Reading Time: 2 minutes Health officials in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley have ordered two more poultry processing plant closed after multiple cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among employees. Fraser Health announced April 24 it had ordered Superior Poultry Processors of Coquitlam to close after two employees of the chicken processing plant tested positive for the coronavirus. The health district […] Read more
B.C. health officials order two more poultry plants closed
Over 50 COVID-19 cases found at Superior Poultry
CFA seeks $2.6 billion in support for producers
Federal officials sought specific numbers from ag industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa — Canada’s agriculture industry is seeking an initial $2.6 billion in COVID-19-related emergency relief funding from the federal government. Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) officials put in the ask to the federal government on Thursday. According to second vice-president Chris van den Heuvel, federal officials asked the CFA “to go and put hard numbers […] Read more
As meat plant infections rise, Canada lets packers choose when to close
Beef plants at heart of Alberta's largest COVID-19 community outbreaks
Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — In Cargill’s High River, Alta. plant, supplier of more than one-third of Canada’s beef, 391 workers were sick with COVID-19 when the company suspended operations, according to provincial health officials. But Maple Leaf Foods decided to idle a poultry plant for eight days, in Brampton, Ont., after just three workers were […] Read more
New Brunswick ag groups rip province’s ban on foreign workers
Risk during pandemic 'simply too great,' premier says
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Brunswick farmers who employ temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are calling for the provincial government to reverse its new COVID-19-related ban on entry of TFWs who haven’t yet arrived. The provincial government on Tuesday updated a mandatory order under its pandemic state of emergency to restrict TFWs from entering the province. The new restriction doesn’t […] Read more
Grains, oilseeds, pulses hold their own amid pandemic
Reading Time: 3 minutes MarketsFarm — Prices for grains, oilseeds and pulses are not as bad off as livestock values are due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Neil Townsend, chief market analyst for FarmLink Solutions in Winnipeg. FarmLink hosted a webinar Wednesday to provide its outlook for the coming crop year. One thing Townsend stressed was there is […] Read more
COVID-19 surges at reopened JBS Colorado beef plant, union says
A sixth worker has died, UFCW local chief says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — COVID-19 cases at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado have more than doubled “in a number of days” and a sixth employee died of the virus, a union official said on Thursday, underscoring the risks of U.S. meat plants reopening. The beef plant at Greeley, about 65 km north of Denver, […] Read more
Major Ontario pork packer expects to re-open Monday
Conestoga Meats went offline April 27
Reading Time: 2 minutes The hog slaughter and processing plant billed as Ontario’s second-biggest pork producer expects to be back in business Monday after a week-long COVID-19-related shutdown. Conestoga Meats, based at Breslau, just east of Kitchener, notified hog farmers and shippers on Friday that it would suspend “most operations” during the week of April 27 to May 1, […] 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
U.S. grains: Soy rises on stronger Brazilian currency
Wheat pressured by rain relief across Europe, export lull
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures rose on Wednesday as plans to ease lockdown measures and a move by U.S. President Donald Trump to keep meat factories open tempered fears about demand destruction caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Wheat futures slid, hitting a one-month low as rains in Europe and the Black […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs mostly lower as packing-plant woes persist
Backlog concerns drag on cattle
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures closed mostly lower on Wednesday, setting back from a one-month high set a day earlier in the benchmark June contract as traders mulled the implications of a presidential order for U.S. meat packing plants to remain open, traders said. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered meat-processing plants […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
