Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta’s farmed-commodity commissions may soon be able to make their checkoffs non-refundable again if their producer members are willing. The provincial government on Tuesday tabled amendments to the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act (MAPA) which would grant each of the province’s 13 agricultural commissions the ability to determine whether their checkoffs should be refundable or […] Read more
Alberta to restore non-refundable checkoff option
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hogs narrowly mixed on quarter-end positioning
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago/Reuters – U.S. livestock futures were narrowly mixed on Friday, with live cattle edging slightly higher in a rebound from an earlier 10-day low as investors squared up their positions on the final day of the quarter, traders and analysts said. Most-active Chicago Mercantile Exchange June live cattle settled unchanged at 110.875 cents per lb, […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog prices rally on bargain buying before USDA report
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hogs finished higher on Thursday, with strength from bargain buying prior to what turned out to be a neutral U.S. government hog report after futures closed, said traders. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s quarterly hog report showed a record-large March 1 herd, with most of the data close to […] Read more
‘Operation Weak Flesh’ takes bite out of Brazil’s meat exports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Brazil’s meat exports have fallen sharply since a police investigation into alleged bribery of food-sanitation inspectors in the world’s top beef and poultry exporter sparked a wave of trade bans, an industry group said on Friday. Import restrictions by several key importers of Brazilian meat, ranging from China to Europe, […] Read more
Canadian hog prices to rise by summer
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Cheap prices for feed and a softer Canadian dollar have helped keep Canadian hog prices aloft so far in 2017. “Right now producers are looking at $180 to $184 a pig,” said Andrew Dickson, general manger of Manitoba Pork. “Prices are looking pretty good for June, July, August.” By July, he said, […] Read more
Manitoba to axe limits on hog barns
Reading Time: 2 minutes UPDATED, March 20 — Manitoba’s restrictions on hog barn and manure storage construction are set to be shelved by way of an omnibus “red tape reduction” bill. Provincial Finance Minister Cameron Friesen on Thursday introduced Bill 24 for first reading. Among its 15 proposed amendments to various pieces of legislation, the bill would repeal two […] Read more
PED pops back up in southern Ontario
Reading Time: < 1 minute Porcine epidemic diarrhea has appeared on two hog operations in southern Ontario, after nearly eight months with no new cases in the province. Ontario Pork reported the province’s 100th and 101st cases of PED on Feb. 22 and March 7, at finisher barns in Middlesex County and in the Haldimand-Norfolk district respectively. Ontario — home […] Read more
JBS to buy U.S. pork processor Plumrose
Reading Time: < 1 minute U.S. ham and bacon processor Plumrose is set to become an arm of major Brazilian meatpacker JBS. JBS, whose holdings include one of Canada’s biggest beef packing plants at Brooks, Alta., announced Monday it has an agreement in place to buy Plumrose from Danish co-operative Danish Crown for US$230 million. The deal would give JBS […] Read more
Oklahoma wildfires kill thousands of pigs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Wildfires devastated a Smithfield Foods hog farm in Laverne, Oklahoma, killing at least several thousand pigs, company and local officials said Friday. The exact number of swine killed in the Oklahoma fire, which began on Monday, was not immediately known. Smithfield did not say how many died in the blaze, but said no […] Read more
Cash-rich Maple Leaf sees abundant U.S. opportunities
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canadian meat packing company Maple Leaf Foods is hunting for acquisitions in the U.S., after years spent upgrading old factories and shedding business lines, its CEO said on Wednesday. Maple Leaf, which reported on Wednesday its profits doubled in the fourth quarter, sees growth opportunities from meat produced humanely and without antibiotics, and […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
