Livestock

The Alberta government will grant over $137,000 for an $8 million electricity-from-biomass project in the county of Stettler. Prairie Biogas Ltd. and the county government will use the province’s funds to help develop a plant that can process 25 tonnes of mostly farm biomass but also municipal waste, producing a “clean” synthetic gas that can […] Read more

Manitoba’s provincial government will consult on plans to regulate agencies that recruit temporary workers from other countries. Labour Minister Nancy Allan announced plans Wednesday to consult with stakeholders on proposed changes to the provincial Employment Services Act. One of the proposals would require that all third-party recruiters of foreign workers be licensed by the province. […] Read more

The National Farmers Union (NFU) wants Ontario provincial ombudsman Andre Marin to investigate the conduct and goals of the provincial ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs. The Saskatoon-based farmers’ group submitted a report to Marin’s office Wednesday, detailing what the NFU calls “numerous instances where OMAFRA is failing to protect the long-term interests of […] Read more

An awareness campaign to highlight “positive contributions” by Ontario’s farmers and farm families will run for the next 18 months with $1.3 million in federal government funding. The Presidents’ Council, an umbrella group of 27 farm and commodity groups in the province, will put the money toward a campaign of TV ads as well as […] Read more

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s long-awaited “Rule 2,” allowing imports of Canadian cattle born after March 1, 1999, took effect Monday with no reported incident. “This government and our industry partners have worked closely with the American industry and with the USDA to achieve this goal,” said federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in a release […] Read more

Quebec’s provincial farm finance agency, La Financiere agricole, will issue a third advance from the ASRA program to the province’s hog farmers, dated Nov. 14. The agency, which administers the ASRA (Assurance stabilisation des revenus agricoles) program, made the announcement Thursday. This advance, which represents $6.50 per hog and $46 per sow, is worth $62 […] Read more

The federal government will foot half the bill for Canadian hog farmers to test and vaccinate herds against circovirus-related disease. Christian Paradis, federal secretary of state for agriculture, on Thursday announced $25 million for a Circovirus Inoculation Program (CIP), for which hog owners or herd managers can apply. Forms will be mailed to Canadian hog […] Read more

Hog genetics firm Hypor JV has completed the largest-ever shipment of Canadian hogs into China by air, the company reported Wednesday. Hypor, the Kitchener, Ont.-based swine breeding arm of Dutch livestock firm Hendrix Genetics, shipped 816 hogs by truck from its breeding operations at Ituna and Abernethy in southeastern Saskatchewan, to Chicago. There the animals […] Read more

Still legally unable to discourage wildlife from wandering onto their land, eating crops or wrecking fences, Yukon farmers may soon have the right to chase those unwanted visitors away. This proposal is one of 15 now being considered to the territory’s Wildlife Act for the coming year. The Yukon government is now calling for public […] Read more