Reading Time: 2 minutes Neither federal nor international animal health officials expect to see import bans imposed on Canadian poultry coming out of an avian flu outbreak at a farm on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday reported a confirmed outbreak of a highly-pathogenic (‘high-path’) strain of H5N1 avian influenza at an exhibition farm in […] Read more
No bans expected from Newfoundland avian flu outbreak
High-path H5N1 kills 360 birds on 'non-poultry' farm
Meet the team
In today’s agriculture, succession means most family farms must grow. For the Siemens family, it also means adopting new ways of doing business. Success is all about building on the existing foundation, and creating a new one
Reading Time: 14 minutes When Kurt Siemens and his son Harley were planning an expansion of the family’s egg farm, they would scratch out designs on paper, then climb the feed tank in the yard so they could visualize the layout on the ground from a bird’s-eye view. “We would take marker paint and draw the building out on […] Read more
EU’s bird flu outbreaks reach Poland
Country's outbreaks hit farms totalling 650,000 birds
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Poland has reported several outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu at poultry farms with flocks totalling nearly 650,000 birds, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday. Poland is the European Union’s largest poultry producer. Five outbreaks, of which four were at fattening turkey farms and one at […] Read more
Olymel CEO dies of ‘sudden’ cancer
Rejean Nadeau died Thursday at 71
Reading Time: 2 minutes The CEO of Canadian pork and poultry packer Olymel has died of a “sudden and virulent cancer” at age 71, his company reported Friday morning. Rejean Nadeau, the CEO of Sollio Co-operative’s meatpacking and processing arm since 1996, died Thursday at his home at Rougemont, Que., about 25 km south of St-Hyacinthe, Olymel said in […] Read more
Cargill, Continental Grain to buy chicken producer Sanderson Farms for $4.5 bln
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters – Commodities trader Cargill Inc and agricultural investor Continental Grain Co will buy chicken producer Sanderson Farms Inc for $4.53 billion, the companies said on Monday, at a time when meat prices have been soaring due to strong demand. The deal would see Sanderson Farms, the third-largest poultry producer in the United States, join […] Read more
Maple Leaf takes up Ontario poultry plant
Option exercised on Cericola Farms' remaining facility
Reading Time: < 1 minute A southern Ontario processing plant specializing in organic and antibiotic-free poultry products has gone to Maple Leaf Foods in a postscript to a previous sale. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Friday it had closed its purchase of the Sure Fresh Foods poultry plant at Schomberg, Ont., about 30 km north of Vaughan, for an undisclosed sum, […] Read more
Strike ends at Exceldor poultry plant in Quebec
Union members vote to take six-year deal
Reading Time: 2 minutes A month-long strike at one of Quebec’s biggest poultry slaughter and processing plants is ending after unionized workers voted to accept a new agreement reached through mediation. About 500 unionized workers at Exceldor Co-operative’s plant at Saint-Anselme, about 30 km southeast of Quebec City, have been on strike since May 23. The previous contract between […] Read more
Another swine flu variant case appears in Manitoba
Variant of H3N2 confirmed in southern Manitoba resident
Reading Time: 2 minutes A single and apparently isolated case of another influenza variant normally seen in hogs has turned up in a Manitoba resident, the province announced Monday. Manitoba Public Health on Monday said the H3N2 influenza variant (H3N2v) seen in this case is related to flu viruses that circulate in pigs, noting that while such viruses don’t […] Read more
Quebec names mediator in Exceldor poultry strike
Major chicken plant's workers off job since May 23
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Quebec government has brought in a mediator to try to restart labour talks that stalled ahead of a strike at one of the province’s biggest poultry plants. Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet on Friday named Helene Poulin as a special mediator on the labour dispute at the Exceldor poultry plant at Saint-Anselme, about 30 […] Read more
China reports first human case of H10N3 bird flu
Strain 'not a very common virus'
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters — A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3, Beijing’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday. Many different strains of bird flu are present in China and some sporadically infect […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
