Proper biosecurity takes a lot of effort, but the avian flu outbreak in the U.S. shows the need for robust measures, Helen Wojcinski said at the Western Poultry Conference.

Lessons learned from the avian flu disaster

The biosecurity do and don’t list is incredibly long, and even reaches into the homes of poultry farm workers

Reading Time: 3 minutes The mood at the Western Poultry Conference was sombre as Helen Wojcinski detailed the carnage of the avian influenza outbreak that tore through the U.S. 17 months ago. More than 10 million turkeys and about 11 per cent of the U.S. layer population lost. More than 220 farms in 15 states hit. Losses of $3 […] Read more

Declining antibiotic use in the poultry industry is a good news story, Tom Inglis of Poultry 
Health Services told attendees at the Western Poultry Conference.

Message received on antibiotic use

Poultry health expert says industry has responded to consumer concerns and is reducing antibiotic use

Reading Time: 2 minutes The poultry industry has a good news story when it comes to antibiotic use and it’s time to share it. “The industry is driving the bus right now and that’s a good thing,” said Dr. Tom Inglis, a vet and managing partner of Poultry Health Services in Airdrie. “It behooves us to think a little […] Read more


Mexico clears Canadian poultry meat for import

Duck and other poultry from Canada may again be exported to Mexico, for the first time since 2004. Canada’s Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on Thursday announced Mexico had reopened its border to fresh poultry meat including chicken, turkey and, “most significant in terms of historical trade,” duck. Mexico had […] Read more



(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada now avian flu-free

With no new cases in poultry since April and no farms in quarantine since July, Canada has officially declared itself free of avian influenza. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday it has informed the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) that Ontario is free of notifiable avian flu. No new outbreaks of highly pathogenic […] Read more

(PortMetroVancouver.com)

Market access, income supports come with Trans-Pacific pact

Canada’s federal government has pledged a suite of compensation programs for supply-managed dairy, poultry and egg sectors, against what it promises will be a mousehole in Canada’s tariff wall. Federal officials on Monday confirmed negotiations have concluded on the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership, now billed as “the largest, most ambitious free trade initiative in history.” The […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Elections Canada)

Election shifts attention to trade deal as race narrows

Ottawa | Reuters –– Trailing in second place with two weeks left before Canada’s election, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a new trade deal Monday that largely protects the key agricultural voting bloc, putting pressure on opponents who had hoped to have more to attack. Harper touted the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a good deal […] Read more

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, shown here in February in Brampton, Ont., said farmers and processors would be “compensated” for losses incurred through any increased market access granted under a TPP deal. (Agr.gc.ca)

Canada to pay farmers for any losses under TPP deal, Ritz says

Reuters — Canadian farmers will receive government compensation for any losses resulting from a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, the country’s agriculture minister said Wednesday in a discussion about the nation’s protected farm sectors. The U.S., New Zealand and Australia want Canada to start dismantling a system of supply and import controls over dairy, poultry […] Read more


(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu risk higher with fall migrations

Poultry farmers in Ontario are being warned to keep biosecurity top of mind as wild birds get ready to fly south this fall. “With the fall weather quickly approaching, resulting in colder temperatures and wild bird migrations, the threat of re-emergence of (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is real,” the Feather Board Command Centre, the emergency […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Architect of the Capitol, VisitTheCapitol.gov)

U.S. said considering TPP trade deal without Canada

Washington | Reuters — The United States, frustrated over the lack of progress with Canada over new rules for agriculture trade, is weighing “contingencies” that could include completing a Pacific Rim trade pact that excludes Canada, according to two sources familiar with the issue. One official familiar with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiation said […] Read more