A major U.S. hog and pork company’s influential decision to phase out the use of gestation stalls at its sow farms has run up against the hog industry’s current cash crunch. Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest producer and processor of pork, announced in its 2009 annual report Wednesday that it no longer expects to complete
Editors’ Picks: Smithfield to stall on stall-free sows
Editors’ Picks: Monsanto, Dole team on veg breeding
Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and spinach breeding will soon include a new player as U.S. seed and ag chem firm Monsanto hooks up with Dole Fresh Vegetables for a five-year collaboration deal. Plant breeding will be used to improve the “nutrition, flavour, colour, texture, taste and aroma of these vegetables,” the two companies said in a
Viterra To Buy Manitoba Canola Crusher
The “cold-press” canola crushing plant at Ste. Agathe is becoming the latest acquisition for Canada’s largest grain company. Viterra announced Monday it will buy the Associated Proteins plant in the industrial park on the community’s west side for $64 million plus “working capital.” Pending approval from the federal Competition Bureau, the company said it expects
Manitoba Travellers “Got Cheese”
In setting up its first store beyond its southeastern Manitoba factory, Bothwell Cheese has opted to cater to a significant chunk of its factory store’s clientele. The company, which makes cheese at New Bothwell, about 20 km northwest of Steinbach, held a media event June 10 to show off its new store in Winnipeg’s James
Editors’ Picks: Views mixed on U.S. sow cull
A proposal by a U.S. hog producers’ group to pool funds for a voluntary cull of breeding sows is meeting with mixed reactions. U.S. hog farmers have begun facing losses over about the last year and a half, following almost three and a half years of profitability. A proposal unveiled at the recent World Pork
New OIE standard on beef seen favouring Canada
Canada stands to gain from a reported World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) resolution that discards the 30-month age limit from the global body’s BSE-related safety standards for international beef trade. A report Saturday from Japan’s Kyodo news agency, via the Associated Press news service, said the OIE adopted the resolution last week, which may
Editors’ Picks: Automaker offers goat with purchase
Mitsubishi Motors’ New Zealand operations plan to “support primary productivity” in that country by offering a free goat with every Triton utility vehicle it sells before August. “At MMNZ, we are aware that three years of drought (have) severely depleted sheep and beef populations, so what better time to ‘float the goat’?” MMNZ general sales
Editors’ Picks: Study eyes “sustainable” hen housing
A U.S. coalition of animal welfare researchers, non-government organizations and egg suppliers plans a major study of the “sustainability impacts” of different housing methods for laying hens. The research is to be led by Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of California at Davis (UC Davis). Fast food chain McDonald’s plans to use eggs
Editors’ Picks: Dairymen vie for Rotten’s favour
Seeing a star butter pitchman on the rise, dairy producers from New Zealand are looking for a nod from British 1970s punk-rock icon John Lydon, more famously known as Johnny Rotten. Lydon, the 53-year-old vocalist for the Sex Pistols, has since last year appeared in a series of TV and print ads for U.K. processor
Editors’ Picks: Save land, use oilsands as cemeteries
Student researchers from the University of Alberta suggest Canadian industries, such as oilsands companies, consider preserving the country’s useable land base by helping rejuvenate used land as “environmentally friendly cemeteries.” The students, working on a class project in the U of A’s department of renewable resources, researched the viability of creating “peaceful green spaces” by
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