“One of the great strengths of the U.S.-Canada bilateral relationship is the successful integration of our meat and livestock sectors,” the submission said.

The Canadian government made its submission June 9 as part of U.S. consultations on voluntary country of origin labeling (vCOOL) for U.S. meat, poultry and eggs.

The Biden administration proposed the rule in March in response to lobbying from U.S. ranchers, Reuters reported at the time. The rule would limit “Product of USA” and similar labels to products derived from animals that were born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. However, it would not require products to carry an origin label.

Under current rules, animal products can be labelled as “Product of USA” if animals were processed in the U.S., even if they were born and raised elsewhere.

In 2022, total U.S.-Canada trade in live cattle, hogs, poults and chicks, hatching eggs, beef and pork was worth more than US$8 billion, according to the recent Canadian submission.

Canada has argued that supply chains operating under the proposed rules will have to segregate Canadian and U.S. animals and products. This would be costly and inefficient and discourage companies from using Canadian inputs.

A similar rationale led to the downfall of vCOOL’s mandatory predecessor, struck down in 2015 following a World Trade Organization challenge that ruled in favour of the complainants, Canada and Mexico.

The new proposed rule could also harm U.S. producers, the Canadian government said.

“For example, in recent years, there has been an increase in live cattle exports from the United States to Canada due to feedlot capacity expansion in Canada, higher processing volumes, and strong demand for beef,” the submission read.

“Under the new proposed rule, if an American rancher sends an animal to a Canadian feedlot, by virtue of availability, proximity, or economics, that is then sent back to the U.S. for slaughter and processing, that product would no longer be allowed to bear a ‘Product of USA’ claim.”

The rule also fails to account for supply-chain integration in border states and provinces, the submission claims. It would put undue pressure on processing facilities, especially small or medium-sized plants, to source American inputs when Canadian inputs are closer at hand.

The Canadian government requested that the U.S. “pauses and reconsiders the proposed rule in order to allow for consultations between Canadian and U.S. officials.” –– Manitoba Co-operator staff

The post Canada warns VCOOL would sabotage shared Canada-U.S. goals, supply chains appeared first on Country Guide.

“The immigration of scientists, data engineers, and entrepreneurs has been recognized as critical to Canada’s growth. A similar approach needs to be adopted to attract farmers,” the authors wrote.

The report, released Sunday and titled Farmers Wanted: The labour renewal Canada needs to build the Next Green Revolution, is a collaboration of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Boston Consulting Group and the Arrell Food Insitute at the University of Guelph.

It notes there’s a global crunch coming as many farmers near retirement age, and not enough is being done to fill that gap.

In Canada, 40 per cent of farmers are expected to retire by 2033, “placing agriculture on the cusp of one of the biggest labour and leadership transitions in the country’s history,” the report reads. That will come on top of an already-expected shortfall of 24,000 farm workers over the same time frame.

MORE READING: Does Canada have enough young farmers?

The report’s authors say the first short-term step in addressing this crisis should be to identify and recruit 30,000 permanent immigrants who want to establish their own farms and greenhouses, or take over existing ones.

Canada, they wrote, has had a long history as a destination for international farmers from the Netherlands, U.S., U.K., China and India — and there are new opportunities to “attract operators who have lost their farms because of regulatory policies in other nations.”

In the Netherlands, for example, 3,000 farmers with the largest emissions will be bought out in a 24.3 billion-euro (C$35.6 billion) program. The country will also have to reduce its livestock population to a third of its current size over eight years. In New Zealand, a 2019 law that requires producers to reduce emissions by 10 per cent in the next three years is already forcing farms to scale back. The EU has lost more than four million farms since 2005. It all adds up to a potential talent pool for the agriculture sector, the authors said.

In the medium term, Canada needs to do a better job of promoting “agricultural education across colleges and universities to attract new students,” and the report says the blueprint to expanding agriculture education is already in place.

Faced with falling student numbers in the 1990s, education institutions expanded their reach by revisiting their curriculum with an eye to drawing in students who weren’t from a farm background. They focused on topics outside of agricultural science, and included topics such as food security, sustainability and international development. Enrolment at ag schools bottomed out in 2003, and since then has grown by 40 per cent. Canada now has among the highest post-secondary agriculture enrolments in the developed world.

Despite this, the authors said there’s still room to further expand the scope of agricultural education in Canada.

“For instance, no full-time MBA program among Canada’s top 10 business schools currently offers elective courses in agribusiness,” they noted.

Longer-term, Canada should “accelerate the adoption of autonomous and mechanized solutions on farms.”

They write that “smart” agriculture technology and practices will promote higher levels of efficiency and productivity, reduce environmental impact and promote sustainability, as well as “reduce the need for low-skilled labour.”

The national shortfall, they said, is in the investments needed to develop the technology: “We should strive to be more ambitious with funding as every dollar invested in R+D generates $10 to $20 in GDP.”

Most of the money spent on this research comes from the public purse, to the tune of about $450 million in 2020. Private sector investment lags, at just $108 million the same year.

Capital investment in agriculture has risen faster than in other Canadian industries over the last 15 years, but has mainly been concentrated in the crops sector.

For farmers themselves, the report urges putting a priority on succession planning. It notes Canada’s farm acreage has declined from 167.01 million acres in the 2006 census, to 153.69 million in 2021.

“Without clear transition plans, valuable farmland may sit idle and unproductive,” the report said. “By contrast, clear and established plans make the process of transferring land, knowledge, labour and ownership easier for new generations taking over.”

Farm operators who want to sell their farmland should consider the sale to “eager new producers entering the industry, productive operators, or farmers new to Canada” to help ensure their land’s productivity does not slow.

The post International farmers may ease Canadian human capital crunch appeared first on Country Guide.

The regulatory proposal would address what the agency calls “gaps” in the current system, including:

• adding goats and cervids as animal species that share diseases with other regulated livestock, and therefore subject to traceability requirements,
• shortening the time period allowed to report an event to better support an efficient response to disease outbreaks,
• adding a requirement to provide information about the geographical location of sites where animals are located, and
• requiring the reporting of domestic movements of livestock.

CFIA is asking producers who own sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, bison or farmed cervids or are involved with livestock production or handling, to share their feedback during the consultation period, which opened Saturday and runs to June 16.

Some affected livestock groups are already making moves in anticipation of the new rules.

The Canadian Sheep Federation (CSF) AgroLedger, a digital traceability program, launched a pilot program in July 2022 for early adopters before its sector-wide release.

The CFS-funded program was made available at no cost to Canadian sheep producers to bring them in line with the government regulatory amendments.

“We understand that all the users, farmers included, are going to face a lot more work in terms of meeting regulations. The ultimate goal here is to make that easier, less complex, less work wherever possible for producers,” CFS executive director Corlena Patterson said at the time.

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Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre on Wednesday projected a major risk of flooding on the Red River and low to moderate risk of flooding in most Manitoba basins in its March spring outlook. Spring flood risk largely depends on weather conditions from now until the spring melt.

At this time, the centre advises that the flood risk has increased to major on the Red River. The flood risk is low to moderate in the Interlake region along the Fisher and Icelandic rivers, and along the Assiniboine River. The risk of spring flooding is generally low along several other rivers including the Souris, Roseau, Rat and Pembina rivers. Water levels are expected to remain below community and individual flood protection levels.

There is also a low risk of flooding for most other Manitoba basins including the Saskatchewan River, Whiteshell lakes area and northern Manitoba. With the exceptions of Dauphin Lake and Lake St. Martin, most Manitoba lakes, including Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba, are projected to remain within operating ranges after the spring run-off.

As in many other years, the risk of flooding could change in any of the basins depending on weather conditions between now and the spring melt.

A contractor for Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure has completed ice-cutting and breaking work along the Red and Icelandic rivers to reduce ice jam-related flooding. Ice-cutting and breaking work were not undertaken this spring on the Assiniboine River, along the Portage Diversion, due to a lower risk of ice jam-related flooding.

The centre also reports that operation of the Red River Floodway is expected this spring to reduce water levels within Winnipeg. Operation of the Portage Diversion is also anticipated to prevent ice jamming on the Assiniboine River east of Portage la Prairie and control river levels in Winnipeg and areas along the Assiniboine River downstream of Portage la Prairie.

The province, local authorities and First Nation communities are continuing to prepare for spring flooding. This includes ice-cutting and breaking on the Red and Icelandic rivers, review of existing emergency response plans, information sharing, and preparation of resources used in flood response.

The March 2023 spring flood outlook report is available online.

The post Manitoba’s Red River Valley at major risk for flooding appeared first on Country Guide.

Citing revenue challenges in recent years as the reason for downsizing, the institute informed staff and clients of the closure of its River Road facility in Portage, prior to releasing the news to the media.

There will be no jobs lost as a result of the closure. Many of the technicians and engineers employed by PAMI in Manitoba have been working remotely since the pandemic began and will continue to do so after the Portage location closes its doors.

The one full-time employee who did work on location has taken a position in Portage with one of PAMI’s industry partners.

As recently as January of this year, Prairie Economic Development Canada (PEDC) announced $600,000 funding for a major upgrade to the hydraulic machinery testing system for the Portage la Prairie site.

PAMI was formed in 1975 to provide Prairie farmers and farm equipment manufacturers access to testing facilities for new products. In recent years, PAMI has expanded its focus to include the mining and transportation industries.

PAMI’s head office, located in Humboldt, Sask., will remain open and services will be consolidated at that location. — Manitoba Co-operator staff

The post PAMI to close Portage la Prairie location appeared first on Country Guide.

The proposal is part of a suite of changes proposed for Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations. As well as adding a front-of-packaging (FOP) label requirement for foods deemed by Health Canada to be high in sodium, sugar or saturated fat, amendments would also update nutrient content claims on food labels, increase mandatory vitamin D content of milk and margarine and tighten rules on the use of partially hydrogenated oils.

“It is anticipated that this proposal would improve Canadians’ access to easy-to-use information on foods high in sodium, sugars and/or saturated fat to help reduce excessive consumption of these nutrients,” Health Canada wrote on an information page on the issue.

“There may be positive impacts including reductions in risk of disease due to improved nutrition and health care savings as a result. Some industry stakeholders may choose to reformulate impacted products to avoid a front-of-package nutrition symbol.”

When the department first proposed FOP label rules in 2018, it said raw single-ingredient meats, poultry and fish that aren’t ground would be exempted since those products “are considered less standardized than ground meats, which make deriving accurate nutrient values challenging.”

Whole and partly skimmed milk and whole eggs were also exempted from the proposed rules. The department did note some businesses would incur more costs due to additional labelling.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) on Wednesday released a statement urging Health Canada to also exempt ground beef. In it, the CCA argued that the policy would treat ground beef differently from “other nutritious foods, such as single-ingredient meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, and fruit.”

“Canadians consume approximately half of their calories from low nutrient, ultra-processed foods,” the statement read. “By contrast, ground beef is a nutrient-dense protein that contributes iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. FOP labelling of whole, single-ingredient foods starkly contrast with the foundational principles of healthy eating and will distract from the real priority — Canadians need to reduce their consumption of ultra-processed foods.”

The CCA argued that the reduction in saturated fat consumption would be “nominal” if ground pork and beef were taken out of the equation, while cooling consumption of those meats might lead to less iron intake and tie into food security issues, given current inflation and food affordability.

The association further argued that other countries with FOP rules have exempted ground beef. “To our knowledge, Canada will be the only jurisdiction in the world placing a health warning label on its ground beef.”

The federal opposition Conservatives on Tuesday aired similar concerns, saying the European Union, Mexico and Israel have all exempted single-ingredient whole foods from similar FOP labelling policies.

The party’s ag critics — MPs John Barlow, Dave Epp and Richard Lehoux — said in a joint statement the government’s decision “will undercut Canadian producers both domestically and abroad.”

The U.S. government, they said, “has already identified this policy as a trade irritant potentially leading to fewer exports of Canadian beef.”

As for the current exemptions, they added, “it doesn’t make sense if roast beef and whole hams are exempt, but the same source of protein is no longer acceptable after being ground.”

Health Canada hopes to have the new rules in force by Jan. 1, 2026.

— By Manitoba Co-ooperator and Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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The RMs of Alonsa, Armstrong, Bifrost-Riverton, Coldwell, Ethelbert, Fisher, Grahamdale, Lakeshore, McCreary, Ste. Rose, West Interlake and Woodlands announced the motion in a news release Thursday.

The municipalities are calling on the province to initiate discussions with the federal government to assess the situation under the AgriRecovery framework.

AgriRecovery is a disaster-recovery framework which would help producers recover from “extraordinary costs” sustained in a disaster, according to the federal government’s website.

Municipalities are also asking that an AgriRecovery program be considered to provide immediate feed and freight assistance and compensation for drilling additional wells or hauling of water to livestock.

Lack of rain throughout the year has caused considerable damage to the agriculture industry within the Interlake and Parkland regions, the release said.

Due to the extremely dry conditions, grain, hay and straw producers have faced severely reduced crop yields and pastures have also been devastated. These factors have led to diminished feed resources. The severity of the feed shortage has been compounded by a depleted inventory of carryover feed following a dry 2018.

The municipalities said that livestock producers are faced with extraordinary expenses to purchase and transport feed for their livestock. They are paying drill additional wells to provide water to their animals because dugouts have dried up.

Some producers are facing the prospect of having to sell a large portion of their livestock because of the high cost of providing feed. There is increasing desperation among farmers in the Interlake and Parkland regions, the release said.

Furthermore, municipalities are asking the Manitoba government to prioritize a meeting with local producers, along with other industry stakeholders to discuss the shortcomings of existing business risk management programs and possible areas for improvement.

The post RMs declare ag disaster in Manitoba’s Interlake appeared first on Country Guide.

“Nobody is saying we’re going to have to shut it down,” CFGA chair and Irricana, Alta., rancher Doug Wray, told the association annual meeting here Nov. 19.

Pidskalny, who took on the job as part of his consulting business, realized the CFGA couldn’t continue to pay him, Wray said later in an interview.

The CFGA will have around $3,000 in its bank account by year’s end, Pidskalny told the meeting.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), which contributed $20,000 a year to help fund the CFGA the past three years, decided earlier this year not to continue the funding, Pidskalny said.

“Our total expenses have increased substantially this year… and our net income has dropped substantially,” he added.

Pidskalny said part of his job was to find funding for the CFGA, but much of his time was spent administering the umbrella organization, representing provincial forage associations nationally.

“Our mission and vision is to support those who make a living with forages and grasslands and to give forages a voice in Canada,” Pidskalny said.

Wray said the CFGA will approach the CCA again for funding. The CCA is working on a national beef strategy and the CFGA should be part of the plan, he said.

“We’ll be suggesting that they (CCA) harness the horsepower of this room,” Wray said. “It would be a much more efficient and cost-effective way to do it. We’re going to try and re-establish a much better partnership relationship with CCA.”

The CFGA has been operating five years and has a number of accomplishments it can point out to the CCA, Wray said.

Meanwhile, Dairy Farmers of Canada said it will continue contributing $10,000 to CFGA so long as its representative on CFGA’s board says it’s worthwhile, Pidskalny said.

At 32 million acres, forage occupies 39 per cent of Canada’s cultivated land — more than any other crop. And it generates $5.1 billion in economic activity, plus another $13 billion in ecological benefits from cleaner water to wildlife habitat.

But unlike most crops, forages don’t have a checkoff to fund research or crop promotion. And because forage is mostly consumed on the farm that produced it a checkoff isn’t practical.

Look for more reports form the CFGA’s annual meeting in next week’s Manitoba Co-operator.

allan@fbcpublishing.com

The post Canadian Forage and Grassland Association short of funds, and a manager appeared first on Country Guide.

But with no new Manitoba cases yet in sight, provincial officials now ask: How did the virus get to Manitoba’s “hog alley” in the first place?

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced Feb. 18 that live PED virus, capable of infecting pigs, has been found in samples of a shipment of porcine plasma-based feed ingredients, sourced from the U.S.

CFIA is still testing the processed feed for infectiveness, however, and hasn’t yet ruled the hog feed in or out as a source of PEDv.

And while spray-dried porcine plasma was indeed used in feed on the PEDv-positive southeastern Manitoba farm, the province’s acting chief veterinary officer, Dr. Glen Duizer, says the farm’s feed is not considered the source of infection.

CLICK HERE for Daniel Winters’ full story from the Feb. 27 issue of the Manitoba Co-operator.

The post PEDv in Manitoba not seen linked to feed appeared first on Country Guide.

Springtime driving on the Prairies can often lead to a few extra minutes in the ruts, a truck of unknown colour, or maybe a story to be laughed over the next day (well, maybe the next month, or next year) — but in a spring when deep, fast-flowing water leads to washouts or a submerged road, the end of the story can be far worse.

If this spring’s thaw and runoff have led to a close call or a story from which you believe other drivers would benefit, we’d like to see it. If you have photographs to back it up, we’d like to see them too.

Drop us a line in the comment box below, or send your tales and photos by email.

(Also, if you live within or near Manitoba’s provincial borders, we’d like to compile the best of your stories for a feature in our weekly farm newspaper, the Manitoba Co-operator. For those, we’d appreciate it if you make sure to include your name and a number where we can reach you.)

The post Stuck on Prairies in the springtime? Let us know appeared first on Country Guide.