A southern Ontario processing plant specializing in organic and antibiotic-free poultry products has gone to Maple Leaf Foods in a postscript to a previous sale. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Friday it had closed its purchase of the Sure Fresh Foods poultry plant at Schomberg, Ont., about 30 km north of Vaughan, for an undisclosed sum, […] Read more
Maple Leaf takes up Ontario poultry plant
Option exercised on Cericola Farms' remaining facility
Strike ends at Exceldor poultry plant in Quebec
Union members vote to take six-year deal
A month-long strike at one of Quebec’s biggest poultry slaughter and processing plants is ending after unionized workers voted to accept a new agreement reached through mediation. About 500 unionized workers at Exceldor Co-operative’s plant at Saint-Anselme, about 30 km southeast of Quebec City, have been on strike since May 23. The previous contract between […] Read more
No ivory tower approach to this unique partnership with farmers
Reading Time: 4 minutes Normally when you need help on the farm, you need the workers to know something about farming and to be physically present. But for some members of the Food Artisans of Camrose County, having some city kids working virtually was no problem at all. Nearly four dozen students from the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus […] Read more
U.S. ag secretary backs proposed meatpacking investigator
Reuters — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday threw his support behind a proposal to establish a special investigator to address concerns about anti-competitive practices in the meat and poultry industries. Republican U.S. Senators Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana have proposed legislation […] Read more
JBS says it paid US$11 million in bitcoin for ransom
Cyberattack disrupted plants in North America, Australia
Reuters — Meatpacker JBS USA paid a ransom equivalent to US$11 million (C$13.3 million) following a cyberattack that disrupted its North American and Australian operations, the company’s CEO said in a statement Wednesday. The subsidiary of Brazilian firm JBS halted cattle slaughtering at all of its U.S. plants and its Alberta beef plant for a […] Read more
China reports first human case of H10N3 bird flu
Strain 'not a very common virus'
Beijing | Reuters — A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3, Beijing’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday. Many different strains of bird flu are present in China and some sporadically infect […] Read more
Feather sector’s on-farm upgrade program underway
Applications now being accepted for funding
The federal free trade compensation program to help Canada’s poultry and egg producers pay for on-farm upgrades, renovations and improvements is now taking applications. The $646.8 million, 10-year Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program (PEFIP) is now formally underway, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday. Each eligible Canadian producer is entitled to an amount proportional […] Read more
A side order of software aims to help small-scale producers
Reading Time: 3 minutes A local ag-tech startup wants to make it easier for small-scale farmers to connect with — and sell to — their customers. “We’re empowering farmers to go direct or go to wholesale and giving them more tools to do so because of some of the stuff we’ve seen through COVID,” said Shanika Abeysinghe, co-founder of […] Read more
Don’t count chickens before they hatch: Tyson bet on wrong rooster
Meat giant books unexpected decline in hatching
Chicago | Reuters — Tyson Foods is laying off a certain type of rooster from its U.S. chicken business after a surprising discovery that eggs fertilized by the male bird hatch less often, resulting in fewer chickens. The world’s largest meat producer by sales will install a replacement across its breeding program by this fall […] Read more
UCVM takes on poultry diagnostics
Reading Time: < 1 minute The University of Calgary faculty of veterinary medicine (UCVM) and Alberta’s four poultry producer boards are partnering on a poultry diagnostic system. Formerly provided by Poultry Health Services, the program can test for diseases such as avian flu, E. coli, and other pathogens and microbes. Poultry Health Services of Airdrie, which serves the commercial poultry […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
