Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in the House of Commons on April 20, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Canada sees no beef shortage, but prices may rise due to coronavirus

JBS plant at Brooks dials back to one shift

Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters –– The Canadian government is not expecting a beef shortage despite the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in certain meat-packing plants, though prices may rise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Trudeau added that beef producers are placing a priority on supplying the Canadian market before exporting products. Canada, one of

HomeGrown Acres, near Wawanesa, has seen an uptick in direct sales, bucking the trend.

Holiday lamb demand lags due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted typical holiday demand for lamb meat

Manitoba’s lamb producers aren’t feeling much holiday spirit this year thanks to COVID-19. Social distancing has put a chill on a market normally bolstered by the Easter season, as well as Jewish Passover celebrations and the start of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar later in April. The Manitoba government declared a state of emergency due


Family members of longtime JBS USA meat packing plant employee Saul Sanchez gather April 10, 2020 at his Greeley, Colorado home after his death from COVID-19. (Photo: Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

‘Elbow to elbow:’ North America’s meat plant workers fall ill, walk off jobs

Supply chains struggling to keep pace with surging demand

Chicago/Winnipeg | Reuters — At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 U.S. cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a meat inspector. In Colorado, nearly a third of the workers at a JBS USA beef plant stayed

Michelle Schram and Troy Stozek farm beef, lamb and bees near Cartwright.

Small food producers innovate to survive

Creativity, humour and social distancing combine to get food to customers for one meat producer

Direct-marketing farmers and food producers are finding creative ways to get meals on their customers’ tables and maintain a sense of community. “You guys are all amazing and you convinced us that we will get through this crazy time. Enjoy your food, stay home, stay safe, stay classy,” Michelle Schram and Troy Stozek of Fresh


Emergence in an Ontario soybean field. (File photo by John Greig)

Ontario extends RMP deadlines for crops, livestock

Move won't create coverage gaps, Agricorp says

Ontario grain, oilseed and livestock producers will get extra time to apply for, make changes to or cancel coverage under the provincial Risk Management Program (RMP). Agricorp, the province’s ag program delivery agency, announced Wednesday the new deadline for applications or coverage changes for 2020 will be June 30. The previous deadlines to apply or

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Alberta’s provincial meat inspectors to train for federal duty

Provincial inspectors to be seconded to CFIA-inspected packers

Provincial meat inspectors in Alberta could soon be seconded to federally inspected packing plants under a new work-sharing arrangement between the province and Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The federal and Alberta governments announced Wednesday they would partner to “increase food inspector capacity” in the province and thus “ensure the continuous operation of Alberta’s food supply


Joey Fiola and Christel Lanthier and their three daughters, Olivia (6), Anne Rose (4) and Lila (1).

Resurrecting the family farm

Faces of Ag: Joey Fiola and Christel Lanthier are determined to give their girls the same farm life that shaped them

As 25 ewes and a gangly baby llama mill around Christel Lanthier, her six-year-old daughter chats to her in French, the language they speak at home. She’s wondering if you want to know anything about the cats, Christel translates for a reporter. Olivia explains the names of the three cats and shows off her stuffed

(Kriste Sorokaite/iStock/Getty Images)

Pet food investment firm buys Ontario raw food maker

Tollden Farms to join United Raw Pet Foods

A Toronto-area investment firm billed as “the pet industry’s merchant bank” has bought control of its fifth Canadian maker of frozen raw pet foods in three years. Mississauga-based Dane Creek Capital Corp., the 70 per cent controlling shareholder in United Raw Pet Foods, announced Thursday that United Raw has bought Tollden Farms of Kemptville, Ont.


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Meat packing sector needs federal inspectors

Shared staff, recalling recent retirees among options on table

The federal government is working on ways it can maintain inspection staffing levels at federally-licensed meat packing plants. Speaking to media Saturday in Ottawa, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau addressed concerns surrounding the ability of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to continue meat inspection work. The Reuters news service on Monday quoted two unnamed sources

(HLS.ca/virden)

Auction marts urged to introduce social distance

Cattle are still flowing through auction marts as scheduled

The Livestock Markets Association of Canada wants to see more social distance at auction marts in the wake of COVID-19. The association has released an emergency response policy, asking its members to implement social distancing and prevention measures against the virus. “What we are looking at is trying to get a consistent message out to