Articles Written by Rod Nickel

TFW program to be overhauled after COVID-19 outbreaks on farms

"The piece that's missing is enforcement"

By Rod Nickel June 19, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada is overhauling its temporary foreign worker program, a government spokeswoman said on Friday, after coronavirus outbreaks on Ontario farms sickened hundreds and led Mexico to demand assurances of proper safeguards. As part of the review, surprise inspections of working and living conditions on farms will immediately increase, Ashley Michnowski, communications […] Read more

Crops, Markets

Grain exports flow fast as pandemic lockdowns clear rail capacity

Traffic accelerates on lower coal, crude volumes

By Rod Nickel June 18, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Canadian grain exporters are boosting sales in a slumping global economy, as demand for commodities like oil weakens and frees up railway space. Brisk crop movement in a country that relies heavily on rail is a bright spot during pandemic lockdowns, which have hammered most industries. “We’ve had an almost unlimited […] Read more

Livestock, Reuters

As meat plant infections rise, Canada lets packers choose when to close

Beef plants at heart of Alberta's largest COVID-19 community outbreaks

By Rod Nickel May 1, 2020

Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — In Cargill’s High River, Alta. plant, supplier of more than one-third of Canada’s beef, 391 workers were sick with COVID-19 when the company suspended operations, according to provincial health officials. But Maple Leaf Foods decided to idle a poultry plant for eight days, in Brampton, Ont., after just three workers were […] Read more

Livestock, Markets, Reuters

Canada sees no beef shortage, but prices may rise due to coronavirus

JBS plant at Brooks dials back to one shift

By Kelsey Johnson, Rod Nickel April 21, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters –– The Canadian government is not expecting a beef shortage despite the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in certain meat-packing plants, though prices may rise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Trudeau added that beef producers are placing a priority on supplying the Canadian market before exporting products. Canada, one of […] Read more

Livestock, Reuters

‘Elbow to elbow:’ North America’s meat plant workers fall ill, walk off jobs

Supply chains struggling to keep pace with surging demand

By Rod Nickel, Tom Polansek April 14, 2020

Reading Time: 4 minutes Chicago/Winnipeg | Reuters — At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 U.S. cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a meat inspector. In Colorado, nearly a third of the workers at a JBS USA beef plant stayed […] Read more

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Reuters

Canadian, U.S. farms face crop losses on foreign worker delays

By Christopher Walljasper, Rod Nickel April 6, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labour is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Reuters

Alberta’s Harmony Beef halts slaughter on positive COVID-19 test

CFIA pulls inspectors after plant employee tests positive

By Kelsey Johnson, Rod Nickel March 27, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters — Harmony Beef, an Alberta packing plant, halted cattle slaughter on Friday after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) kept some inspectors from work, due to a positive test for COVID-19 by a Harmony worker, the company said. The partial closure follows a positive COVID-19 test by a worker at U.S. chicken […] Read more

Crops, Reuters

Farm suppliers race COVID-19 spread for planting season

By Rod Nickel, Tom Polansek March 26, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — North America’s biggest farm suppliers are accelerating shipments of fertilizer, seeds and agricultural chemicals to crop-growing regions in an unprecedented race against the coronavirus that threatens to disrupt planting season. The timing could not be worse for farmers preparing to plant crops. Disruptions in deliveries of fertilizer, seeds or chemicals could […] Read more

Cereals, Crops, Markets, Reuters

North America’s millers, bakers scramble to satisfy bread binge

By Julie Ingwersen, Rod Nickel March 24, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago/Winnipeg | Reuters — North American flour mills and bakeries are rushing to boost production as the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus leads to consumer stockpiling of staples such as bread and pasta. The virus’ spread prompted orders to stay at home in some U.S. states, including New York, California and Illinois last week, following […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Reuters, Weather

Wheat in Whitehorse: How climate change helps feed Canada’s remote regions

Newfoundland and Labrador also pushing to expand arable land base

By Kelsey Johnson, Rod Nickel March 23, 2020

Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg/Ottawa | Reuters — After failing to grow wheat in the Yukon territory 15 years ago, farmer Steve Mackenzie-Grieve gave it another shot in 2017. Thanks to longer summers, he has reaped three straight harvests. This spring he plans to sow canola on his family’s 450-acre farm near Whitehorse, a city not much further from […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures rise on new-month buying

Brandt deal for Topcon distributor in Ontario falls through

Investors pile into Bayer bond to pay settlement charges

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