Reading Time: 2 minutes An animal welfare activist has died while attending what’s been described as a “vigil” outside a southern Ontario hog packing plant, as new provincial limits on such activity around livestock are set to take effect. Halton Regional Police Service reported receiving a call Friday morning that a person had been “struck by a transport truck” […] Read more
Animal welfare activist dies outside Ontario pork plant
Protestor reportedly hit by transport truck
Ontario offers cash for abattoir upgrades
Applications now being accepted through April
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s 123 provincially-licensed abattoirs can now start applying for a piece of $2 million in federal/provincial funding to step up food safety, biosecurity and animal welfare measures. The Ontario and federal governments on Wednesday announced applications for cost-share funding can be submitted between now and April 30, “as long as funding for the initiative is […] Read more
EU-Canada trade deal clears hurdle in Dutch parliament
Reading Time: < 1 minute Amsterdam | Reuters — The European Union’s free trade agreement with Canada cleared a political hurdle on Tuesday, when a slim majority of lawmakers in the Dutch lower house voted to ratify the contested deal. Votes by members of the country’s governing coalition were enough to approve the deal, which was rejected by opposition parties […] Read more
Swiss government urges voters to reject more state help for farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Zurich | Reuters — The Swiss government urged voters on Tuesday to reject more help for farmers and other proposals for agriculture in a referendum next month, saying they would send food prices rocketing and hurt the economy. Switzerland will two hold referendums on Sept. 23 — one on giving more state support to farmers […] Read more
Talk to family, friends about farming
Reading Time: 3 minutes This holiday season Melodie Chan wants producers to avoid what she calls the “spiral of silence,” which can happen around the dinner table, over beers or even in the gentle lull between turkey and pie if farmers don’t speak up when they hear misinformation about agriculture. “What are we afraid of?” asked Chan, speaking at […] Read more
Public input sought on sustainable beef indicators
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ranchers, consumers and others who have thoughts on how beef and its cattle should be sustainably produced in Canada are asked to speak up again, this time by early November at the latest. The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB), in the midst of developing a Verified Sustainable Beef Framework, has released its new draft […] Read more
Modular chicken loading means processor, farmer investment
Benefits include improved animal welfare and better workplace safety
Reading Time: 4 minutes Ontario will be joining most of the rest of Canada in moving to modular loading of chickens. But the change, mandated by Chicken Farmers of Ontario by 2024, will mean renovations to barns, some major, and investment by processors and transporters. Most chickens in the province are nabbed by chicken catchers in barns and carried to […] Read more
Greig: Animal welfare research focusing more on emotional states
Reading Time: 3 minutes Animal welfare research is moving beyond identifying what keeps an animal healthy, to focus more on their state of being and their happiness. For years, farmers have justified the way they manage and house animals based on objective measures of their health: disease prevalence, growth rates and feed consumption. Consumer research, however, shows that’s not […] Read more
VIDEO: Evaluating animal welfare
Reading Time: < 1 minute Glacier FarmMedia reporter John Greig speaks with Ed Pajor about how animal welfare researchers are moving from evaluating welfare based on health to the emotional state of animals.
Nestle pledges cage-free eggs for Canadian wares
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian arm of Swiss food processing giant Nestle has promised to shift its egg supply to “cage-free” sources by 2025. Nestle Canada, whose products using eggs include some of its Lean Cuisine meals and Real Dairy desserts, said Wednesday it was “dedicated to working with Canadian farmers to make this transition.” The Canadian business […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
