(LIVINUS/iStock/Getty Images)

New quarantine rules lined up for temporary foreign workers

Private transport would allow workers to skip immediate hotel stay

Temporary foreign workers coming to Canada for work in the farming or food processing sectors might not have to immediately check into government-approved hotels for COVID-19 quarantines along with other arriving travellers. The federal government on Tuesday announced new rules for TFWs taking effect starting Sunday (March 21). Like other arrivals, TFWs will still be

File photo of hogs in transit near Red Deer, Alta. (Stefonlinton/iStock/Getty Images)

Alberta hog farmers to get set-aside via AgriRecovery

Producers get funds for feeding held-back market hogs

An AgriRecovery plan announced Friday is set to pay eligible Alberta farmers 95 cents per day per market-ready hog toward the animals’ upkeep during the shutdown of the province’s biggest hog slaughter plant. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Sollio Co-operative, reopened its plant at Red Deer this week after announcing Feb. 15 it would



Snow cover in southern Manitoba has been sparse this winter, as shown across this field east of Starbuck, Man. (MarketsFarm photo by Glen Hallick)

Wet or dry spring ahead? Depends on where in Canada

MarketsFarm — There will be increased in risk of flooding this spring in British Columbia, western Alberta and parts of Eastern Canada, according to a report Friday from AccuWeather. Meanwhile, dry conditions are expected to continue across the Prairies. AccuWeather’s report forecasts below-normal temperatures for B.C. and western Alberta going into spring. That could delay


(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Risk of human spread of H5N8 bird flu deemed low

Seven people infected but asymptomatic, WHO says

Geneva | Reuters — The risk of human-to-human spread of the H5N8 strain of bird flu appears low after it was identified for the first time worldwide in farm workers in Russia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. A separate influenza strain, H1N1, that emerged from pigs and spread rapidly worldwide among humans

Screenshot from a U.S. NHTSA video showing a rupturing Takata airbag inflator. (Nhtsa.gov via YouTube)

Ford recalling older-model Rangers over airbag inflators

Deaths, injuries linked to faulty inflators

Washington | Reuters — Ford Motor Co. is recalling 153,000 older trucks that may have had obsolete Takata air bag modules installed in collision and theft repairs after the Takata recall was completed, the automaker said on Thursday. The second-largest U.S. automaker identified about 8,800 Ford Ranger 2004-06 trucks in Canada and 144,340 in the


An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

Foreign workers to lose some travel exemptions in March

Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) travelling to Canada won’t need to quarantine in a government-supervised hotel when they get here – for now — but by mid-March, Ottawa will put more stringent measures in place. Starting Feb. 22, non-essential travellers and essential workers arriving in Canada will be tested for COVID-19 upon their arrival. Non-essential travellers

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu insurance plan backed for Ontario turkeys

New plan to be mandatory for turkey farmers

Ontario’s turkey producer organization will get federal support to help set up a new mandatory insurance plan to cover costs incurred in any future outbreaks of avian influenza. Southern Ontario MPs Neil Ellis and Tim Louis on Monday announced up to $559,285 in federal funding through the AgriRisk Initiatives: Administrative Capacity Building stream for Turkey


Keystone Agricultural Producers is launching a series of 34 online workshops on mental health.

Workshops shine light on farmer mental health

KAP’s series of online workshops will highlight signs of mental distress, how to tell if someone is struggling, and the best ways to approach that conversation or get help yourself

Producers looking to expand their knowledge on everything from market trends to agronomy have had their pick of online education for the last year, but the latest series of free ag-related seminars hope to tackle a problem usually held closer to the vest — mental health. Why it matters: Farmers have little trouble confronting an

Marcel Hacault retires from his position as executive director of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association this March. He’s spent 16 years in the role.

Hacault reflects on decades in ag leadership

Marcel Hacault saw the hog industry through years of upheaval before moving on to agriculture safety

His dad told him not to farm. Marcel Hacault decided to do it anyway — in any way he could. “I think that was pretty common,” Hacault told the Co-operator. Farming wasn’t a popular occupation when he was a young man. Hacault grew up on a mixed farm near Mariapolis, in south-central Manitoba. They ran