Kyle Jeworski, Viterra’s CEO for North America, speaks in a December 2020 promotional video announcing the company’s worldwide rebranding. (Viterra video screengrab via YouTube)

Viterra plans major canola crusher for Regina

Expected capacity would make facility largest in world

Reading Time: 3 minutes Grain handler and processor Viterra is taking its plans to build the world’s biggest canola crusher to its Prairie home town. The North American arm of Rotterdam-based Viterra said Monday it’s in the “feasibility” stage of designing and finalizing plans for what it bills as the “world’s largest integrated canola crush facility” in the northeast […] Read more

Excerpt from a digital rendition of Cargill’s proposed $350 million canola crushing plant proposed for the Regina area. (Image courtesy Cargill)

Cargill to crush canola at Regina

New plant to process up to one million tonnes per year

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian arm of agrifood giant Cargill plans to further expand its reach in the Prairie canola market with a new crush plant at Regina and upgrades elsewhere. The company announced Thursday it would start construction on the $350 million plant “early next year” and expects to have it operating by early 2024, employing about […] Read more


CME June 2021 lean hogs with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hogs limit-down on profit-taking

Cattle futures continue lower

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures sank by their daily exchange-imposed trading limit on Thursday as profit-taking overwhelmed the market following blistering rallies, analysts said. The setback is a turnaround from gains that have lifted profits for pig farmers after they struggled last year when the COVID-19 pandemic reduced restaurants’ demand for meat […] Read more

A worker at Cargill’s London, Ont. chicken plant demonstrates the deboning process for a 2014 McDonald’s video on the meat used to make McNuggets. (McDonald’s Canada video screengrab via YouTube)

Cargill shuts Ontario chicken plant against COVID

Other packers being sought to take birds

Reading Time: 3 minutes Agrifood firm Cargill is seeking slaughter space for Ontario chickens at other processors after temporarily closing its London poultry packing plant Tuesday against an outbreak of COVID-19 among workers. The company said Tuesday it was “taking this step out of an abundance of caution as our local workforce deals with the community-wide impacts of COVID-19.” […] Read more


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cargill buying further into Saskatchewan ag retail

Company to take up other half of Precision Ag

Reading Time: 2 minutes Cargill plans to expand its crop retail reach further into southeastern Saskatchewan by buying up the remaining half of one of its joint ventures in the region. The Canadian arm of the U.S. agrifood firm said Thursday it will buy up crop input retailer Precision Ag for an undisclosed sum, taking up the 50 per […] Read more

(Lovelyshot/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario calls off final intake for beef set-aside

'Threshold not met' for further cattle intake

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario has called off the last intake for its federal/provincial beef cattle set-aside program. The Beef Emergency Feed Maintenance Initiative, an AgriRecovery program launched after the temporary shutdown of Cargill’s beef slaughter plant at Guelph, was to have its “final potential intake week” opening Monday (Jan. 18), for cattle to be set aside starting Jan. […] Read more


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cargill to reopen Guelph beef plant after coronavirus outbreak

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters – Cargill Inc plans to begin reopening its Guelph, Ont., beef processing plant next week on Dec. 29, days after it closed the facility due to an outbreak of COVID-19 infections among workers, the company said. Last week, Cargill voluntarily agreed to the temporarily closure as 82 workers tested positive for the virus and […] Read more

Beef cattle feeding in Ontario. (DebraLee Wiseberg/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario’s beef set-aside AgriRecovery plan underway

Applications for first intake due Dec. 22

Reading Time: 2 minutes A set-aside program has formally been launched to help Ontario’s 6,800-odd cattle producers maintain market-ready animals while Eastern Canada’s biggest beef slaughter plant remains closed. Federal and provincial officials on Monday announced applications are now open for the Canada-Ontario COVID-19 AgriRecovery Beef Emergency Feed Maintenance Initiative, with applications for the first intake period due by […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Guelph beef plant idled against COVID-19 outbreak

Cattle set-aside plan en route, BFO says

Reading Time: 3 minutes Agrifood giant Cargill is temporarily halting production at its beef processing plant at Guelph, Ont. in the wake of a significant COVID-19 outbreak among employees. The company announced it would “begin the process to temporarily idle” the Dunlop Drive plant effective Thursday (Dec. 17). “This was a difficult decision for our team who are operating […] Read more

(File photo)

U.S. rolls back inspection rules for egg products

New rule to affect 83 U.S. facilities

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The Trump administration said Wednesday it will stop requiring U.S. plants that produce egg products to have full-time government inspectors, in the first update of inspection methods in 50 years. Under a new rule that takes effect immediately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will allow companies such as Cargill and Sonstegard […] Read more