Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated, Jan. 25, 2018 — Canada’s supply-managed producer groups warn that the new Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal stands to chip away unnecessarily at their markets. Chicken Farmers of Canada on Wednesday said the CPTPP deal, on which Canada pledged Tuesday it will sign in March, still includes concessions on market access […] Read more
Chicken, dairy farmers rip TPP concessions
Olymel plugs over $52M into poultry processing
Reading Time: 3 minutes The meat packing and processing arm of Quebec’s biggest agrifood co-operative has earmarked over $52 million for poultry plant upgrades and construction in Ontario and Quebec. La Coop federee’s Olymel division in the past week has announced over $30 million for plant upgrades and the purchase of a second facility at Brampton, Ont., $14 million […] Read more
Two minds
More couples like the De Groots are taking advanced farm business training together, and report that it’s good both for the farm and for their marriage
Reading Time: 6 minutes To say that Marty and Krista De Groot have their hands full is an understatement. The young couple are in the midst of taking over the third-generation family farm from Marty’s parents. Although his dad, Jack, still helps out, Marty does the bulk of the daily work, taking care of the 40,000 broiler chickens, 2,500 […] Read more
Alberta back in national chicken quota arrangement
Reading Time: 2 minutes A new federal-provincial agreement for allocating broiler chicken quota will formally include Alberta Chicken Producers for the first time since 2013. Chicken Farmers of Canada announced Thursday it has a new federal-provincial agreement (FPA) in hand, including a new quota allocation methodology. The new deal was concluded Tuesday, CFC said, when the Farm Products Council […] Read more
McDonald’s sets new welfare standards for chicken suppliers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — McDonald’s Corp. will require suppliers to improve the living conditions and slaughter process for chickens raised to be served in its restaurants, the company said on Friday, the latest changes affecting popular menu items such as McNuggets. Under new guidelines for animal welfare, suppliers such as Tyson Foods and Cargill must […] Read more
NAFTA negotiators trade barbs, agree on extension
Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington | Reuters — Trade negotiators from the U.S. and Canada accused each other of sabotaging attempts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement on Tuesday, even as they and Mexico agreed to extend talks into 2018. A round of talks in Washington that lasted seven days failed to find the most basic common […] Read more
U.S. now seeking end to supply management in NAFTA talks
Reading Time: < 1 minute Arlington, Va. | Reuters — U.S. negotiators at talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement want Canada to dismantle its system of protections for the dairy and poultry sectors — a move Ottawa will reject, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday. The proposal is the latest in a string of […] Read more
In the deep end
Sarah Jackson had been planning for her farming future since she was 17 years old, knowing her father Tom would be working right alongside her. So when he died suddenly eight months ago, she was thrown into a maelstrom. It’s an old story in agriculture, but because of new attitudes and modern connections, it ends with some surprising twists
Reading Time: 10 minutes “We left the hospital, and went to tell my grandmother he had died, then I came home and loaded trucks at two in the morning,” says Jackson. Neighbours rushed to help, but “Dad hadn’t even been dead for four hours and I had no choice but to keep farming.” Hard as it was at the […] Read more
Philippines’ Jollibee eyes deals to grow
Reading Time: 3 minutes Manila/Singapore | Reuters — Filipino billionaire Tony Tan Caktiong, who has built Jollibee Foods Corp. into a near-4,000 store purveyor of sweet-style spaghetti, burgers and fried chicken, is looking to buy existing brands in mature markets to help fuel future growth. Dominant at home, where Jollibee has 1,000 eponymous stores welcoming diners with its smiling […] Read more
Appeals court revives California ban on foie gras
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday revived a California state law banning the sale of foie gras made from force-fed birds. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a January 2015 lower court ruling striking down the law, saying the judge erred in concluding that the ban conflicted with a federal […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
