Reading Time: 3 minutes The meat packing and processing arm of Quebec’s biggest agrifood co-operative has earmarked over $52 million for poultry plant upgrades and construction in Ontario and Quebec. La Coop federee’s Olymel division in the past week has announced over $30 million for plant upgrades and the purchase of a second facility at Brampton, Ont., $14 million […] Read more
Olymel plugs over $52M into poultry processing
NAFTA negotiators trade barbs, agree on extension
Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington | Reuters — Trade negotiators from the U.S. and Canada accused each other of sabotaging attempts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement on Tuesday, even as they and Mexico agreed to extend talks into 2018. A round of talks in Washington that lasted seven days failed to find the most basic common […] Read more
In the deep end
Sarah Jackson had been planning for her farming future since she was 17 years old, knowing her father Tom would be working right alongside her. So when he died suddenly eight months ago, she was thrown into a maelstrom. It’s an old story in agriculture, but because of new attitudes and modern connections, it ends with some surprising twists
Reading Time: 10 minutes “We left the hospital, and went to tell my grandmother he had died, then I came home and loaded trucks at two in the morning,” says Jackson. Neighbours rushed to help, but “Dad hadn’t even been dead for four hours and I had no choice but to keep farming.” Hard as it was at the […] 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
Egg production on the rise
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada – Canadian egg production has risen 4.4 per cent in the past year, according to data released today by Statistics Canada. Canadian egg producers generated 64.5 million dozen eggs from May 2016 to May this year, said StatsCan. Placement of hatchery chicks on farms rose four percent to 65.5 million birds from June […] Read more
Cargill considering bid for JBS’ Pilgrim’s Pride
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo / Reuters – Global commodities trader Cargill Inc is considering bidding for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, a U.S.-based chicken processor controlled by scandal-ridden Brazilian group JBS SA, newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday. A JBS representative said Pilgrim’s Pride is not for sale. An emailed request for comments from Cargill went […] Read more
Three farm families, five years later
Country Guide revisits three young Manitoba farm families building their future in agriculture
Reading Time: 2 minutes In 2012, Country Guide discovered a cluster of young farmers near out-of-the-way Cartwright, Man. They were all searching for ways to start small in the heart of big-farm Canada, and they all saw their best chance in a combination of direct marketing and holistic practices. To some readers, it seemed like a dream. To others, […] Read more
U.S., China agree to first trade steps under 100-day plan
Reading Time: 4 minutes Washington | Reuters –– The U.S. and China have agreed to take action by mid-July to increase access for U.S. financial firms and expand trade in beef and chicken among other steps as part of Washington’s drive to cut its trade deficit with Beijing. The deals are the first results of 100 days of trade […] Read more
Canada blocks poultry, eggs from Tennessee, Alabama
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cross-border travellers coming into Canada from the U.S. are being warned not to bring in raw poultry or eggs from Tennessee or Alabama following outbreaks of avian flu in those states. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday announced restrictions on imports of uncooked poultry products, live birds and/or eggs from those two states until […] Read more
Proliferation of bird flu outbreaks raises pandemic risk
Reading Time: 4 minutes London | Reuters — The global spread of bird flu and the number of viral strains currently circulating and causing infections have reached unprecedented levels, raising the risk of a potential human outbreak, according to disease experts. Multiple outbreaks have been reported in poultry farms and wild flocks across Europe, Africa and Asia in the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
