Reading Time: 2 minutes The last of Japan’s import restrictions on Canadian beef and beef products stemming from the BSE crisis has been lifted, allowing access for Canadian further-processed beef. Canada’s federal agriculture department announced Monday that Japan has reopened to imports of “processed” Canadian beef — just days ahead of a significant reduction in Japan’s tariffs on imports […] Read more

Japan lifts last of BSE-era restrictions off Canadian beef
Canadian processed beef regains access to Japan

JBS to automate beef warehousing at Brooks
Packer to replace current fully manual system
Reading Time: 2 minutes International meat packer JBS has enlisted a major robotics and automation company to overhaul the warehousing system at one of Canada’s biggest beef plants. JBS Foods Canada on Friday announced a $71 million project in partnership with New Zealand-based Scott Technology, to design and build a system that can handle and store up to 85,000 […] Read more

JBS resumes second shift at Alberta beef plant
Out of 650 COVID cases at plant, 11 are 'active'
Reading Time: 2 minutes Meat giant JBS’s Alberta beef packing plant has resumed two daily shifts as of Thursday, as fewer than a dozen of its 2,600-plus employees are now sidelined by COVID-19. The JBS plant at Brooks, about 170 km east of Calgary, is “slowly returning to two shifts as of today,” the company said Thursday in a […] Read more

Cargill to restart High River beef plant Monday
Over 750 workers confirmed with COVID-19
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — Cargill said Wednesday it will start to reopen its beef processing plant at High River, Alta. on Monday after the plant was forced to close down because hundreds of workers had become infected with the coronavirus. In a statement, Cargill said it would resume operations after a 14-day temporary shutdown, with […] Read more

Blizzard forces closure of some U.S. grain processors, elevators
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — A second “bomb cyclone” blizzard hitting the United States was limiting the movement and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat around the Midwest and Plains on Thursday. Grain trader Cargill said it was closing three of its grain handling facilities in Minnesota, two in South Dakota and one in Nebraska on […] Read more

JBS expands Utah beef plant as cattle supply squeezes rivals
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– JBS USA, one of the top U.S. meat processors, said Thursday it will expand a Utah beef processing facility, even as some of its rivals have been shuttering plants because of tight cattle supplies. The project is notable because the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to its smallest size since 1951, […] Read more