(Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Farrowing barn is Quebec’s ninth PED case

Reading Time: 2 minutes Animal health officials in Quebec’s Monteregie have confirmed three more hog operations with cases of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) since Friday. The province’s swine health team (EQSP) said Friday it had confirmed PED in hogs at a 2,700-head nursery operation at St-Aime, with an epidemiological link to the province’s sixth case at a nearby nursery […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

New chemistry launched as fruit mite control

Reading Time: < 1 minute The first member of the benzoylacetonitrile group of crop insecticides (Group 25) to come to market in North America will be a mite control for fruit crops. BASF Canada announced Tuesday it has picked up registration for Nealta, a 200-gram-per-litre suspension concentrate of cyflumetofen, billed as a control for all life stages of tetranychid mites […] Read more


St. Lawrence floated ‘blowout’ grain volumes in ’14

Reading Time: 2 minutes Having shut its locks for the season on New Year’s Day, the operators of Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway system report moving a “blowout volume” of grain during the 280-day 2014 shipping year. The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. (SLSMC) on Monday reported having moved a total cargo volume of 40 million tonnes during the season, […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

CP to appeal federal fine on September grain handle

Reading Time: < 1 minute Citing post-Labour Day pains at the West Coast, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) plans to appeal a $50,000 federal fine over the company’s Prairie grain handle. Transport Canada said last week it had issued notices of violation and administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of $50,000 each against CP and Canadian National Railway (CN) for falling short of […] Read more


Veau Charlevoix founder Jean-Robert Audet has agreed to work with Ecolait on relaunching and developing the Charlevoix veal brand. (CNW Group/Ecolait Ltd. photo)

Veal processor Ecolait to revive Charlevoix brand

Reading Time: 2 minutes Quebec veal producer and processor Ecolait has announced plans to pick up and redevelop a well known brand name in the sector. St. Hyacinthe-based Ecolait, which markets veal under the Vivo brand, said Friday it’s bought the Le Veau Charlevoix brand, for an undisclosed sum, “in order to relaunch it.” Le Veau Charlevoix, which began as […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada blocks poultry, eggs from U.S. Northwest

Reading Time: 2 minutes Birds, eggs and poultry products from Washington and Oregon are being kept out of Canada after findings of high-path avian flu in a pair of backyard flocks in those states. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Dec. 24 reported highly pathogenic (“high-path”) H5N2 avian flu in a backyard free-range flock of geese, turkeys, chickens, ducks […] Read more


In this photo of a wilt-affected plant’s stem at harvest, black microsclerotia can be seen just below the surface layer. (Gov.mb.ca/agriculture)

Seed, equipment quarantined at wilt-stricken Man. farm

Reading Time: 2 minutes Seed and equipment are now under federal quarantine at a Manitoba farm where a crop pathogen never before seen in Canada made its first-ever appearance in North American canola. Without giving the farm’s specific or general location, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday it’s placed a quarantine order on seed from the farm at […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

CN, CP face fines for summer grain handle

Reading Time: 2 minutes Both of Canada’s big two railways have been slapped with fines for missing the federal government’s mark this summer on weekly Prairie grain handling. A Transport Canada spokesperson confirmed by email Thursday that Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway (CN, CP) have been served notices of violation including administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of $100,000 and $50,000 […] Read more


Nursery barn Quebec’s sixth case of PED

Reading Time: < 1 minute Another nursery barn in Quebec’s Monteregie is the site of the province’s sixth case of porcine epidemic diarrhea in hogs, provincial officials said Thursday. The infections were confirmed Wednesday through lab tests on fecal samples from a 5,000-hog operation at St-Aime, about 30 km southeast of Sorel, Quebec’s provincial swine health team (EQSP) said in […] Read more

(Canada Beef Inc. photo)

Five-year beef plan seeks boosts in demand, efficiency

Reading Time: 3 minutes A new strategy from national and provincial cattle producer and beef marketing agencies has set five-year percentage benchmarks for the industry’s productivity, added value and cost-effectiveness. Canada’s beef sector groups on Wednesday formally released their National Beef Strategy, a guiding document for “how the organizations can work together to best position the Canadian beef industry […] Read more