food-processing Archives - Page 5 of 12

Packing concentration was tipped as a growing concern in the MP’s examination of food processing in Canada.

MPs recommend more money, less red tape for food processing

Eighteen key recommendations come in committee’s report on the sector

By D.C. Fraser May 25, 2021

A federal agricultural committee report is recommending more investment and less regulation to spur the Canadian processing sector. Between November 2020 and February 2021, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food studied measures to increase Canada’s processing capacity, hearing from dozens of witnesses. The result is 18 recommendations largely focusing on financial investments and policy

Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland appears at a news conference in Ottawa on Sept. 24, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Weather

Agriculture, agrifood wish lists pile up ahead of long-delayed budget

Freeland's budget due out Monday afternoon

By D.C. Fraser, GFM Network News April 17, 2021

Agriculture and agrifood sector stakeholders will learn Monday which of their requests make their way out of the pile and into a long-awaited federal budget. Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2021 budget is scheduled to be released Monday in the House of Commons, at about 4 p.m. ET. Canadians didn’t get a 2020 budget: it

Smaller packing operations struggle to compete in part because of the heavy regulatory burden, MPs heard recently.

News

CCA calls for optimizing meat-packing system

Processing study ending soon, producer group calls for comprehensive action

By D.C. Fraser March 16, 2021

It’s time to create an environment to support an “optimal Canadian packing system,” the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association has told MPs. The group was speaking to the federal committee on agriculture which will soon be wrapping up its study into Canada’s meat-processing capacity during a February 23 meeting. Beginning in Nov. 2020, MPs have heard from

News

Some U.S. meat packers announce vaccine plans

Many workers are still waiting for their first jabs

By Tom Polansek March 15, 2021

COVID-19 vaccines are making their way into the arms of U.S. meat and agriculture workers, but companies and union officials say progress needs to be faster after coronavirus outbreaks idled slaughterhouses and sickened thousands of workers. Vaccinating food workers could help prevent further production disruptions that sent meat prices soaring in spring 2020 and forced retailers like Kroger

Roquette was forced to deal with a quickly evolving situation while also managing its construction process at Portage la Prairie.

News, Pulses

Protein companies ponder COVID-19 echoes

How many of the COVID-19 adjustments are likely to stick as the ‘old normal’ slowly reasserts itself?

By Alexis Stockford March 12, 2021

Flip the calendar back to this time last year. It’s the first months of 2020. COVID-19 is just starting to worm its way into the North American consciousness. Most of us have just heard the phrase “social distancing” for the first time. The first COVID-19-related public health orders are being released. Inside food-processing plants and

News, Other

Worker wage protection key for buy-in

By Geralyn Wichers November 26, 2020

In 2007, food processors and associations gathered to discuss the threat of a flu pandemic and their readiness for it. Among challenges they listed were low-income workers who couldn’t afford to take preventive measures. “This will contribute to the spread of disease,” says the report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. While low-wage, impoverished workers can’t

Across the country, companies are struggling to recruit people to work in food processing.

Comment, Op/Ed, Other

Comment: Agri-food sector still sees labour shortage

Canadians are getting back to work, but not in your sector

By Sylvain Charlebois October 28, 2020

Job numbers are better. For the agri-food sector though, not so much. Statistics Canada’s recent September job market data is reassuring. Overall, employment in the country increased in September, creating 378,000 jobs, the majority of which were full-time jobs. This increase in September brought our total employment to 720,000, shy of the level we had

File photo of rye at a grain market in India. (Deepak Sethi/E+/Getty Images)

Crops, Markets

Indian cabinet minister quits over farm legislation

By GFM Network News, Mayank Bhardwaj September 17, 2020

New Delhi | Reuters — India’s minister for food processing resigned on Thursday over her opposition to planned laws to allow farmers to sell produce directly to bulk buyers and make contract farming easier, saying the legislation will hurt millions of the country’s farmers. “Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister,” Harsimrat

Waste on the farm is a recurring issue and not just this year. What is different this year is the unprecedented volume.

Opinion

Opinion: Canada has the food industry it deserves

Don’t blame farmers for euthanizing animals and dumping milk

By Sylvain Charlebois June 2, 2020

Millions of litres of milk are being thrown away, more than two million eggs are eliminated from the food chain, and pigs and chickens are being euthanized. There is horror in the countryside. Throwing away good food when more than four million Canadians have lost their jobs is morally reprehensible, and farmers would be the

News, Other

Agriculture sector welcomes recent “essential” designation

COVID-19: Companies say the announcement gives them clarity in their operations

By Allan Dawson April 9, 2020

Obviously agriculture is essential, but the federal government “deemed” it so April 2 as the country battles to slow the spread of COVID-19. The move was welcomed by the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), which represents Canada’s biggest grain companies. “For our sector we feel there’s enough clarity that we are to keep operating as

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures rise on first WASDE since September

U.S. export sales include only small soybean business to China

U.S. corn and soybean yields revised down by USDA

Tag Archives food-processing