Saskatchewan and its hog industry are setting up a contingency fund against the day porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) arrives in the province. The federal and Saskatchewan governments on Thursday announced $200,000, to be matched by industry association Sask Pork, to offset “costs related to disease containment strategies, welfare issues, enhanced marketing efforts and mortality management” […]

A wiener processing plant on Maple Leaf Foods’ list of six further-processing facilities tapped for closure in the company’s 2011 “value creation” plan has officially shut its doors. The Toronto meat processing company on Thursday announced its plant on Brockley Road in Hamilton has closed and its production — plus 88 per cent of the […]

Washington | Reuters — In an expected move, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday announced new measures to combat the spread of diseases such as porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in the U.S. pig population. While PED is not considered a reportable disease according to international standards, USDA will now require reporting of the PED […]

Winnipeg foodservice egg processor MFI Food Canada is poised to become an arm of breakfast giant Post as part of the U.S. company’s biggest-ever takeover deal. Post Holdings, whose brands include cereals such as Honeycomb, Alpha-Bits, Grape-Nuts and (in Canada) Shreddies, plus other cereal, snack and nutrition supplement products, announced Thursday it has an agreement […]

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures on Thursday finished higher on fund buying and short-covering ahead of the Easter holiday, traders said. CME will be closed on Friday in observance of the Good Friday holiday. Some investors bought the May and June contracts in anticipation of a post-Easter uptrend in cash hog […]

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures on Wednesday settled higher after a choppy day of trading, supported by unexpectedly strong demand for pork at wholesale, traders said. Wednesday morning’s wholesale pork price turned $2.38 per hundredweight (cwt) higher at $124.11, after falling $2.68 the day before, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture […]

Reuters — U.S. pork production is likely to decline about two per cent this year due to the spread of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its monthly livestock outlook report. Live hog prices were expected to increase as a result of the pig virus, the report said. As of […]

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle turned lower, pressured by profit-taking and uncertainty regarding this week’s slaughter-ready or cash prices, traders said. Bullish participants see packers paying steady to higher money for cattle to be delivered during the first full slaughter week after the Easter holiday. They also cited possible beef cutout […]

CNS Canada – Temperatures are expected to continue to be colder than normal for much of agricultural Western Canada this week. A smaller disturbance will be moving through Alberta and into parts of western and southern Saskatchewan, according to Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. in Kansas City. “It will be kind of similar to […]