Black Angus Cow with Calf

Beef 911: What you need to know about anthrax

There are outbreaks every few years, especially during drought, but there are ways to deal with this scary killer

Anthrax puts fear into cattle producers and with good reason. Cattle are very susceptible along with a long list of other species, including bison and horses. It is also considered a zoonosis which means humans can contract it. Fortunately, it is generally the cutaneous (skin) form in humans and responds well to antibiotics. Unfortunately, terrorist

It's time for the province to commission an independent review of Manitoba's vegetable marketing board.

Editorial: Time for a review of Peak

Peak of the Market is back in the news, not that it’s ever very far from it. For example, week in, week out, every issue of the Winnipeg Free Press has a large advertisement with a daily recipe from Peak, each prominently featuring a photo of CEO Larry McIntosh. However, those ads often feature vegetables


Chris Aylward (l) and Bob Kingston speak about government cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

CFIA cuts hurting food safety

With an election looming, now is seen as the time to put food safety and funding cuts on candidates’ agendas

Agroup concerned with food safety says the current government’s refusal to acknowledge a Canada-wide shortage of federal inspectors is putting public safety at risk. Speaking to reporters in Winnipeg, the president of the union representing federal food inspectors said that the Conservative government’s own staff have raised the alarm over cuts to the Canadian Food

It’s prime time for anthrax, so keep a close eye on your cattle

It’s prime time for anthrax, so keep a close eye on your cattle

Highly contagious, infectious soil-borne disease finds victims in grazing livestock

With high temperatures and drought, cattle and bison are at a higher risk of anthrax. Two bison deaths northwest of North Battleford, Saskatchewan have recently been confirmed as caused by anthrax, and seven others are suspected. Producers are encouraged to keep a watchful eye and to refresh their memories on what to do when anthrax


pigs on the farm

PED vaccine could aid in disease fight

Developers are waiting for approval to begin clinical trials

Pork producers may soon have a powerful new tool in the fight against porcine epidemic diarrhea or PED. The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization’s International Vaccine Centre at the University of Saskatchewan, better known as VIDO-InterVac, is waiting for final approvals from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to begin clinical trials of a vaccine

wheat grains

Elgin-ND receives interim registration

This potentially high-yielding milling wheat will be available to western Canadian farmers in 2016

Elgin-ND, a new high-yielding American Dark Northern Spring wheat, received a three-year interim registration May 20 from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), making commercialization possible in Western Canada. FP Genetics has the Canadian distribution rights. Buying Elgin-ND for seed to be planted in Western Canada from American suppliers contravenes plant breeders’ rights’ laws and


aerial view of a chicken farm

Wild birds have higher resistance to flu virus

With bird flu ravaging barns in the U.S. and knocking at Canada’s door, 
it might be time to reconsider how poultry are raised

For years, poultry producers have been breeding something in their barns other than birds. Avian influenza. Long present in wild bird populations, the low-pathogen version of the virus has entered barns, remaining there until a series of mutations turned into something else — something deadly. “We have been playing with fire,” said Earl Brown, a

agriculture minister Gerry Ritz

Streamlined crop registration system approved

Gerry Ritz says quality control inherent in the current system will continue

Proposed changes to Canada’s crop variety registration system could take effect before year’s end or early in 2016 via order-in-council, federal officials say. The reforms will streamline the process and ensure red tape doesn’t delay or prevent farmers from getting new and improved varieties, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told the Canadian Global Crops Symposium here


white-feathered turkeys

CFIA blames wild birds for spread of avian influenza

While there are no new cases of bird flu in Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says 
it’s still too early to breathe a sigh of relief

Officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are confident that the cases of avian influenza they’ve responded to in Ontario and British Columbia are the result of contact with wild birds, not farm-to-farm transmission. “From the seasonality of this disease and the characterization of the virus — we cannot be 100 per cent sure that

Seed Depot’s John Smith

Faller, Prosper wheat varieties receive three-year interim registration

The Canadian Grain Commission hopes to
 assign them to a wheat class before harvest

Farmers have been given the go-ahead to plant American Dark Northern Spring wheats Faller and Prosper this spring after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency granted the varieties three-year interim registrations April 2. But it’s not yet clear which quality class they’ll be placed in. The Canadian Grain Commission expects to announce that before harvest. Western