Most farmers were able to make money on market hogs in the first few months of 2024, but prices have weakened
DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s better than losing a lot of money, but hog producers are facing razor-thin profitability for the remainder of 2024, say two leading hog market analysts. “I don’t see us as much better than break-even,” said Steve Meyer, who gave a number of hog market outlooks at the World Pork Expo, […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
VIDEO: MacAulay boosts Canada at expo
DES MOINES, Iowa — Federal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay gave Canadian farmers and agriculture a big boost at this year’s World Pork Expo by touring the show, meeting American industry leaders and hosting a who’s-who of Iowa business leaders at a reception. The visit by a Canadian agriculture minister to this event was the first […] Read more
Hog industry encouraged to focus more on nutrition
Some basic areas of pig nutrition are still poorly understood, Prairie Swine Centre nutrition researcher Dan Columbus told the Animal Nutrition Conference of Canada. “Research is very hard to do in sows. It takes a long time. It’s expensive,” said Columbus, while explaining why he thinks sow diet formulation is so crudely done. “Overall the […] Read more
Updated feed rules expected
WINNIPEG — Some people in the feed industry are too young to recall the last update to national feed regulations, but that could soon change. “I’m really optimistic,” said Melissa Dumont of the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada. “We really are expecting these regulations to be published in 2024 unless someone in the government at […] Read more
African-Canadians seen as untapped ag resource
Group closes gap by connecting university students with African-Canadian professors, researchers and professionals
This is the first of an occasional series looking into the pools of human talent within Canada’s population that could help fill the growing labour shortage that is crippling many farms. WINNIPEG — There are usually one or two African faces in every university and college agriculture department classroom. At most agriculture industry conferences, conventions […] Read more
New feed rules may affect on-farm milling
WINNIPEG — On-farm feed millers will need to be careful to make sure they’re complying with new feed regulations coming into force, according to the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada. “The more complicated the farm, the more controls they’re going to have to have in place,” executive director Melissa Dumont said during a question and […] Read more
VIDEO: MacAulay stresses importance of integration
DES MOINES, Iowa — On his visit to Des Moines and the World Pork Expo, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay stressed the value of the deep integration of the U.S.-Canadian hog market and industries. In a visit arranged by the Canadian consulate in Minneapolis, MacAulay, attended by other significant Canadian representatives such as M.P. Ted Falk, […] Read more
VIDEO: Canadians prominent at World Pork Expo
DES MOINES, Iowa — The World Pork Expo is chock-a-block with Canadian innovators, manufacturers and service providers. Wherever you turn here, you run into a Canuck. In one corner of the huge trade show you find Farm Health Guardian, which is based in Guelph, Ontario and Omaha, Nebraska. (Check out our story and a video […] Read more
VIDEO: Quiet on ASF front doesn’t mean danger is gone
The North American hog industry has gone quiet on the ASF front, but that isn’t because the risk of infection from offshore is any less severe. As Dr. Anna Forseth, director of animal health with the National Pork Producers Council, tells us in this video, after years of preparation for an ASF outbreak, producers and […] Read more
Losing farmland to urban sprawl receives little attention
Every day, thousands of acres of farmland around the world are converted into urban sprawl as developers build low-density housing projects for people choosing to move out of too-expensive, decayed, highly-taxed, over-regulated and crime-ridden cities. Canada is particularly subject to this with cities like Toronto and Calgary spilling out across hundreds of thousands of acres […] Read more
