A recurring dispute over how production quota is allocated to provinces experiencing rapid population growth is once again haunting Canada’s broiler chicken industry. Negotiations to solve the issue of differential growth have repeatedly broken down and one province has left the national chicken system in protest. A solution appeared close several times this summer. But
Chicken industry struggles with production quota allocations
An old problem takes on new urgency as disgruntled provinces start pulling out of the system
Mink ranchers get reprieve from depressed market
The federal government has extended the deadline for repaying cash advances
Canada’s financially beleaguered mink producers received a bit of good news last week when the federal government extended the deadline for repaying their 2013 cash advances. Producers now have until June 1, 2015 to repay their Advance Payment Program (APP) cash advances instead of September 30, 2014. The move provides some relief for producers who
Infertile roosters increase shortage in U.S. chicken supplies
Canadian hatcheries depend on U.S. imports but have been unaffected to date
A genetic problem in a key breed of U.S. rooster could affect Canada’s broiler chicken industry, which imports nearly all its parent breeding stock from south of the border. The U.S. is already experiencing a shortage of breeder birds and the genetic issue could make supplies even tighter, American officials say. If that happens, it
Superbugs in hospitals may also be on farms
Producers urged to practise antibiotic stewardship
Imagine a situation in which meat containing antibiotic-resistant bacteria ends up on the dinner plate of a consumer, who in turn ends up in the hospital with an infection which may not be treatable. That’s the kind of nightmare scenario Dr. Leigh Rosengren envisions when she warns livestock producers about the risk of antimicrobial resistance
Dairy quota purchases tied to quality
If you’re a dairy farmer in Manitoba and you want to buy more quota, you’d better have a clean record for milk quality first. Dairy Farmers of Manitoba has implemented a new policy tying producers’ ability to buy quota on the monthly quota exchange with their milk quality history. Dairy farms with one or more
Half-moon holes produce crops in the sub-Saharan desert
An innovative water-trapping technique is making the desert bloom in one of the most inhospitable regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Demi-lunes — holes in the shape of a semi-circle — are used to capture and store run-off rainwater. It’s a simple low-tech water-harvesting method which enables crops to grow in a hostile climate. The water conservation
Prices, drought and trade dominate hog meeting
A severe drought in the United States and increased Chinese restrictions on pork imports are casting a long shadow over Manitoba’s beleaguered hog industry. The drought, which sent feed prices skyrocketing last year, continues in the U.S. Corn and Soybean Belt, despite improved precipitation this winter. More than half of the continental United States is
FCC accused of overstepping its mandate
A new report by a leading public policy think-tank accuses Farm Credit Canada and other federal financial Crown corporations of “mission creep” by offering services far beyond their original mandates. The report by the C.D. Howe Institute recommends their authority “should be clearly circumscribed and even rolled back” so private lenders can do more to
Fair treatment for Western farmers began 100 years ago
It was more than a century ago but bitter conflict between farmers and the early western Canadian grain industry still resonates in the childhood memories of old-timers like Harvey English. “It was highway robbery. That’s what it was in those days,” says English, 94. “They were just stealing everything off the farmer that they could
CGC guarantees Canadian grain quality worldwide
The baker is already planning his production and quality-control program for months ahead, based on grain from halfway around the world he has never laid eyes on, much less inspected. But he isn’t worried. He knows he will almost certainly get exactly the right kind of wheat with the precise specifications he requested. He also
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
