MarketsFarm — Prices for grains, oilseeds and pulses are not as bad off as livestock values are due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Neil Townsend, chief market analyst for FarmLink Solutions in Winnipeg. FarmLink hosted a webinar Wednesday to provide its outlook for the coming crop year. One thing Townsend stressed was there is […] Read more
Grains, oilseeds, pulses hold their own amid pandemic
COVID-19 surges at reopened JBS Colorado beef plant, union says
A sixth worker has died, UFCW local chief says
Chicago | Reuters — COVID-19 cases at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado have more than doubled “in a number of days” and a sixth employee died of the virus, a union official said on Thursday, underscoring the risks of U.S. meat plants reopening. The beef plant at Greeley, about 65 km north of Denver, […] Read more
Major Ontario pork packer expects to re-open Monday
Conestoga Meats went offline April 27
The hog slaughter and processing plant billed as Ontario’s second-biggest pork producer expects to be back in business Monday after a week-long COVID-19-related shutdown. Conestoga Meats, based at Breslau, just east of Kitchener, notified hog farmers and shippers on Friday that it would suspend “most operations” during the week of April 27 to May 1, […] Read more
Producers need $35 a hog immediately, says Alberta Pork
Sector facing losses of $675 million and ‘desperately needs a lifeline’ in the face of plunging prices
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s pork producers need government aid of $35 a head just to keep their heads above water in the short term, say industry officials. “The hog industry desperately needs a lifeline,” said Alberta Pork chair Brent Moen. “Our producers are drowning in a sea of red ink, and we have our federal and provincial bureaucrats […] Read more
Cargill to restart High River beef plant Monday
Over 750 workers confirmed with COVID-19
Ottawa | Reuters — Cargill said Wednesday it will start to reopen its beef processing plant at High River, Alta. on Monday after the plant was forced to close down because hundreds of workers had become infected with the coronavirus. In a statement, Cargill said it would resume operations after a 14-day temporary shutdown, with […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soy rises on stronger Brazilian currency
Wheat pressured by rain relief across Europe, export lull
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures rose on Wednesday as plans to ease lockdown measures and a move by U.S. President Donald Trump to keep meat factories open tempered fears about demand destruction caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Wheat futures slid, hitting a one-month low as rains in Europe and the Black […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs mostly lower as packing-plant woes persist
Backlog concerns drag on cattle
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures closed mostly lower on Wednesday, setting back from a one-month high set a day earlier in the benchmark June contract as traders mulled the implications of a presidential order for U.S. meat packing plants to remain open, traders said. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered meat-processing plants […] Read more
JBS reopens Minnesota pork plant to cull pigs
Chicago | Reuters — Meat producer JBS said Wednesday it was reopening a Minnesota pork plant shuttered by the pandemic to euthanize up to 13,000 pigs a day for farmers, not to produce meat for consumers. U.S. farmers have been forced to cull livestock as they run short of space to house animals after some […] Read more
Alberta’s cattle sector takes a direct hit from pandemic
Packing plant closures create a backlog that quickly affects the entire production chain
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s going to be painful, but hopefully COVID-19 in packing plants won’t turn into a nightmare scenario, say the president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and a leading food industry expert. Alberta’s two big facilities — Cargill’s High River plant and JBS’s Brooks plant — process nearly 75 per cent of the country’s beef. Combined, […] Read more
Cattle ranchers urged to lobby their MLAs for quick action
Reduced slaughter means cattle sector needs immediate changes to support programs, says ABP
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Beef Producers is urging its members to write their MLA and ask that they strongly push for additional assistance for the cattle sector following the temporary shutdown of Cargill’s High River beef plant. A form letter prepared by the organization states that “with time, this closure will also impact Canadian’s access to beef and […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
