DES MOINES, Iowa – American farmers have noticed Canadian hog producers’ attempts to get money from Ottawa. And they’re beginning to put pressure on their representatives to do something about it. “I feel for their producers up there because they’re going through a lot … but from our producers’ point of view, we certainly hope […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Optimism lacking at Expo
DES MOINES, Iowa – Jim Donaldson and Richard Stein weren’t surprised that the pace was less hectic at this year’s World Pork Expo in Des Moines. The two Canadian purebred swine exporters, who have been attending the show for at least 30 years, weren’t as busy as they normally are as they sat in their […] Read more
No comeback for hog sector
DES MOINES, Iowa – Glenn Grimes is old enough to have served in a B-29 crew in the Second World War. And he has been studying the hog industry since 1951. But the University of Missouri agricultural economist has never seen it so bad for hog producers. “It’s never been this far down for this […] Read more
Ideal crop weather predicted for U.S. Midwest
DES MOINES, Iowa – Canadian crops may face a crowded market with big U.S. corn and soybean crops this fall, a U.S. weather expert thinks. The official forecast is for hot and dry weather west of the U.S. continental divide this summer, and that tends to mean cooler weather in the U.S. Midwest, says Iowa […] Read more
Expert stresses vigilance against H1N1
DES MOINES, Iowa – Randy Schmidt runs a high-health hog breeding operation in Iowa and thought he was operating as safely as possible. But after hearing veterinarian James Roth describe how an H1N1 strain could break into his herd through wild birds mixing with his children’s ducks and geese, he decided to tighten security. “I’m […] Read more
Hog show defies H1N1 scare
DES MOINES, Iowa – Hundreds of hogs filled the pens in one of the barns on the Iowa State Fairgrounds and hundreds of young people from across the United States competed for ribbons at the World Pork Expo’s Junior National Swine Show. This show happens every year, but a few weeks ago some doubted it […] Read more
Air filtration helps control disease: study
DES MOINES, Iowa – Gilles Routhier was working busily at the World Pork Expo, extolling the virtues of the air filtration systems his Quebec-based company sells to minimize disease outbreaks in hog barns. A few dozen metres away, a leading U.S. swine veterinarian had just revealed studies that showed air filtration is the most important […] Read more
USDA
The smartguy chatter so far is that today’s S and D reports are bullish for soybeans (good for canola), neutral for corn (and feedgrains) and bearish for wheat. Too bad about the wheat conclusion.
Huge . . . tracts of land
On Friday afternoon and Saturday I drove across huge tracts of land, all the way from Des Moines, Iowa to the northern plains, across southern Minnesota and through eastern South Dakota and North Dakota on the way back from the World Pork Expo. It was a great way to get a sense of the real […] Read more
Strong crops, weak meat
The slumping pork market has been lying under the World Pork Expo like a lot of slippery dung, upending most attendees’ hopes to find some way to look at the next year with confidence. Most people’s assumption has been that the pork market’s weakness last year would end this year, and hopes were raised when […] Read more
