The multi-cultural team that heads up the Viandes Lafrance meat packing plant in Quebec. Photo courtesy Viandes Lafrance

The great food summit adventure

Hart Attacks: Higher learning experience at the end of an escalator ride

Alberta Farmer columnist Lee Hart attended the Food Leadership Summit in Calgary, where about 400 ag industry players gathered for the new annual conference.



Photo: yalcinsonat1/iStock/Getty Images

Food and beverage sales to fall in 2024; processor margins to improve

Stabilizing or declining input prices working their way through the supply chain, FCC says

Farm Credit Canada is predicting Canadian food and beverage sales will fall slightly this year as consumers manage tight budgets. Gross margins, however, should increase as the effects of falling commodity prices work their way through the supply chain, the farm lender said in an April 9 news release.

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Beef cattle sector weighs in for federal food processing study

Cattlemen's Association makes recommendations to Commons' ag committee

The House of Commons’ standing committee on agriculture will soon be wrapping up its study into Canada’s processing capacity. Since November, MPs have heard from more than 50 witnesses on the matter — including representatives from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, whose president Bob Lowe and executive vice-president Dennis Laycraft testified at a committee meeting Tuesday.


Editorial: Meat packing concentration leads to problems

When Canadians flocked to their grocery stores to stock up for the pandemic lockdown, most weren’t filling their carts with plant-based proteins. It was the meat counters that cleared out along with the toilet paper shelves, baking ingredients, and with other basics considered necessities. While more Canadians have been experimenting with these plant-based proteins, most

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in the House of Commons on April 20, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Canada sees no beef shortage, but prices may rise due to coronavirus

JBS plant at Brooks dials back to one shift

Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters –– The Canadian government is not expecting a beef shortage despite the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in certain meat-packing plants, though prices may rise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Trudeau added that beef producers are placing a priority on supplying the Canadian market before exporting products. Canada, one of



meat display in grocery store

Beef data lets you follow the money

A study of carcass data shows cattle from an elite breeding program 
were worth more than $200 a head than the average calf

The data shows someone is making more money on the calves produced by superior bulls in the beef value chain, but it isn’t always the producer. McDonald’s Canada, Beefbooster, and BIXSco — the company now running the Beef InfoXchange System — recently collaborated with Livestock Gentec to analyze two million records of carcass data. The


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Foreign worker break for seafood sector a ‘one-time’ deal

Winnipeg | Reuters –– Canada’s move to loosen restrictions on hiring foreign workers for East Coast seafood plants was a one-time decision, and the government is not convinced other sectors need similar measures, the country’s employment minister said Thursday. The Liberal government eased restrictions under its foreign worker program recently for Atlantic seafood processors, allowing

(JBSsa.com)

Brazil’s JBS concludes acquisition of Cargill pork unit

Sao Paulo / Reuters – Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA said on Friday it had concluded its $1.45 billion acquisition of Cargill Inc’s U.S. pork assets without any restrictions from regulators, a deal that makes it one of the largest meat companies in the United States. UPDATE: Cargill Illinois hog processing plant offline until Monday Chicago /