef in 2003, Canada was the fourth-largest beef supplier to Korea, […] Read more
S. Ont. farmers eligible for wetland funding
Ontario’s natural resources ministry (MNR) and Ducks Unlimited Canada will put up $1 million over two years for a plan to help rural southern Ontario landowners with protection and upkeep of wetland habitats. Under the Ontario Wetland Care program, announced Friday as part of the “Healthy Wetlands, Healthy Communities II” partnership agreement, the province has […] Read more
Hog sector braves financial storm, for now
(Resource News International) — Financial uncertainty gripping the international markets could also take its toll on the Canadian hog sector, according to market sources, who noted that prices have declined over the past month. Lower feed grain costs and a weaker Canadian dollar are, however, helping boost the profitability of hog producers in the short […] Read more
Listeria found again at Maple Leaf plant
Just a few weeks after deep-cleaning and reopening to a far heavier testing regime, Maple Leaf Foods’ Bartor Road meat processing plant in Toronto has yielded a few product samples contaminated with listeria. Listeria monocytogenes was detected in four positive test results out of over 2,700 product samples reported to date since the plant’s restart, […] Read more
Calculator to gauge horses’ disease risks
The University of Guelph’s horse health centre plans to launch an online calculator program with which horse owners can pencil out the impact of their farm practices on their animals’ risk of infectious disease. Equine Guelph, in a notice on its website, said it plans to unveil what it calls the equine biosecurity risk calculator […] Read more
COOL confusion costs producers: CCA, CPC
Watching its rules be reinterpreted on “a weekly basis,” Canada’s cattle and hog producers say U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) legislation is now chilling cross-border trade volume and prices. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and Canadian Pork Council have filed joint comments with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) saying COOL is discriminating against Canada’s 100,000 livestock […] Read more
Alta. ships PID forms for AFRP II funding
Alberta livestock producers will either soon have or be able to order the forms needed for their second round of benefits under the Alberta Farm Recovery Plan (AFRP) II. The province, in an information bulletin Tuesday, reiterated that to receive their second installment of AFRP II funding in early 2009, cattle producers must age-verify their […] Read more
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