Livestock
Reading Time: 3 minutes Following several months of small to moderate profits over the summer, a dramatic fall in hog prices and soaring feed costs have once again put Canada’s pig producers in a perilous position. After three years of hemorrhaging cash, producers hoped a sustained period of profits would rebuild equity. Those hopes have been dashed on the […] Read more
After Brief Profitability, Pork Producers Re-Enter Survival Mode
U.S. Reports Record Net Farm Income For 2010
Reading Time: < 1 minute The U.S. farm sector is enjoying a broad-based boom, thanks to surging prices and vociferous demand from China, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Dec. 1. U.S. net cash farm income will rise 34 per cent to a record $92.5 billion this year, one of the rosiest years for American agriculture in four decades. “The recovery […] Read more
A Win On Checkoffs, Concerns About Land-Use Plan
Reading Time: 2 minutes After overcoming a serious checkoff issue, Alberta Beef Producers delegates took time to savour that victory at their recent annual meeting and then quickly set their sights on other batttles still to be won. The biggest issue facing ABP in 2010 was the refundable checkoff, which became a financial fact early in the year and […] Read more
Smithfield Living High Off The Hog
Reading Time: < 1 minute Smithfield Foods Inc. expects to post a record profit this year as its moves to cut meat supplies are paying off with higher prices, and its shares rose more than 10 per cent. Smithfield is recovering from two years of losses that resulted from high feed prices, a glut of hogs and a recession that […] Read more
Sundre Producer Receives Dairy Award
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Milk Producers group awarded Bruce Beattie the 2010 Dairy Industry Achievement Award (DIAA) at the Dairy Conference and Alberta Milk Annual General Meeting last November in Calgary. Beattie currently farms near Sundre and is a deputy reeve for Division 4 in Mountain View County. The DIAA celebrates individuals or organizations who have distinguished themselves […] Read more
Swine Traceability System To Launch In The New Year
Reading Time: 2 minutes The hog industry is well on its way down the traceability trail and will soon have a program in place in Alberta. The project will be given a “soft launch,” with data collection and testing of the system starting Jan. 4, 2011, said Ron Axelson, a consultant hired by Alberta Pork. The project will be […] Read more
What’s Up – for Jan. 3, 2011
Reading Time: < 1 minute Send agriculture-related meeting and event announcements to: [email protected] Jan. 5-7:Western Canadian Wheat Growers convention, Fairmont Waterfront, 900 Canada Place Way, Vancouver. For more info visit www.wheatgrowers.ca/events.htm January 10:Selling Organic Beef, Provincial Building 10 a.m., Barrhead. Call: Becky 780-271-1116 January 14:Transition to Organic Livestock, TBA 9:30 a.m., Sangudo. Call: Becky 780-271-1116 January 14/16:Horse Breeders &Owners Conference, […] Read more
U.S. drops ADM Canada crusher from restricted list
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has dropped Archer Daniels Midland’s canola crushing plant in Windsor, Ontario from its list of plants that are under import restrictions due to salmonella concerns, easing measures that sharply cut Canadian shipments of the livestock feed to its biggest export market. The FDA removed the Windsor plant from […] Read more
International operator takes Man. beef packer’s helm
The CEO at Winnipeg beef packing firm Keystone Processors has stepped down to make room for a new management company that has built and run beef plants in the U.S. and Uruguay. Kelly Penner, who helped found the company in 2007 with investment from the levy-backed and provincially-supported Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council (MCEC), announced Tuesday […] Read more
South Korea raises foot-and-mouth disease alert
South Korea has raised its foot-and-mouth disease alert to the highest level, culling and burying 480,000 pigs, sheep and cattle, and vaccinating livestock to contain a fast-spreading outbreak of the disease. The disease has prompted the authorities to shut down all livestock markets in the country, leading to a rise in the wholesale price of […] Read more
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