The issue of high-yielding genetics with low straw strength was a particular problem in 2010, 2012 and 2014, when barley and wheat had high production that coincided with severe lodging.

“We had very high production years, lots of moisture and lots of conditions that promoted lodging,” Mitchell Japp, research and extension manager at SaskBarley, said at the recent Top Crop Summit in Saskatoon.

“So at the time, we had relatively poor genetics for lodging, and the straw strength wasn’t there, and so our fertility management was one of the few things that we had to be able to control lodging.”

Controls were promoted, such as increased potassium to improve straw, reduced seeding rates and lowering nitrogen to ensure plants stayed standing and protein stayed low enough for malt barley.

But farmers also started turning to another class of products to help solve the issue: plant growth regulators.

In 2014, Manipulator PGR, with the active ingredient chlormequat chloride, was registered for wheat. Today, products containing that active ingredient include registrations for other cereals crops like barley and oats.

Researchers at the Indian Head Agricultural Research Farm in Saskatchewan performed trials on barley for application timing and effect of the product. Their results were promising.

“They found that it decreased height, decreased lodging and even in the absence of those, sometimes led to a yield increase,” Japp said.

“And certainly if lodging was present, there would be a yield increase.”

However, in 2021, chlormequat chloride was labelled yellow by Keep it Clean for barley, meaning that farmers should be informed when opting for it, and should check with their grain buyer to avoid potential marketing pitfalls. As of its 2026 product advisory, Keep it Clean maintains it as yellow status for malt, feed or food-bound barley.

The use of chlormequat chloride in oats has also sparked considerable controversy in recent years between advocacy groups and millers who have discouraged it and some farmers, who maintain the product has been useful.

Currently, Keep it Clean does not have a caution attached to chlormequat chloride in either oats or wheat.

New PGR products, mixed early results

Also in 2021, a newly released PGR — Moddus, active ingredient trinexapac-ethyl — was trialled. It was found to be effective, although any PGR’s influence on a crop varies depending on location, environmental conditions and variety.

“In 2020, ‘21, and ‘22, there was a lot of really low-producing sites,” Japp noted.

“Very low yielding, high stress, which is not the conditions to use a plant growth regulator in. And so what they saw was a significant yield decrease from the control treatment.”

Other sites had higher yields, but agronomic control methods like lower nitrogen, lowered seed rate and additions of potassium largely seemed to do the same job against lodging.

In 2023, they ran an enhanced growing project with six varieties and four management packages. The third package focused on plant height and included a PGR.

However, it was another dry year, which meant mid-range yield and no “real” lodging pressure , although the PGR did help reduce height.

Pushing nitrogen to force the answer

To really trial the efficacy of the PGR though, Japp wanted to induce lodging.

To do this, they applied nitrogen alongside the PGR at the Indian Head site in 2024 and were granted a cool wet spring, good heat in July and wind and rain in August. These results offered some of the best insights of the project, with clear differences between treatments.

A full rate of Moddus had a notable decrease in lodging compared to the untreated control. Both varieties, CDC Fraser and AAC Connect, responded the same.

In comparison, the other trial sites at Melfort and Prince Albert saw nearly no effect on yield or lodging because they were dealing with dry conditions.

Japp said the key is to start with good genetics and find a good balance between products, whether it’s the right amount of nitrogen for a good yield alongside a PGR, or not using a PGR at all.

Seeding rate should also be considered because a higher rate is good for weed management. Staying economical with the rate is important for yield and lodging.

“I think we can say comfortably that a timely PGR application, in really good growing conditions, can improve both harvest operations and increase yield,” he said.

“If the conditions aren’t optimal, there’s may be no benefit. Maybe you get a slight lodging decrease but not likely yield (improvement). And in the poor conditions, it does remain a (yield) risk, so we’re trying to avoid those risky conditions.”

More information is yet to come because a project is currently underway to predict risk of lodging at an early stage for better indication of the potential benefit in using a PGR in a barley crop.

What Manitoba growers should weigh

Back in 2024, cereal growers in Manitoba had a hard time with lodging and PGR questions flew.

The products’ use is a financial gamble, provincial cereal specialist Anne Kirk said at an agronomy event at Brandon’s Assiniboine College that fall.

“It’s a big input,” she said. “Especially when you’re making that decision if you want to be applying them or not fairly early on in the growing season, when you don’t know if you’re going to have, you know, a large hail event or drought in July or whatnot.”

Producers may consider applying strategically, she noted: on only their best wheat crop, or select acres, although she doesn’t see a lot of producers choosing only patches of their fields to apply.r5ui8

PGRs are not, she cautioned, a product to turn to if your crops are already strained by weather, insects or disease.

“Any sort of like plant stress, you wouldn’t want to be applying a plant growth regulator, because it is a hormone, and it can negatively interact with those other stress hormones,” she said.

Instead, she suggested, they might be a better fit for those crops that are intensely managed, seeded densely and generously fertilized with nitrogen.

— With files from Alexis Stockford

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Bayer presented a technical look into the new products during Canada’s Farm Show in Regina March 17.

WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba farmers are in the last weeks before the 2026 crop goes in the ground.

Both treatments are similar to their predecessors, Raxil Pro and Trilex Evergol, but have received a bit of a boost. Raxil Rise is formulated with the same rates of tebuconazole, prothioconazole, and metalaxyl as Pro, with the new inclusion of penflufen, a Group 7 chemical.

“What penflufen does is it sharpens up our disease control kind of across the board with those other three actives,” said Jimmi-Lee Jackson, a customer solutions agronomist with Bayer.

“But specifically, it really increases the control of the true loose smut, which can be an issue in wheat, but it’s very much more an issue in barley.”

Evergol Rise includes penflufen, trifloxystrobin and metalaxyl, just like Trilex, but the penflufen and trifloxystrobin rate has been increased, and there is now the addition of prothioconazole, a Group 3 chemical.

These new treatments are uncommon because not many contain four active ingredients.

The new formulations have “sharpened” the broad spectrum control for higher disease conditions.

However, there’s also stronger control against diseases such as fusarium head blight, smuts, bunts, root rot complex and seedborne ascochyta. A notable upgrade seen with Evergol Rise was the move from suppression of seedborne ascochyta with Trilex to control.

Nearly 10 years of research went into product development, including the formulation work, lab tests and field trials, both farm scale and small plots.

The product was tested for viscosity, flowability it is on the seed and dust-off. Much of these involve temperature, and Bayer pressure tests its products to -20 C.

“Obviously, I’m never going to recommend that, but that’s just kind of showing how we are pressure testing our products,” said Jackson.

“We really want to make sure that when growers are doing that in the spring — wouldn’t recommend — but that if they’re doing it at, say, -10 C, we have no worries.”

The company focused on efficiency because its predecessor had varying dilution ratios, depending on what pulse crop it was being used with, and often used a lot of water. The ratio with Trilex is seven parts water to one part product for lentils and 14 to one for chickpeas.

“Evergol Rise does a really good job when it comes to the formulation,” Jackson said.

“When we were doing our research authorization trials this season, kind of looking to see what water volumes were working on most pulses, we found that the one-to-one water ratio was super easy, and that’s what seemed to work best.”

The one-to-one ratio is the recommendation for all pulses except chickpeas, which is recommended at a five to one ratio.

Growers who use Evergol Rise will notice that the drum is filled to half, allowing just enough room to fill with the right amount of water for dilution.

“We can do our due diligence by doing our seed tests and stuff like that, but the one thing that we can’t control is the disease levels in the soil,” she said.

“And that can be a big risk factor for growers that maybe they don’t necessarily think about when they’re kind of pricing some of the stuff out.”

During her presentation at Canada’s Farm Show, she showed the results of a product trial from 2025 in Saskatoon. It compared how the products worked in soil inoculated with fusarium to how they worked non-inoculated soil with untreated and treated seed.

With treated seed in the inoculated soil, there was a major yield increase. That plot reached 95 bushels per acre, while the inoculated plot without treated seed was only 77 bu. per acre.

Even in the plot with non-inoculated soil and treated seed, there was a slight yield increase, reaching 95 bu. per acre, while the untreated seed produced 93 bu. per acre.

“Wherever you are, there’s going to be a disease presence in your soil,” Jackson said.

“And that’s the one thing that we kind of have to remember — we never know what’s in our soil. That doesn’t matter where you are.”

The post Bayer runs down new 2026 seed treatments appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Organic producers continue to be at the mercy of recommendations and results from conventional variety testing.

That’s according to Michelle Carkner, a research associate in the natural systems agriculture department at the University of Manitoba and speaker at the 2025 Advancing Organics conference in Saskatoon.

“Organic farmers are under a lot more pressure than conventional,” she said. “But the data that is shared in the Seed Manitoba guides are all under conventional management, so then we have to think independently of, ‘What combination of plant traits do we want in the organic system’?”

WHY IT MATTERS: Organic cropping is much different from conventional farming, but organic producers are often left with data based on conventional production.

Carkner has been researching the adaptability of different wheat varieties for organic production.

Based on her experiences and research, correlations between yield and organic sought traits, as well as other organics research from across the Prairies, she’s developed a list of what’s most important for organic producers to look for in variety selection:

• fast germination,
• ability to positively interact with the biological nutrient supply,
• early season vigour,
• plants that can withstand mechanical weed control,
• height,
• strong biomass accumulation, and
• good disease and insect resistance.

Early season vigour, height, and biomass accumulation are all important in a crop that will be competing against weeds without the help of chemical control. But conventional wheat crops have been moving away from the tall stalks that might be better for organic. Lodging concerns have instead made semi-dwarf crops more on-trend.

Furthermore, not all of those qualities appear in seed guides. For farmers looking at their seed guide, Carkner has a shorter list of things they should be looking at:

• disease resistance
• height
• seed size
• variety blends
• Sm1 genes that indicate wheat midge tolerance
• yield

“One thing that you can think about is highlighting some traits that are of interest first, and then narrowing it down to the varieties that yield just as well, or even better than the check,” she said.

When looking for these qualities, she recommends using several colours of pens or highlighters to narrow down the options: one colour for varieties with two valuable traits, another for three, and so on.

One disease warning was regarding bunt and smuts. For organic producers, it could be a breaking point, as the seed-borne disease is extremely difficult to eliminate without chemical treatment, she noted.

Another consideration for weed competition is kernel weight and seed size, she said. A larger seed relates to early vigour and weed competitiveness.

“We did some preliminary research on this in Manitoba,” Carkner said. “We looked at wheat seed size effect on the final yield. And so essentially, what we did was we took farmer-saved seed and we sieved it to different sizes and, at least in wheat, we saw a 23 per cent yield increase with larger seed size and then a 26 per cent docking decrease.”

They saw similar positive results when the research was replicated in barley and oats.

The post THROWBACK: Optimizing crop selection for Prairie organic producers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

To be eligible for the $400 CRSB Certified Producer Incentive, producers must maintain and update their certification as of June 30, 2026 or have been CRSB-certified between Jan. 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 and have completed all related eligibility requirements, including:

• agreeing to share information with the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) for chain of custody purposes
• submitting cattle birth dates into the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS)
• submitting move-in events on the CLTS
• moved in cattle are to be from CRSB certified operations to maintain chain integrity

Producers can expect the payments in October.

“(The incentive) serves as a thank you from the CRSB and its supply chain partners that the investments beef producers have made to become certified do not go unnoticed,” said CRSB chair Ryan Beierbach in a press release.

In 2023, the CRSB ran a pilot credit program funded by Cargill, which provided a top-up payment to producers who received less than $400 for qualifying cattle in 2022.

“The Cargill Recognition Credit was provided in collaboration with the CRSB, with the intention that this CRSB Certified Producer Incentive would replace it,” said Andrea White, CRSB director of marketing and stakeholder relations in an email to Glacier FarmMedia.

The new incentive will also pay out a full $400, regardless of where cattle were processed, rather than topping up producer payments, White said.

The incentive is also aimed at upholding CRSB sustainability standards in production and processing focused on the principles of natural resources, people and the community, animal health and welfare, food, and efficiency and innovation.

The incentive is set to continue annually with payments determined by amounts of CRSB Certified beef sold by enrolled producers. Funds will be distributed evenly amongst the eligible producers.

There are 1,243 farms and ranches that are CRSB Certified, encompassing 4.8 million acres of grazing land across the country. There are nine companies that source this beef, the CRSB website shows.

To become certified, a producer has to go through a certification body – either Verified Beef Production Plus or Where Food Comes From – which performs a risk assessment based on the findings from an on-site audit of the operation. The operation must meet a minimum level of “Achievement” on the principles of sustainable beef to become certified. Producers may also have to undergo pre-certification training.

The post Cash incentive for CRSB Certified beef producers launched appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“CCA has launched an online traceability feedback survey to ensure that producers have an opportunity to share their feedback,” the organization said on social media.

It includes 15 questions, including the importance of traceability to the Canadian beef industry, level of support for “enhancing” the current traceability system and the regulations’ importance to producers.

This gathering of information comes nearly one month after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that it was pausing the publication of proposed amendments to Part XV of the Health of Animals Regulations, which that was intended to occur this spring.

The move followed weeks of outcry from beef producers across Canada.

The proposed regulations are aligned with the Cattle Implementation Plan, which was established by all sectors of industry at the National Cattle Traceability Summit in August 2011 and adopted in 2016. A summary of the plan can be found on the CCIA website.

Many worry that the regulations will unnecessarily burdensome for those who raise, move, feed, and purchase animals.

Across social media platforms and at meetings, producers expressed concern with “government overreach” and said they would not comply with the regulations.

Many producers and provincial organizations also said there had been insufficient communication on the part of industry leaders, the CFIA and the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency.

“The Canadian Cattle Association has, and will continue, to advocate for traceability systems that work for ranchers and feeders and beef farmers,” CCA president Tyler Fulton said in an X video Jan 9.

“Given the Canadian cattle industry’s reliance on export markets, we need to be prepared and have the tools available to manage animal disease events quickly and efficiently.”

Local cattle associations such as Alberta Beef Producers and the Saskatchewan Cattle Association have scheduled producer meetings, with SCA hosting two traceability information meetings in February, weeks after the annual general meeting where traceability and the CFIA were the hottest topics.

“We encourage Saskatchewan producers to take a few minutes to participate and ensure your experience and concerns are reflected in ongoing discussions around traceability,” said SCA on social media.

The post Canadian Cattle Association launches traceability survey appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Just a reminder, CCIA, we are the responsible administrator,” general manager Ashley Scott said during the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference.

“CFIA, they are the regulator and the enforcer.”

A responsible administrator is defined as “someone responsible for delivering a traceability program defined by federal regulations.”

These federal regulations are set by the Canada Food Inspection Agency, responsible for safeguarding food safety. It also sets the objectives of the National Livestock Identification and Traceability program.

“The Livestock Identification Traceability program provides accurate and up-to-date livestock identity, movement and location information to mitigate the impact of disease outbreaks and food safety concerns and natural disasters,” Scott said.

The traceability regulatory changes introduced in Canada Gazette I were working toward Canada Gazette II, which includes the proposed changes that the cattle industry was against.

The changes, which face opposition by some in the cattle industry, include:

• Identification and registration of premises where livestock are kept or collected.
• Identification of livestock.
• Domestic movement reporting of livestock.

The changes align with the Cattle Implementation Plan developed by the Canadian beef industry in 2016.

The biggest adjustments for producers include:

• Obtain or keep current a premises identification number (PID) from a provincial government.
• Include a PID when purchasing CCIA approved tags.
• Report information related to identification of cattle and their movement.
• Report move-ins within seven days.

“The proposed regulations do contain a permission that if a producer does not have a PID (premises identification) … that they can report all the necessary PID associated information, such as the legal land description, contact info, etc., when movements of herd (occur) or tags are purchased,” Scott said.

In Saskatchewan, PIDs have been required by the provincial government since 2017, and origin and destination PIDs must be included on livestock manifests as of 2025.

The CCIA and the Saskatchewan Cattle Association developed a cheat sheet for understanding the incoming regulations that was shared during the SCA’s recent annual general meeting.

According to that document, reporting requirements vary for producers, transporters, feedlots and auction marts, but most of the onus is on producers.

They must report move-ins to their sites, community pastures, vet clinics, cattle shows and exhibitions, although the requirements of each move-in varies slightly.

For yard move-ins, producers would be required to report the PID of the departure and arrival sites, the date and time of cattle departure and arrival, individual tag numbers of arriving cattle and the license plate number, including province, territory or state of the truck that delivered the animals.

It’s the same for community pastures, except instead of individual tag numbers, producers must report the number of head being moved. Reports of both departure and return are required.

A few more steps are required for veterinary clinics and cattle shows, including the date and time when the cattle left the departure site and when they returned and time of arrival to the clinic or show, and when they leave.

Auction marts are required to report the move-in, but the transporter or producer is required to provide information such as departure PID, date and time the cattle departed and license plate information.

Auction marts will not need to report individual tag numbers, but feedlots will.

Scott didn’t answer any specific questions from the floor and advised producers to ask the SCA to forward their questions to the CFIA or contact the agency directly via email.

“In the CLTS Resource Centre, you will find those step-by-step guides and instructions that will make using the CLTS easier,” Scott said.

She said the CLTS is the easiest way to report movements to the CCIA by using the web portal or mobile app, uploading an Excel file or using web services, which is the best option for software providers and high-volume reporters.

The CLTS also works offline, allowing producers to enter information and save it to upload when they have access to Wi-Fi or cellular data.

A less preferred option, though still accepted, is sending tracking information via mail.

“It wouldn’t be our preference if everybody submitted a paper record,” Scott said.

“We still take them, and when we receive them, we will reach out to that client and we’ll confirm the information. We do enter it in the system on their behalf.”

She said the CCIA has updated the CLTS in an effort to ease reporting and ensure compliance. Certain fields were added, such as arrival date and time, as well as a movement reporting module, both of which are optional right now but will be mandatory when the CFIA regulations take effect.

“The movement record is an alternative reporting option, primarily when the departure site chooses to initiate the process,” Scott said.

“The preexisting movement event in the CLTS is a recommended method and allows the destination site to report movements.”

Producers at the conference voiced concerns that producers don’t know enough about the CLTS and aren’t using it.

Scott assured the audience that the system and its uses would be better explained in the coming year.

She said the focus in 2025 was on educating dealers, while in 2026 the CCIA will concentrate on producers and auction marts.

This will include explanatory videos and training sessions if producers and industry groups are interested in helping organize them.

However, changes to the regulations are still to come, and no one is quite sure what to expect.

“Based on everything being paused right now, we could see further changes,” Scott said.

“The information shared is just what was readily available from CFIA after industry consultation.”

The post CCIA prepares to make traceability transition appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The shift in focus to protein over butterfat increases the ratio paid for protein to 25 per cent of allocated funds, a 15 per cent increase, and decreases the ratio for butterfat to 70 per cent from 85 per cent.

“Always people think production is the driver. Forget about that,” Benoit Basillais, chief executive officer of the Canadian Dairy Commission, said at the 2025 Saskatchewan Dairy Conference in Saskatoon.

“The consumer decides what you produce and not the other way around. And we always forget that.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Protein from various plant and animal sources is an economic driver in the current food production space.

The CDC has noticed a continuing strength of demand, and even an increasing demand, as consumers seek choices for good protein. Yogurt and cheese are increasing in popularity because of their high protein content.

For 2024 and into 2025, every class of dairy product has grown, including cream, butter, yogurt and cheese.

Consumers are returning to higher fat milk and cream and adopting yogurt, which has brought big changes to the industry.

“This milk, which used to go to butterfat, is now going to yogurt. So the butter makers have to buy cream. They don’t have milk,” Basillais said.

“So big change in the industry in terms of who gets the milk, where gets the milk. So, if you wonder why some processors are worried, that’s a major impact for them. It impacts their relationship, their competitiveness.”

However, butterfat composition has increased, and the industry has been over-producing for three years. The CDC suspects stocks will continue to remain high in 2026.

Processors are continuing to buy, so there isn’t a worry there, but there’s a strong likelihood of dairy products going on sale.

The dairy industry has adjusted to meet the new consumer demands, but a number of concerns still remain.

Market access is at the top of the list, along with a weakening supply management system, the balance of the milk class system and Canadian milk exports, particularly with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement review soon underway.

“The U.S. has frequently portrayed Canada’s dairy system as part of an unfair trade landscape,” said David Wiens, president of Dairy Farmers of Canada.

“And in truth, the United States already enjoys substantial care free access to our market under the current agreement.”

“We’ll have to watch them very carefully that they don’t try to go down some of these avenues, no matter what form they take,” Wiens said.

“Concessions have a way at chipping away at Canada’s food sovereignty and security, and in many cases, the pieces that are given away are irreplaceable.”

Despite these concerns, there has been a silver lining in the trade battle with the United States: Canadians are being adamant in their choice of domestically produced food.

“Canadians care about buying homegrown foods, but they also want assurances that what they buy is produced with animal care, food safety and quality in mind,” Wiens said.

The DFC has also been advocating and working on interprovincial trade and finding ways to meet consumer environmental values.

The post Big changes ahead for dairy market appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

When Eicker asked why, the auctioneer said dairy farmers bring the worst animals he’s ever seen.

“And it ruins the auction. Buyers start looking at the ground, start talking to each other. It not only hurts the value of the dairy cows, it hurts the value of our beef cows.”

He said it seemed dairy producers didn’t realize their cattle were a food product and not waste.

WHY IT MATTERS: There’s value in marketing dairy cattle, not just their milk.

Eicker expressed his shock with this experience to the attendees of the Saskatchewan Dairy Conference in Saskatoon last fall.

He said the exchange was the beginning of a change in his thinking, one that brought him to believe there needs to be a better way to categorize cattle in the dairy industry.

“I don’t want people to ever use the word ‘cull’ again, OK?” he told the crowd.

“That auctioneer doesn’t want you to say (or) think they’re cull cows. He wants you to think they’re going for food. So we want to call that ‘market rate’ now.”

The phrasing changes the image that comes to mind to form a comparison between two cows.

Send to market younger

Dairy cows should be replaced when they’re younger and healthier to increase herd health and welfare, as well as increase market and milk profits, making them a “market” cow rather than a cull cow.

He recommends replacing the cow before it becomes the typical cull cow, which suffers from disease such as lameness or mastitis, and old age.

This idea goes against many notions that dairy producers have — such as older cows produce more milk, a need to make back raising costs and sustainability means lower replacement rates.

Eicker said these are misconceptions in the industry.

“More replacement gives us more milk and gives us greater sustainability,” he said.

“This is a tough thing for most people to do; it’s not what you’ve been told. You’ve been told that sustainability is higher if you have longer-lived cows. The math doesn’t support that.”

It simply means more heifers coming into the herd and less reliance on the cows that are next to being replaced and only slightly above the sick, lame and open category that is the first to go.

In addition, well-raised heifers will more than make up for what a producer may perceive as a loss because the average fully grown, adult-sized heifer will produce more milk in her first lactation than her second.

This is because in her full grown state, her dry matter intake over maintenance goes to milk production instead of growth. This provides her with more energy than her smaller, non-adult-sized counterparts.

What’s more, when the heifer is fully grown by its first freshening, that first lactation is larger and nearly identical to the second.

“Healthier cows have better fertility, have more heifers. More heifers, you can replace them earlier,” Eicker said.

“They’re in better body condition, less lameness. I think that’s how we should treat our cows. It’s not how long they live, it’s how well.”

“Let’s pretend we’re not just in the milk business. We’re also in the beef business. I want you people to think that’s what your real life is.”

Eicker proposes that producers should “scam” the quota system by getting many replacements and selling a quality meat animal. He said he doesn’t expect many to do that, or even consider it, but he suspects some might.

Beef packers will pay a three-to-one difference for quality cuts versus older meat that has to be “scraped off the bone.” By selling younger cattle, dairy producers can earn an advantage.

His proposal is to milk a cow for a lactation or two, secure a replacement heifer and then sell the market cow for meat.

Many studies state young Holstein meat is nearly identical to beef in taste and cutability. It also looks the same when packaged. This makes for an easy sell to the public, which Eiker said is all grocery retailers are concerned with.

“They don’t care very much about quality. You go in and almost everything’s identical, except when you go to the beef aisle. Then you can pick out each steak,” he said.

“But if they’re all Holstein, just what they look like, they’ll be the same size, the same cutability, the same market.”

The post The economic case for sending dairy cows to market younger appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has deemed these pigs, developed by U.K.-based Genus PLC and PIC (Pig Improvement Company), safe for use in food and feed.

Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada also ruled that environmental and human health risks were no different than with pigs currently available. The CFIA and Health Canada also found no difference in nutritional value, according to a Jan. 23 news release.

Matt Culbertson, PIC’s Chief Operating Officer, called it a milestone.

“We have spent years conducting extensive research, validating our findings and working with the Canadian government to gain approval,” he said in a Jan. 23 news release.

The Canadian pork sector attributes $130 million in annual losses to PRRS, which can cause fever, breathing problems, stillborn piglets and death.

No special label required

Genus PLC doesn’t intend to sell the PRRS resistant pigs until further regulatory authorization in other key markets, the federal government said.

“We are committed to the responsible and intentional introduction of the PRRS-resistant pig around the globe. Gaining approval in Canada is an important step in this process, and we are working with additional countries to gain regulatory approval and protect global trade prior to initiating sales and delivery,” said Culbertson.

The pigs have been permitted for food use in the U.S., Brazil, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.

The gene edited pigs won’t require special labelling because Health Canada found no health and safety concerns.

“There is a transparency crisis in our food system,” said CBAN co-ordinator Lucy Sharratt. “If the government is going to allow companies to produce genetically engineered animals and plants, these foods have to be labelled for consumers.”

Organic groups and companies have also raised concerns over the lack of mandatory labelling for foods from gene-edited plants and animals.

Health Canada has been working with the Canadian General Standards Board since November on a public review of the National Standard for Labelling and Advertising of Foods.

According to a 2025 study from PIC, consumers will accept gene edited meat so long as they are educated on the reasoning and how it works.

The post Gene edited, PRRS resistant pig approved in Canada appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

For businesses, it’s an opportunity to gain exposure and for new customers to find their products while also reconnecting with previous customers.

WHY IT MATTERS: Every year, Brandon, Man., welcomes Canada’s largest indoor farm show. The next Manitoba Ag Days takes place Jan. 20-22, 2026.

This year will mark Devloo Roto Mud Scrapers 14th year at the show, and it’s always worthwhile for them.

“The biggest thing is getting out there and people are seeing you,” said Mark Devloo, president and chief executive officer of the company.

“We do a draw that is involved with the business itself, not just a free tool or that kind of thing, which gives us a lot of meaning for potential customers.”

The manufacturing company creates a self-propelled rotating mud scraper, which prevents the build-up of mud on packer wheels. The attachment assists in maintaining a consistent seed depth.

The Devloo booth is always a family affair, having other family members help work it and answer questions. It’s an indication of their company growth, which was started by an idea of Devloo’s father, Gerald.

They’ve enjoyed Ag Days for the locality of the show, as they’re based in Lorne, Man., making it a natural choice to promote the business.

Devloo explained that even after consistently being at the show since 2012, they still encounter new people who haven’t heard of the attachment.

“We get some sales that are hot takers, and then a lot of people just want to think about it for a while,” he said. “Then we’ll follow up, we get some of our sales on the follow ups from the trade shows.”

Engagement igniter

Chris Raupers, co-owner of Engrained Flour Co. (and of Cardale Tech Corp.), was also surprised at the effect Ag Days can have on a business.

While he’s no stranger to the show, having run the Cardale Tech Corp. booth alongside his brother for over 10 years, last year he and his wife, Lindsey, had their Ag Days debut for Engrained Flour Co. — and they went off with a bang.

The Newdale-based company grows, mills, and packages flour then sells retail packages in stores across Manitoba, with national distribution through online ordering, and also provides bulk packages to bakeries and the like.

At the 2025 show, the Rauperses sat on the Produced on the Prairies panel and the same day they had a booth in the Produced on the Prairies Market — a luck of the draw, as tables for the market are set up for only one of the three days.

“Immediately after the panel, there was a huge influx of people at our booth,” Raupers said. “And also the communication exchange after Ag Days was quite tremendous. So people emailing us, asking questions, having a conversation about the product, ordering product. It definitely skyrocketed for probably two to three weeks after the show.”

Many of those conversations led to sales, and in some cases new consistent customers.

It was unexpected for Engrained Flour Co., especially with it being their first year, but he hopes that the exposure and growth will continue this year.

“It was a big impact last year, I can’t put a number on it, it was certainly an increase in sales and new customers,” he added. “We’re growing slowly every year, and so I’m sure that that was part of Ag Days.”

These displays of ingenuity and recognition of impact to a business was recently identified by Farm Shop Connect, a company from Treherne, which is launching their farm management app at the show.

It’s a platform to record farm machinery service records and assign and record tasks on the farm. Their goal is to help farmers simplify their daily operations and more effectively keep records.

“As a new company, we’re really looking forward to talking directly with growers,” said Brody Robertson, co-owner. “Those conversations will help us understand what tools they need to manage equipment maintenance and on-farm tasks more efficiently.

While at the show, they’ll be sharing how the app works and noting producer feedback.

“Our goal this year is to build awareness and start meaningful relationships,” he added. “Even a handful of good connections can make a big difference for a young tech company like ours.”

Agriculture groups

A large portion of the connection at shows is producers to businesses, but just as noteworthy is that of agriculture groups that represent farmers.

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) is one of the groups that utilize the show as a chance to speak with producers one-on-one.

“Our directors get to update on the various activities MBP undertakes all year long,” said Carson Callum, MBP general manager. “But most importantly, we can hear from visitors in an informal manner about the issues that are important to them.”

MBP is also collaborating with Agriculture in the Classroom, with the career Plinko game making a return. It’s used to to initiate conversations about careers in the cattle industry with young attendees.

For Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), Ag Days is a key engagement point as it’s not long before their annual general meeting. So it offers chances for KAP to learn producer concerns, and for producers to share them, before the formal AGM setting.

“Ag days for us is probably the best time of the year where a good chunk of farmers in Manitoba and our members are in one place so we can engage with them,” said Colin Hornby, KAP general manager.

Hornby expects that the hot topics this year will be cost pressures, market troubles and trade. He said Ag Days is a great opportunity for those kinds of topics because it’s not just KAP at the show, elected officials and ministers from the federal and provincial governments are often also in attendance.

They will once again have two booths, with one for general farm topics and the other for farm safety with a farm safety consultant available to speak with.

“A benefit for us is that we’re able to provide a place where farmers already are,” Hornby said. “So they don’t have to go out of their way to engage with us. So if they see us, they can come to us and bring an issue to us. So it’s a benefit for us, but it’s also benefit to them.”

For show coverage, previews, video and more, check out the Manitoba Co-operator’s Ag Days landing page.

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