Reading Time: < 1 minute University of Alberta professor, Michael Dyck has been awarded a $1-million grant for a project that will use genomics to select pigs with improved disease resilience. The funding, which comes from Genome Canada, will build on the work the professor of animal biotechnology has done with funding from Genome Alberta and is being supported by […] Read more
Pork genomics project gets $1 million
U.S. transport regulators reject ’emotional support animal’ status
Service dog status still protected; 'support' goats, turkeys, others up to airlines
Washington | Reuters — Only trained dogs qualify as service animals on U.S. airlines, as regulators rejected requests to extend legal protections to miniature horses, pigs, turkeys and other species, under final U.S. Transportation Department rules issued Wednesday. Airlines can still choose which other species to allow on board, but the rules issued on Wednesday […] Read more
ASF virus is deadly but the fallout from an outbreak even worse
Health officials can deal with an African swine fever outbreak, but not its huge market disruption, says top expert
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a nightmare scenario — but if African swine fever arrived in Canada, the economic consequences would be much harder to deal with than the virus itself. “African swine fever is a big problem with very big challenges,” Dr. Egan Brockhoff said during a recent virtual presentation. “Big is an understatement. This is a global […] Read more
Pork innovators urged to enter contest
Entry deadline Oct. 31
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Banff Pork Seminar is going virtual this year but the tradition of awarding the FX Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production will continue. The contest is open to anyone who has developed an innovation — big or small — that is relevant to the North American pork industry. “The creativity and innovation of entries […] Read more
Alberta Pork urges producers to consider marketing co-op
Banding together would fix a ‘broken’ system and force packers to pay a fair price, says organization
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta Pork is urging hog farmers in the province to band together to force packers to pay a fair price for their animals. And that includes thinking about returning to a single-desk model or forming marketing co-operatives to “shift the balance of power back to producers.” In an analysis of the sector covering the past […] Read more
African swine fever: The other virus that is changing the world order
A third of global pork production has been vaporized, and the effects are being felt worldwide
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s another virus that has been upending the world order in ways that no one ever could have predicted, although it’s mostly flying under the radar. “Right now, 75 per cent of the world’s hogs are threatened, and a third of the global swine herd just vanished last year,” Brett Stuart of Global AgriTrends said […] Read more
Battered pork sector proposes ‘simple solution’ to trigger aid
Upping the payout from AgriStability would throw a lifeline to hog producers facing ruin, says pork council
Reading Time: 3 minutes With pork producers fighting to stay afloat but government unwilling to step in, industry leaders have come up with a new pitch: Instead of making it easier to get assistance, have AgriStability pay out more when things are really bad. In a recent letter to the country’s ag ministers, Canadian Pork Council chair Rick Bergmann […] Read more
Hog sector is grim, cattle is recovering
Cattle backlog is being cleared but hog producers are losing upwards of $50 on every pig they sell
Reading Time: 4 minutes The beef sector is regaining some optimism, but pork producers are still fighting to stay afloat. “Our producers are losing a lot of money,” said Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director of Alberta Pork. “It truly is, right now, related to COVID-19. The price that we’re seeing that they’re being paid, is related to what is going […] Read more
Pork is profitable, but pigs are a money-loser in Alberta
Summer is when hog producers make their money — but this year, they’re losing big time, say officials
Reading Time: 6 minutes It’s an everyday act — but one that shows why hog producers in this province are getting near the end of their rope. An Alberta producer recently delivered 200 pigs to a packing plant and got paid $4,000 less than it cost to raise those animals. And then he had to disinfect his truck at […] Read more
China says it’s winning the battle against African swine fever
When processing returns to normal, Chinese demand — if it continues — could lift battered markets here
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chinese hog industry officials say the country is poised to put African swine fever behind it as early as next year. But a leading Canadian authority says that may be premature. The fatal pig disease devastated China’s hog herd — the world’s largest — reducing it by around half last year and prompting the government to […] Read more
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