The project’s lead researcher is so excited she’s putting off retirement.

“I want the first experiment in a system like this. This is so exciting,” Karen Schwean-Lardner said in a University of Saskatchewan news release.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation announced $6.2 million in funding to build a state-of-the-art poultry laying facility at the University. The foundation is a federal government-created non-profit set up in 1997 to fund research infrastructure in Canada.

WHY IT MATTERS: The proposed facility will allow researchers to improve poultry barn lighting, housing and food systems for better animal welfare and egg production.

The Saskatchewan Egg Producers contributed $3 million while the university’s agriculture and bioresource department added $1 million.

“This will move us so far forward in poultry research,” said Schwean-Lardner in the release. Schwean-Lardner is a professor in the university’s department of animal and poultry science.

The nearly 24,000-square-foot facility is set to include three types of hen housing: enriched, free run and free-range. Ten individual housing rooms will have controls for lighting, temperature and other environmental factors.

“Each one is like a little mini-barn,” Schwean-Larder told media.

“Big data is getting more attention these days. We have a lot of data that can be gathered over time, and this unit is going to allow us to manage that data and collect it over a long period of time,” assistant professor Deborah Adewole said. “There are going to be a lot of new things that we can do for poultry research.”

The facility will also include viewing rooms so public groups — for example, schoolchildren — can see the chickens and housing systems while reducing biosecurity risks.

“We can control the environment. Right now, we cannot do that in the same way,” said Adewole. “This facility is one of its kind in Canada. There are other universities that have built new facilities, but this one is encompassing all systems and has space for public viewing systems as well — which is a first in Canada.”

Schwean-Larder said her first experiment would look at the effects of light on the hens and will involve researchers from the U.S.

“To be able to do that kind of research with an international perspective, I can’t stand it. I’m losing my voice because I’m excited.”

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The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, is a concern for governments and the poultry industry due to the devastation it can cause to flocks, its impact on food prices and a risk of a new pandemic.

WHY IT MATTERS: Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been devastating to poultry farms and wild birds around the world, and has occaisonally hopped to other species like dairy cattle.

Concerns over vaccination masking the spread of the virus and jeopardizing exports have led major poultry producers worldwide to largely resist the strategy.

The UK trials, expected to span 24 weeks, aim to assess the effectiveness of authorized vaccines in field conditions and evaluate how surveillance mechanisms can protect trade, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said in a statement.

Bird flu outbreaks have cost Britain’s government and the poultry industry up to 174 million pounds (C$316.8 million) per year, DEFRA said.

Turkeys were selected for the trials due to their high susceptibility to the virus, with outbreaks often causing significant mortality rates.

France has been vaccinating farm ducks against bird flu since 2023, making it the first major poultry exporter to do so nationwide. It has credited the policy with curbing the disease.

The Netherlands and the United States are also running vaccine trials, with the U.S. assessing how any use of vaccination could affect poultry exports.

— Reporting by Nigel Hunt and Sybille de La Hamaide

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Sollio Cooperative Group held its annual general meeting on Feb. 26.

The group saw consolidated sales of $8.4 billion and $562.3 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Earnings before patronage refunds and income taxes were $211.9 million for the fiscal year compared to $129.5 million in 2024.

Sollio pledged to return $75 million to members of its co-operative network in dividends and share redemptions. This compares to $25 million in 2024, which was the first year it paid patronage refunds since 2020.

Sollio Agriculture saw sales of $2.56 billion. It attributed strong results to performance in its crop production and livestock production sectors.

Sollio Retail (BMR) saw sales of $968.2 million with a better-than-average financial performance attributed to “strict management,” the news release said.

The co-operative has bounced back in the last few years after booking deep losses in 2022 which occurred largely in its Olymel food division. It attributed its losses that year to lack of labour and high grain, transportation and labour costs. In 2023, Olymel dialed back pork production in Alberta and Saskatchewan and closed processing plants in Quebec and Ontario.

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Alexandra Harlander is a professor in the department of animal biosciences at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College.

Her appointment as research chair in poultry welfare is part of a $1.3 million investment to ensure research at the university, “continues to guide animal care standards and inform management decisions” according to a Feb. 26 news release.

Harlander’s research focuses on understanding hen behaviour across different housing systems. Her work has contributed to the National Farm Animal Care Council’s codes of practice, the release said. She has also contributed to several industry programs, including a national feather-scoring system.

“True animal care is shared care. It includes the hens, the farmers and the farm families in every barn across the country,” Harlander said in the news release.

“I strive to develop practical, science-based solutions that benefit the birds and the well-being of the people who care for them,” she said. “I look forward to working directly with farmers and their birds to address the challenges they face.”

Harlander succeeds Tina Widowski, who held the chair since 2011.

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“When I first started, we were selling into Canada like crazy,” Craig Duhr, BCG’s regional sales manager for the Americas, said of the market in 2020. “Agriculture, all your vineyards, whatever it took.”

Suddenly, Health Canada told them that the 487-milliwatt Class 3 B laser was no longer eligible for import, despite certifications from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture, among others that allow its sale in 100 countries — including the Netherlands, where it was developed.

WHY IT MATTERS: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency estimates 17.2 million domestic birds have died or been humanely depopulated due to avian flu in Canada since 2021.

Canada’s current Pest Control Product Act deems laser devices such as the Avix to be a pest repellent, requiring registration.

However, Health Canada said Feb. 3 via email, a proposal to exempt certain specific laser devices from the registration requirement — if they meet certain regulatory requirements for low-energy emissions — was published last March.

A 90-day pre-consultation on that proposal ended in June, ahead of a formal consultation that’s expected to be announced later this year, Health Canada said.

The laser has been successfully tested in various sectors and under different weather conditions worldwide to ensure the non-lethal, animal-friendly bird control solution remains effective over the long term.

Fight to stay in Canada

BCG didn’t fly off without a fight, Duhr said. The small start-up company employed attorneys and submitted to every Health Canada request over a two- to three-year period, before costs and constant government hurdles forced them to walk away.

Duhr said requests from Canadian producers run into the thousands, with increased interest particularly since avian influenza began to spike in 2021.

“Every show we got to that is poultry,” he said. “We’re inundated with (interested) Canadian people; it’s very unfortunate.”

Wade Stark, vineyard operations manager for Andrew Peller Ltd., was among the operations fortunate enough to purchase the system before the moratorium took effect.

Stark told Glacier FarmMedia via email he’s been pleased with the Avix’s performance since installing the units at the vineyard in August 2020. Aside from replacing a control box and a few cables due to environmental exposure, the units have had no issues, he added.

Stark indicated he intends to follow up with Health Canada on the laser’s import availability status.

“We would certainly recommend their use and would like to order more units for other farms where we have bird pressure and have to use netting, which is labour-intensive and expensive,” Stark wrote. “Not to mention birds actually getting trapped in the netting from time to time.”

Highly efficient

In 2021, Wageningen University published data on the effectiveness of BCG’s Avix Autonomic Mark II Class III B laser on a free-range layer farm next to a poultry barn in a Dutch region heavily impacted by avian flu.

The study collected video footage for a month before installing the lasers, which operated from 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. within the 1.5-hectare free-range area when poultry were inside, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the surrounding grass pasture when the birds were outside.

It found the laser had a 98.3 per cent efficacy at reducing wild bird interactions within the free-range area and concluded the laser was “highly proficient at keeping wild birds, in particular waterfowl” away from farms along the winter migration flyway.

While the study focused on free-range operations, researcher Armin Elbers speculated on the BCG website that, during high-risk periods, laser use could help on strictly-indoor operations that had experienced or were at risk of avian influenza, by keeping wild fowl away from barns.

Cattle sector applications

When highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in U.S. dairy cattle in March 2024, leading to a significant drop in production and spikes in fever, lethargy and decreased appetite, calls began to roll in.

“When that happened, then we got really busy in the dairy industry and feedlots,” Duhr said, adding that while HPAI doesn’t kill cattle, it’s a drain on those operations.

He said BCG will continue to focus on expanding its U.S. as well as Central and South American markets — but Canada isn’t completely off the table.

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For example, before 2021 ground beef was about $1.00 per pound cheaper than chicken breast, wrote FCC senior economist Graeme Crosbie in a Feb. 11 report. Since mid-2024, the price of ground beef has caught and even surpassed the price of chicken breast in some months.

Chicken prices at retail, farm gate

This rise in beef prices has pushed consumers toward other meats, like chicken and pork. Since 2022, pork prices have risen by more than 13 per cent, chicken prices by almost 22 per cent, and beef prices by nearly 38 per cent, FCC reported on Jan. 28.

Additional demand for chicken has led to higher prices. Fresh or frozen chicken prices rose by an average of 6.7 per cent in the final three months of 2025, FCC said. January to September, they rose 0.9 per cent on average per month.

The rise has been largely independent of farm gate prices in the latter half of the year.

FCC predicted that farm gate prices for chicken will be flat to lower in 2026 as feed costs are expected to remain low.

“Margins will remain positive given strong demand and aforementioned low feed costs,” Crosbie wrote.

Crosbie noted that there’s some concern that avian influenza will hamper producers’ ability to fill demand — particularly in B.C. However, 5.6 per cent more more chicks were placed for broiler production in the latter half of 2025 than in the same period in 2024.

“Assuming avian flu outbreaks are well controlled, this bodes well for production numbers in the first part of 2026,” Crosbie wrote.

Imports of chicken under the Canada-United States-Mexico (CUSMA) and Trans-Pacific (CPTPP) trade agreements reached nearly 100 per cent of tariff-rate quotas for the first time in 2025.

Egg demand, production up

Eggs are also benefiting from demand for economical protein.

While egg consumption per capita has been on the rise since the 90s, there was a “significant jump” in the second half of 2025, said Crosbie.

Specifically, the number of eggs available for consumption rose to 5.54 dozen per person in the third quarter of 2025 from 5.00 dozen per person in the same quarter of 2024.

This “indicates a large increase in production amid slowing population growth,” Crosbie said.

Two opposing forces appear to be in play, Crosbie wrote. There appear to be plenty of eggs available, while there’s only anecdotal evidence of the impacts over the winter of avian influenza on laying flocks.

“Quota allocation may be slowed or altered to begin the year if no significant production capacity was lost,” Crosbie wrote.

“Regardless, the longer-term outlook for egg consumption and production continues to be positive.”

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The news came after disease investigations in the Netherlands, according to a Jan. 23 article published on Science.org. Officials found antibodies — evidence of prior infection — in a dairy cow’s milk. Officials thought to test cattle after a dead cat on a farm in the northern province of Friesland was found to have been killed by the H5N1 bird flu virus.

Veterinarians collected blood and milk samples from cattle. They did not find the virus itself, although the antibody finding suggested a recent flu contraction in that animal.

So far, there’s been no evidence cattle from other farms have been infected, the Netherlands agriculture minister said.

WHY IT MATTERS: Dairy cases of bird flu spread rapidly through the U.S. starting in 2024, infecting animals and leveling an economic hit to American dairy farms. Canada has not found any cases in its dairy herd so far.

Canada continues to be spared from dairy bird flu, despite proximity of the U.S. where, at one point in 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did a survey in which one in five retail milk samples sampled found killed remnants of the virus.

Containment efforts have since gained considerable ground. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported no new cattle cases in the last 30 days.

But the recent Dutch infection is a reminder that bovine bird flu isn’t flapping its way into the history books just yet.

Cases haven’t quite cut off in the U.S. — there was one in Wisconsin as recently as December, although summer 2025 saw a distinct slowdown. In total, the U.S. outbreak has spanned 1,084 cases across 19 states since March 2024.

“It was quiet over the summer, which is expected with influenza viruses. This started to change in the fall, again this is typical for influenza viruses,” says Stacey Schultz-Cherry, of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., in an email to the Co-operator.

Schultz-Cherry and her fellow investigators are learning more about the virus and how it mutates. The HPAI strains in question — belonging to avian flu clade 2.3.4.4b — appear to differ from other bird flu types in their ability to infect and replicate in respiratory and mammary cells from cows and other species.

“The reasons appear to be a mix of changes in the viruses as well as what happens to the cells during infection,” she says.

“For example, our studies suggest that the bovine strains rapidly kill the respiratory, but not mammary epithelial cells. We are trying to better understand why this is happening.”

The research has split off into several avenues, including how humans are infected and how immune history to other kinds of influenza may protect people if exposed to the new bird flu strains.

Could have been worse

Bovine bird flu’s footprint has been sizable, but it could have been far worse, says University of Guelph veterinary professor Shayan Sharif.

The main reasons it didn’t, Sharif said, is a credit to the U.S. veterinarians and agencies who identified, studied and contained the virus as securely as possible. However, he added, it may have been a miracle it was discovered in the first place. Dairy cattle in the southern U.S. had been getting sick for some time before anyone thought to test for bird flu.

“I don’t know if it was serendipity that they connected clinical science in dairy cows to HPAI, because that would not have been he first thing that would come to anyone’s mind, because what they saw wasn’t anything very specific for a disease,” Sharif noted.

“What they saw was that cows were experiencing lack of appetite, dropping their milk production (and the) milk looked funny.”

Sharif calls the virus “unique” and — strong containment protocols by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) aside — he still wonders why it never slipped across the Canada-U.S. border to Canadian dairy cattle.

Wild birds are a known vector of the disease. Such migratory birds don’t recognize borders and, depending on species, travel back and forth between the U.S. and Canada on a biannual basis.

“It became something that was predominantly present in U.S. flyways and it seems to have been something really specifically in the U.S., because there is no mention of it (infecting dairy cattle) in any other parts of the globe (or) in Canada,” said Sharif — at least until the evidence from the Netherlands was found.

“It wasn’t because we didn’t look for it hard enough. We did actually look for it very carefully, but it was nowhere to be found,” he said.

Key bird flu discoveries

Sharif also commends USDA, APHIS and others involved in the response for quickly identifying risk factors, including possible animal-to-animal transmission vectors such as cow-to-cow, cow-to-calf and cows to other animals, such as barn cats and birds.

To name one example, they learned it could be spread from cow to cow through milking machines and other dairy barn equipment.

“That was, I would say, one of the best sets of studies that were done in the U.S. that led to the discovery that the virus can be spread from cow to cow,” Sharif says.

Transmission from cows to humans was also determined to be a low-level possibility, although it was reported in those exposed to dairy cattle and other livestock.

“It also became clear that humans that are in contact with the virus usually catch the virus through their conjunctiva (pink eye),” explains Sharif.

“Some of them become infected through the respiratory system, but it’s primarily because of the conjunctiva in in their eyes that they become infected.

“So if you have PPE (personal protective equipment) — for example goggles, gloves, coveralls and so on — you could actually protect yourself.”

Another component — one confirmed by the CFIA during the outbreak — was the role of pasteurization in preventing the spread of the virus to human consumers.

”They did a whole series of studies looking at milk and its capacity for harbouring the virus and what can be done in order to reduce the risk of virus transmission through milk such as … through pasteurization,” Sharif notes.

Finally, he commends U.S. and Canadian authorities for taking a risk-based approach to the outbreak.

Canada’s response included tightening the border for U.S. dairy cattle. Livestock fairs and exhibitions were also cancelled in the U.S. and greater scrutiny was placed around animal movement to reduce spread.

“They did it based on risk assessment of what this could pose to both human and also animal populations. So I think overall, it was a job well done, and I think that in Canada, the CFIA has done a really good job to ensure that the virus doesn’t come to Canada,” Sharif says.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in June that it was developing a potential poultry vaccination plan, but has not released further details.

WHY IT MATTERS: More than 180 million chickens, turkeys and other poultry have been killed in the U.S. due to an outbreak of bird flu that began in 2022. Canadian farmers have also faced devastating culls.

The USDA should take “renewed action” to fight bird flu as infections rise during the winter months, said 23 U.S. senators in a letter sent on Wednesday to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and reported first by Reuters.

“Any finalized vaccine strategy must take into account feedback from animal health stakeholders, industry experts, and be grounded in sound science,” said the letter, led by Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Republican U.S. Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota.

Other signatories to the letter include Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and several Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Funds pledged for vaccine, therapeutics research

In March, the USDA pledged $100 million to research vaccines and therapeutics for egg-laying chickens as part of a broader strategy to fight bird flu, which had driven egg prices to record highs.

The agency said in June it had received 417 proposals for the funds, but has not announced further details.

The Trump administration in May canceled a $700 million contract with Moderna to develop a human bird flu vaccine. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has cut other funding for vaccine research and scrapped long-held federal vaccine guidance.

The poultry industry is divided on vaccination because of the potential to hurt exports. The senators urged Rollins in their letter to “work closely with trading partners and impacted producers to fully assess and manage any potential trade implications” of a vaccine plan.

The USDA told Reuters in late November that the agency had not shared a plan for poultry vaccination with trading partners.

— Additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago

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WHY IT MATTERS: Highly pathogenic avian influenza has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of farmed birds in recent years — including among many Canadian farms — disrupting food supplies and increasing prices.

Outbreaks typically peak in autumn as migratory birds head south, but this season saw earlier cases, killing many wild birds, mainly common cranes along the German, French, and Spanish routes as well as a large number of waterfowl.

Between September 6 and November 28, 2,896 highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 virus detections – mostly H5N1 – were reported in domestic birds in 29 countries in Europe, with 442 in poultry and 2,454 in wild birds, EFSA said in a report.

“We are currently seeing an unprecedented sharp increase in the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus detections, mostly in wild birds,” Lisa Kohnle, scientific officer at EFSA, told Reuters.

Poultry outbreak numbers were similar to previous years but five times higher than in 2023, and almost double those of 2021. Turkeys were the most affected.

“What is interesting for poultry is that in previous years those epidemics were characterised by a lot of farm-to-farm spread,” Kohnle said. “This year it seems we mostly have introduction from wild birds”.

For humans, bird flu infected 19 people in four countries (Cambodia, China, Mexico and the U.S.), killing one in Cambodia and one in the U.S, EFSA said. All cases involved exposure to poultry or poultry environments.

Bird flu outbreaks in mammals were fewer than in 2022 and 2023, but remain a concern due to potential mutations that would make it transmissible between humans.

Kohnle said detections were likely to keep rising, although high wild bird mortality could prompt tighter farm controls and help slow the virus’s spread.

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The highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of farmed birds in the past few years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices. Human infections remain rare.

While outbreaks typically spike in the northern hemisphere autumn as migratory birds fly south, they appeared earlier and in greater numbers in Europe and the U.S., affecting both wild birds and poultry.

More outbreaks than previous seasons

In the U.S., 107 outbreaks were reported by November 18, nearly four times last year’s total. Minnesota, the country’s largest turkey producing state, confirmed its first case two months earlier than in 2022.

“It’s certainly more than we’ve seen over the last few winter-fall migratory bird seasons,” said Tim Boring, director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Michigan, another large turkey state.

“I think it’s part of this ongoing pattern… we’re still well within this current outbreak that’s lasted several years now,” he said.

The U.S. has already culled about 8 million birds since September, a slight increase from last year, government data showed.

Canada, which has a smaller poultry flock than the U.S., has also culled nearly 8 million birds. Canadian Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald said the bird flu situation was getting “very worrisome”.

“Wild birds seem to be carrying more of this disease. So it’s scary in some ways,” he told Reuters.

The World Organization for Animal Health said the early outbreaks were concerning but not alarming.

“There should not be a public health alarm. An increase in number of cases could have different explanations. What we need to observe is the actual virus itself,” said Gregorio Torres, head of WOAH’s scientific department.

Different wild birds affected

In Europe, the situation was also more severe than last year, with Germany recording the highest number of outbreaks in three years.

Between early September and mid-November, 1,443 cases of bird flu were detected in wild birds in 26 European countries – a fourfold increase compared with the same period in 2024 and the highest since 2016, the European food safety agency EFSA said.

“What’s new this season? It’s not exactly the same birds that are being affected. This time, we’ve seen contamination occur earlier among wild birds, and now we’re starting to detect cases that are spreading to farmed birds,” French health security agency ANSES Deputy Director General Gilles Salvat told reporters on Thursday.

Salvat pointed to common cranes – which typically migrate earlier than waterfowl species such as ducks, geese and swans – as a major factor behind the outbreak, which spread from northeast to southwest Europe, with high fatalities in Germany and France.

France put its poultry sector on high alert in October, much earlier than in previous years.

The situation was more normal in most of Asia except for Cambodia, which has seen severe bird flu outbreaks, while Japan reported its first case on October 22 – five days later than last year. About 1.65 million birds have been culled so far in Japan.

— Additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Leah Douglas in Washington, Ed White in Winnipeg, Peter Hobson in Canberra, Michael Hogan in Hamburg, Emma Pinedo in Madrid, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo.

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