Reading Time: < 1 minute Two Fraser Valley poultry farms — both of which received birds from one of two farms quarantined this week with confirmed cases of H5 avian influenza — are now also under federal quarantine. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Wednesday the two traceout farms were “determined to be at high risk” for avian flu. Birds […] Read more
Two more B.C. poultry farms quarantined for avian flu
Two Fraser Valley farms quarantined with H5 avian flu
Reading Time: 2 minutes Federal officials have quarantined a turkey farm and a broiler breeder farm in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley after both were confirmed with outbreaks of an H5 strain of avian influenza. The quarantines, announced Tuesday, follow death losses of “over half” of the 11,000 birds at the turkey farm near Abbotsford, and of about 1,000 of […] Read more
Sask. to raise brand inspection, registration fees
Reading Time: 2 minutes The new not-for-profit agency running Saskatchewan’s brand inspection, registry and livestock dealer licensing services is set to boost its fees in the new year. Livestock Services Corp. of Saskatchewan (LSS) will raise its brand inspection fee by 75 cents per animal effective Jan. 2, to $2.75. LSS’ fee for registering or renewing a brand will […] Read more
Mandatory minimum grain handle extended
Reading Time: 2 minutes A new order-in-council will extend the federal government’s mandatory minimum weekly grain handle for Canada’s big two railways through March, just as the previous order expires. Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on Saturday announced the mandatory minimums, which expired Saturday, are extended until March 28, 2015. The new order, however, adjusts the […] Read more
Ex-Viterra CEO to lead Dreyfus’ commodities business
Reading Time: 2 minutes The CEO who stitched Viterra together from Canada’s Prairie pools has been named to lead Louis Dreyfus’ global commodities business. Mayo Schmidt was announced Friday as the new CEO of Louis Dreyfus Commodities (LDC), the “D” of the four “ABCD” companies dominating the global grain business. Schmidt takes the reins at Rotterdam-based Dreyfus effective Jan. […] Read more
U.S. to appeal latest WTO loss on COOL
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada will have to wait up to three more months before it can impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods over Washington’s mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law on meat from imported livestock. The U.S. government on Friday filed a notice of appeal against the latest ruling by a World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel, which last […] Read more
Hi-Pro buying, shutting Lethbridge feed mill
Reading Time: 2 minutes The livestock feed business in southern Alberta is set for consolidation as feed miller Hi-Pro Feeds moves to buy, then close, a fellow feed mill. Hi-Pro, the former feed milling business of grain handler Viterra, announced Wednesday it’s bought New-Life Mills’ Lethbridge feed plant for an undisclosed sum, will hire three New-Life employees and will […] Read more
Rail engineers, conductors seek mediation with CP
Reading Time: < 1 minute With just over a month before their contract expires, rail engineers and conductors represented by the Teamsters Union want a mediator to restart “stalled” bargaining with Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) said Friday it has filed a mediation request with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). “The negotiations have […] Read more
Ontario proposes deep cuts to farmers’ neonic use by 2017
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ontario’s new goal to ban most use of neonicotinoid pesticides in corn and soybean crops by 2017 has yielded bouquets from the province’s beekeepers — but left crop growers feeling stung. Following up on Premier Kathleen Wynne’s orders to her agriculture and environment ministers in their mandate letters in September, the province on Tuesday announced it will consult on […] Read more
Alta. Wildrose ag critic joins Tories
Reading Time: 2 minutes The agriculture and rural development critic for Alberta’s official Wildrose opposition has crossed the floor to the governing Tories. Little Bow MLA Ian Donovan announced his defection from the Wildrose on Monday to the Progressive Conservatives alongside Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Kerry Towle, Wildrose’s critic for human services and seniors. “In order to maintain my integrity, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
