Brazil’s BRF sees holiday food sales back to pre-pandemic level

Reuters – Brazilian pork and poultry processor BRF SA expects food sales to return to pre-pandemic levels during the holiday season as consumers and families gather again after almost two years of social distancing. In an interview with Reuters Dec. 1, Sidney Manzaro, who leads the company’s Brazilian operation, said he does not expect the

(Xinzheng/Getty Images)

New China import rules bring headaches for food, beverage makers

Cooking oil, milled grains among foods moved to higher-risk categories

Beijing | Reuters — Makers of Irish whiskey, Belgian chocolate and European coffee brands are scrambling to comply with new Chinese food and beverage regulations, with many fearful their goods will be unable to enter the giant market as a Jan. 1 deadline looms. China’s customs authority published new food safety rules in April stipulating


(File photo by Lorraine Stevenson)

Elevators hope mandatory vaccination doesn’t disrupt operations

New regulations will require all federally regulated employees to comply early in 2022

Canada’s major companies hope their operations won’t be disrupted when Ottawa requires federally regulated employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting early in 2022. “It depends on whether employees that aren’t vaccinated will get vaccinated, or would they leave their jobs,” Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) said in an interview

(RoyalFair.org video screengrab via YouTube)

AgriCommunication plan to seek farmer-consumer dialogue

Ag exhibitions among expected beneficiaries

The federal government has put up new funding toward improving consumers’ awareness of the “strengths” of Canada’s ag sector — and to improve farmer awareness of what those consumers want and expect. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Thursday announced an $8 million, three-year funding envelope for the first of two streams of what’s now called


File photo of an Ontario cherry orchard. (UpdogDesigns/iStock/Getty Images)

Audit finds Canada failing migrant farmworkers on COVID-19, housing inspections

Toronto | Reuters — As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, federal government inspectors frequently deemed the employers of migrant workers compliant with health and safety rules despite a lack of evidence, according to an Auditor General report released Thursday. While Canadian provinces and territories set housing standards, the federal government is responsible for ensuring tens of

(ThamKC/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. EPA proposes biofuel mandate cuts

Proposal seen as boost to pandemic-hit refiners

New York | Reuters — The Biden administration proposed on Tuesday a reduction in the amount of biofuels that U.S. oil refiners were required to blend into their fuel mix since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-awaited decision offers some relief to the U.S. refining industry after the health crisis slammed domestic demand


Dominic Barton. (Video screengrab from McKinsey.com)

Ambassador to China to leave post after helping free detainees

Canola, 5G access, other issues remain

Ottawa | Reuters –– Canada’s ambassador to China said on Monday he would soon leave his post after a two-year assignment where he helped secure the freedom of two Canadian detainees despite icy relations between Beijing and Ottawa. Dominic Barton’s departure, which will take effect Dec. 31, leaves a crucial diplomatic post open at a

File photo outside Cargill’s beef slaughter and packing plant at High River, Alta. on May 6, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Todd Korol)

Strike averted at Cargill’s High River beef plant

Deal that hikes wages by 21 per cent and offers large bonuses receives majority backing

Workers at Cargill’s beef packing plant in southern Alberta have voted in favour of a contract that will hike wages by 21 per cent and provide improved health benefits. “The contract is the best of its kind and presented unprecedented gains in this time of economic and political uncertainty,” United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)


CME January 2022 feeder cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle, hog futures finish higher

Investors' COVID concerns eased

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange livestock futures finished higher on Wednesday as the markets recovered after dropping the previous session to their lowest prices in more than a week. Prices rose as investors’ concerns eased about the Omicron coronavirus variant, which rattled commodity and financial markets on Tuesday, traders said. Chicago Board of