JBS to open six new slaughterhouses in Brazil

sao paulo / reuters / Brazil’s JBS SA, the world’s biggest integrated meat producer, will open six new slaughterhouses that will increase beef production capacity in the coming months in Brazil by 15 per cent. The new plants will add processing capacity of 1.2 million head of cattle by July 2013, and eventually up to


Manitoba Pork Council prepares for end of gestation stalls

Dealing with aggression, finding the best design, and retraining barn workers are some of 
the issues producers will have to deal with when they shift to open housing

If it’s time to update your hog barn or if you’re thinking about new equipment, then it’s also time to think about converting your sow gestation stalls to open-housing systems. “We’re working with the date of 2025, and we’re continuing to encourage producers to look at that date as well,” said Mark Fynn, animal care

Why farmers should care

The debate over backyard poultry taking place inside Winnipeg these days seems far removed from the real world of agriculture. A coalition of citizens is asking the city to reconsider its refusal to allow urbanites to produce eggs in their backyards. They aren’t being taken very seriously. If Councillor Grant Nordman is any indication, the


Popular herbicide may be linked to increased pathogen virulence, says Huber

Emeritus professor from Purdue University and former U.S. army bioweapons expert points to 
growing evidence of potential harm from genetic engineering and herbicide “abuse”

Don Huber may not be a big fan of organic agriculture, but he’s become a hero among organic farmers with his contention that glyphosate is less benign than its promoters crack it up to be. Huber an emeritus professor of Plant Pathology from Purdue University, isn’t backing down, even though some dismiss him as a

Farmers search for ways to combat cross-border dairy shopping

Provincial and national dairy organizations are rolling out 
programs to convince consumers that Canadian milk and 
cheese is the better choice

Cross-border shopping is taking a bite out of Canadian dairy sales. “They go for gasoline and then end up picking other supplies up, too,” said Henry Holtmann, vice-chairman of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba. British Columbia is the epicentre for cross-border dairy sales, he said, adding it has seen approximately 10 million litres lost to American


Why were canola yields down?

Has canola turned into a wimp or were 2012’s lacklustre western Canadian yields due to poor weather, diseases, insects and pushed rotations? The Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) hopes to find out later this month when it meets with the life science companies that produce new canola cultivars, MCGA director Ernie Sirski told the Keystone

New technology with old herbicides

Agroup of seven extension staff from Ohio’s Purdue University have issued a publication on the pros and cons of 2,4-D- and dicamba-tolerant crops. Two companies are set to introduce these products in combination with glyphosate as a means of controlling weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate alone. Opponents say that widespread use of these



Entz receives award of excellence

University of Manitoba agronomy researcher Martin Entz is among four people honoured recently at the Organic Connections Conference in Regina for their contributions to organic agriculture. Entz was recognized for the more than three decades of research work into improving organic farming systems by studying crop rotation, green manure management, intercropping and comparing long-term organic