WINNIPEG (Reuters) – Canadian hog farmers continued a four-year herd shrinking trend in the first quarter, but the pace slowed as higher hog prices and lower feed costs boosted profits. Statistics Canada said farmers reduced the national pig herd 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 11.635 million head as of April 1, the lowest […] Read more
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Higher prices, lower feed costs slow pace of hog herd reduction
Fallout from Greek economic crisis could make itself known in Canadian agriculture
Prairie farmers are feeling the tremors of Greece’s economic crisis, even though they do little direct agricultural trade with the country. “Who do they take down with them?” George Morris Centre economist Al Mussell said about the impact of a possible Greek debt default. “We might care a lot about that.” Greece has an enormous […] Read more
Canola crushing becomes cleaner with new process
A chemist thinks he might have found a way to lift a hex from the oilseed crushing industry, potentially making it greener, safer, more efficient and less costly. “The industry would rather not use volatile solvents, but distillation works pretty well,” professor Philip Jessop of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., said about why crushers use […] Read more
Wal-Mart plans tighter standards on beef safety
BANGALORE, India (Reuters) – Wal-Mart said it will implement additional beef safety measures to protect customers against food-borne illnesses. The new program requires Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club beef suppliers to implement controls to reduce potential contamination levels. Suppliers who do not operate slaughterhouses must comply with the new standard by June 2011. Beef slaughterhouse suppliers […] Read more
Alberta biodiesel plant soon to have company
Alberta’s lone biodiesel plant should have plenty of company starting in 2010, say industry proponents. Western Biodiesel Inc. opened its 19 million litre plant in July 2008. The High River, Alta., facility is now shipping 12 to 14 rail cars of biodiesel per month to customers in the United States and Europe. The primary feedstock […] Read more
Sask. high school student recognized for lentil research
Saskatoon’s expertise in agricultural biotechnology extends beyond the University of Saskatchewan and the adjacent research cluster at Innovation Place. For the second year in a row, a Saskatoon high school student has won a national biotechnology research competition. Rui Song, a Grade 9 student at Walter Murray Collegiate Institute, won first prize in the Sanofi-Aventis […] Read more
B.C. fruit growers say unfair trade keeps young farmers out of business
KELOWNA, B.C. – Orchard owner Nick Kiran finished his testimony to a touring House of Commons agriculture committee with a dramatic plea. “Please don’t make this my last year in the business,” he told MPs. “You know you are becoming deranged when you begin to wish for hail. That’s the only way to make money.” […] Read more
Few investments reap profit
The Saskatchewan taxpayers’ investment in Big Sky Farms has been written down to zero after a volatile year that saw the hog company restructure under court protection. CIC Asset Management Inc. (CIC AM), which manages investments for the province, had valued Big Sky at $21.9 million at the end of 2008. The write-off contributed to […] Read more
Alarm bells ring over FMD outbreaks
MILAN, Italy (Reuters) – The global threat from foot-and-mouth disease has increased after recent outbreaks in Japan and South Korea, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said April 28. “We … have to ask ourselves if we aren’t facing a possible replay of the disastrous 2001 FMD transcontinental epidemic, which spread to South Africa, […] Read more
B.C. gov’t rejects aid request from apple producers
An appeal by Okanagan apple growers for government help has fallen on stony ground. In March, apple growers, reeling from two disastrous years when they received about half the cost of production, applied for $10 million in direct cash from the provincial government. They learned the bad news in April when agriculture minister Steve Thomson, […] Read more
