Dutch swine genetics company Topigs Norsvin officially opened a $15 million hog research centre in Manitoba on Wednesday. The company’s Delta Canada facility is located near Woodlands, in Manitoba’s Interlake region, which was chosen due to its isolation from other pig production and its proximity to Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport for shipping breeding stock and… Read More
What’s new? Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay set off on a cross-Canada trek this week, and will be making a series of stops — and expected funding announcements — along the way. The announced funds are part of the overall funding previously committed to the five-year federal-provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP). We’re… Read More
A group of people concerned about the impact of Health Canada’s plan to revise Canada’s Food Guide and introduce new labels on food packaging have launched a campaign to raise awareness of and opposition to the government’s proposed changes. The campaign, which uses the slogan “Hands Off My Plate,” includes a website, a hashtag (#HandsOffMyPlate,… Read More
Quebec-based cooperative La Coop fédérée is expandings its presence in Western Canada, announcing the acquisition of Standard Nutrition Canada. Headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Standard Nutrition Canada sells animal nutrition products and services in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Formed in 2004 after the amalgamation of Standard Nutrition USA’s Canadian operations and Max Pro Feeds of Winnipeg,… Read More
HyLife Foods celebrated the expansion of its hog processing plant in Neepawa, MB, this week — an expansion that has been driven by growing demand for Canadian pork in Japan and China. The La Broquerie-based company has added 100,000 square feet to the facility, including new cutting floor space, a shipping/packaging area, and more cooling… Read More
Livestock trucks headed south will be exempt from new electronic logging rules in the U.S. for another 90-days, as the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) wrestles with how to apply the new legislation to perishable commodities, which include hogs and cattle coming from Canada. The U.S. DOT initially granted a 90-day waiver for agriculture when… Read More
Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart today announced a $6.3 million commitment to 24 livestock and forage-related research projects and $2 million over two years to the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence. Background: Livestock centre of excellence receives $4.5 million from federal gov’t A&W donates $5M to the… Read More
According to the dictionary, a sin tax is “a tax on items considered undesirable or harmful, such as alcohol or tobacco.” There is mounting pressure from activist groups to add animal proteins to that list of so-called “sinful” items. They argue meat creates added healthcare costs and negative impacts on the environment. It might sound… Read More
For quite some time the pork industry was less than an ideal place to be. More barns closed than opened as demand waned and environmental regulations increased. It is a different time on the pork industry in 2017. Similar to beef, demand has been very strong, which has prices pushed higher and producers making money…. Read More
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has made a change to its labeling rules for packers that moves the Canadian pork industry a step closer to benefitting from the Canada-European Union trade agreement. A change to the CFIA Manual of Procedures will now allow packers to apply EU health mark labels after meat has been… Read More
An all-Canadian product that promises better pork health is coming onto the domestic market this month. It’s designed to reduce antimicrobial use in piglets, by making them healthier from the start. The product is called Nuvio. Its producers, MicroSintesis and Bio Agri Mix, call Nuvio technology “proteobiotics.” That’s the name they’ve given molecules produced by… Read More
We might be hearing more about plant-based protein and meatless burgers in headlines, but when we look around the world, demand for animal-based protein — meat — is still climbing. In this podcast we connect with Carlos Saviani, the vice president of food sustainability with the World Wildlife Fund. You might say he brings a… Read More
My daughter and grandson share the same birthday, August 7. They’re part of a pork-and-grain farming operation near Thamesville. At their birthday celebration on the weekend, our family barbequed pork sausage from their farm on the campfire. There was no reason to doubt the quality of the sausage. We trust the meat packers in nearby… Read More
After almost a month without any new cases, Manitoba’s 61st case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus since early May was confirmed in a finisher hog barn in the southeast part of the province this week. As of Thursday, there were 22 sow herds, 13 nurseries and 26 finishing operations infected, according to the province’s… Read More
A lab has been established in Guelph to screen boars with a genetic abnormality that results in smaller litters. The abnormality happens naturally, when cells divide. “Sometimes, the genes just don’t line up the way they should when cells are developing,” says University of Guelph Prof. Allan King, who established the lab. That results in… Read More