Manitoba cattle producers whose usual markets for finished cattle were temporarily out of reach this spring and summer may now be able to offset some of the resulting extra feed bills. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her Manitoba counterpart, Blaine Pedersen, on Thursday announced the 2020 Canada-Manitoba Finished Cattle Feed Assistance Program, an AgriRecovery […] Read more
Manitoba cattle sector gets COVID-19 AgriRecovery
Program to help offset costs from 'extraordinary feed period'
U.S. livestock: Lean hog futures climb to more than 10-month high
Live cattle lower on new lockdown concerns for beef demand
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures on Thursday soared to their highest prices in more than 10 months, as meat demand continued to strain processor capacity and COVID-19 cases are rising in the United States, traders said. Thursday’s daily U.S. hog slaughter was 490,000 head — 2,000 fewer than the same period last […] Read more
Alberta agriculture shines ‘during these tough times’
Government touts record crop production, rebound in cattle sector, and food processing
Reading Time: < 1 minute The provincial governments says “record crops and strengthened cattle prices are leading Alberta’s economic recovery.” “Crop yields are estimated to hit a new record high in Alberta with farmers harvesting more than seven per cent above what is normal,” the government said in a news release. “Livestock market sales are estimated to also reach a […] Read more
World Food Program seeking billions within six months to avert famine
Pandemic may double hunger worldwide, agency says
London | Reuters — The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will need to raise US$6.8 billion over the next six months to avert famine amid the COVID-19 crisis, the agency said on Tuesday. The WFP, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as […] Read more
Life on The Farm shows what learning could look like in a post-pandemic world
Students at The Farm had quite a different back-to-school experience after the pandemic
Reading Time: 3 minutes After years of planning and months of hard work, The Farm — Rocky View School Division’s new alternative learning program — finally got its first batch of eager high school students out in the field, ready to get their hands dirty. But it was in February. “The first year on The Farm was horrible,” said […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market digests rising COVID-19 cases
Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were relatively unchanged while calves traded steady to $2 lower on average. The grain harvest is in its final stages and buying interest was noted from the farmer/backgrounding operator. The buying frenzy over yearlings has eased and finishing feedlots were active on all weight categories. Feather-light calves […] Read more
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ as cattle backlog numbers fall
The number of market-ready cattle remains high, but packers have made good progress since spring
Reading Time: 4 minutes In spite of producers’ fears in the spring, things seemed to have settled out a little bit in the cattle market. The shutdown of Cargill in High River and the slowdown of JBS in Brooks left a backlog of cattle that many worried would pummel calf prices this fall. “Our processing was limited in the […] Read more
Strong demand, lower supplies support North American hog prices
MarketsFarm — Hog prices in North America typically come under pressure heading into fall, as the end of barbecue season coincides with more hogs coming to slaughter. However, strong global demand has propped up hog prices in recent weeks, with cash prices increasing by over 25 per cent. Fewer hogs coming to market, coupled with […] Read more
Federal program to protect farms, workers from COVID-19 underway
'Highest-risk' farming operations to get priority, Bibeau says
Applications are now open for a federally-administered $35 million emergency on-farm support fund to help limit the impacts of COVID-19 on farms and on-farm workers. Aimed at farm workplaces and employee living quarters, the fund is being managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), but cost-shared with participating producers at a 50-50 level. Money is […] Read more
They ain’t making more: In land we trust — even during a pandemic
Alberta’s farmland values increased at a pace of 8.5 per cent over the past year
Reading Time: 3 minutes COVID-19 has created shockwaves across the agricultural marketplace over the past six months — but has it affected farmland prices? “So far, we’re pretty confident to say no,” said J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist for Farm Credit Canada. “Right now, given the data that we have, we see very little impact of the pandemic on […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
