The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in an email on April 8 that new admissibility requirements for commodities originating from Greece have been set up in CFIA’s Automated Import Reference System (AIRS).

WHY IT MATTERS: Data from Greece’s tourism industry show over 300,000 arrivals in that country from Canada in 2024 alone.

According to the World Organization for Animal Health, Greece began reporting cases of foot-and-mouth disease on March 15 with nine infected cattle at a farm on the island of Lesvos, marking the country’s first such cases since 1994. Its most recent cases, in sheep and one cow on the same island, were reported March 29.

Greece’s cases so far have all occurred on farms in the northern regions of that island, in the Aegean Sea off the west coast of Turkey. So far, 438 animals in total have been confirmed infected.

The findings make Greece the fifth European Union member country currently under foot-and-mouth restrictions from Canada. Hungary, Slovakia and Cyprus all reported cases last year, while Bulgaria is the lone EU member country “not usually considered free” of foot-and-mouth disease.

Germany regained disease-free status last month, while CFIA’s restrictions on Austria were lifted last September.

While findings of the disease in Greece are so far limited to Lesvos, Canada’s new restrictions apply to the entire country, unlike certain other nations such as Brazil, Argentina and Peru in which CFIA classifies some but not all provinces or states as free of foot-and-mouth disease.

What products are prohibited?

At-risk commodities covered by Canada’s import ban include live animals and germplasm; animal products and byproducts; uncooked meat and meat products; raw milk and milk products made from raw milk, such as unpasteurized cheese; unprocessed manure; laboratory material; blood products; livestock feed and equipment that has been in contact with affected animals; raw or unprocessed pet foods; raw hides, skins, wool, antlers, horns, hooves; and any other non-heat-treated products or byproducts from vulnerable animal species.

Species vulnerable to foot-and-mouth disease include hogs, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, camelids (llamas, alpacas) and cervids (deer, elk, moose) among others.

CFIA’s restrictions apply to any at-risk products dating as far back as 28 days before the first symptoms were detected in an affected country.

Foot-and-mouth disease, according to CFIA, is a viral disease characterized by symptoms including blister-like sores on the tongue and lips, in the mouth, on the teats and between the hooves; foot lesions, accompanied by acute lameness and reluctance to move; and loss of appetite or milk production. The virus can spread between animals through direct, indirect or airborne transmission.

Canada is free of the disease and has not reported any cases of the disease in livestock since 1952, when an outbreak in southeastern Saskatchewan is believed to have originated with a visitor from an infected farm in Germany, carrying the virus either on clothes or an infected sausage.

Advice for farmers visiting Greece

Canadians are still free to travel to Greece, but CFIA recommends they avoid visiting farms when doing so. Travellers who do visit farms should make sure clothes and footwear worn during those visits are free from soil or manure. Footwear should be cleaned and disinfected, and dry-cleaning of the clothes worn is recommended.

Travellers should also avoid contact with susceptible animals, including farm and zoo animals and wildlife, for 14 days after returning to Canada.

For farmers who travel to Greece, contact with farm animals is not recommended for five days upon return to Canada, when “strict personal decontamination measures” are applied to clothes and footwear, CFIA says.

Travellers also must declare all food products upon arrival in Canada. Generally, CFIA says, meat and dairy products from foot-and-mouth infected countries won’t be allowed, but foods that are “cooked, shelf-stable, commercially prepared and hermetically sealed” may be.

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Spruce Woods Colony took top honours at this year’s pork quality luncheon, with Wellwood Colony finishing runner-up, followed by Riverside Colony — the winners of last year’s event.

Sunnyside Colony and Boundary Lane Colony rounded out the top five.

The competition remains a highlight, even for experienced entrants, said Jason Hofer of Wellwood Colony.

The luncheon, organized in partnership with the Manitoba Pork Council, Assiniboine College, East 40 Packers and Blue Water Wash, pairs a pork-focused meal with a quality competition judged on the animals entered by producers.

As has become tradition for the event, winners also designated a charity of their choice to share in the prize money.

“We’ve won quite a few shows in the past, so we always have fun at it,” Hofer said. “It’s a good experience, it’s for charity, and that’s mainly the reason we like entering, because it’s a charitable cause.”

Wellwood Colony chose to support the Brandon Regional Health Centre this year.

“They’ve been asking for some funds they need to complete that new facility they got there, and they’ve asked for charity, so we decided we’re going to donate to them. We’ve donated lots to them before,” he said.

While a first-place finish is always the goal, placing second still feels like a win, Hofer added.

“You always want to be the winner, but you can’t always win. We’ve won our fair share of first places, and runner-up is good too.”

Producers choose charity

A key part of the event is its charitable impact, said Kristen Laing Breemersch, manager of operations and acting general manager with the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, the organizing body behind the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

This year’s selected charities included the Brandon Regional Health Centre Foundation, HEART (a Hutterite-led underwater search and rescue group) and several rural hospitals, including those in Neepawa, Souris and Portage la Prairie.

Prize money is split between producers and their chosen charities, with at least half directed to the selected organization for top-placing entries. Some winners go a step further.

This year, Laing Breemersch said, the grand champion winners donated the entire prize.

From farm to community tables

The pork itself is also put to use locally. The top two carcasses are sent to Assiniboine College to support culinary training, while the remaining product is processed and distributed to food banks and community groups with help from East 40 Packers.

Giving back is what makes the event stand out, Laing Breemersch said.

“It’s one of the aspects of our winter fair that is quite dear to me, to be able to give back to our community and give back to the people that are in need,” she said. “We couldn’t do it without the generosity and support of all of these colonies.”

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The federal government on March 13 announced it would — at the request of the provinces — allow rural employers to keep their current number of low-wage temporary foreign workers (TFWs). It will also increase the allowable share of low-wage workers to 15 per cent of employers’ workforces, from 10 per cent. These changes expire next April.

Rural, in this case, means areas outside of census metropolitan areas, a federal spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Employers in healthcare, food processing and construction will continue to be subject to a 20 per cent cap. Seasonal sectors like seafood and tourism are exempt from the cap. Agriculture is also not included in the cap.

As of March 19, the federal government did not say if any provinces had applied to decrease caps on workers.

More than 1.3 million work permits set to expire

Earlier this month, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) said that more than 1.3 million work permits are set to expire, including more than 300,000 by the end of March.

CFIB isn’t able to give a breakdown of which sectors or TFW stream these workers represent, said the organization’s policy analyst Juliette Nicolaÿ in an interview. However, she said federation members in manufacturing and hospitality sectors said they were struggling to hire local workers. Some retailers may also be affected.

CFIB welcomed the federal government’s temporary changes.

“Any changes that prevent businesses from losing experienced, trained workers is a positive one,” said federation president Dan Kelly in a written statement.

However, the federal measures do not extend work permits for workers already in Canada — one of the CFIB’s asks.

“Employers will still have to apply for a new Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and demonstrate that they meet all Program requirements, including their efforts to first hire Canadians and permanent residents, and that no domestic workers are currently available to fill the positions, before benefiting from these measures,” a federal spokesperson said.

“There will be no automatic extensions or renewals, including for temporary foreign workers already in Canada.”

Why meat processors want permanent residents, not temporary fixes

While temporary foreign workers are used sparingly by some meat processors, it’s not the main means of bringing in workers, said Kyle Larkin, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Meat Council. Processors prefer more permanent workers.

The effect of relaxed caps on workers, therefore, will be limited.

However, many processors — particularly those in rural locales — are “desperate for labour right now,” Larkin said.

“I’ve got some members that are operating at about 70 per cent capacity because they don’t have enough workers.”

Meat processors capitalized on the federal Agri-Food Pilot program, which helped “experienced, non-seasonal workers in specific industries and specific occupations immigrate permanently to Canada,” the government’s website says.

However, that pilot ended in May 2025.

“Most meat processors across Canada are now challenged in being able to bring these individuals in,” Larkin said.

The meat council is advocating for the Agri-Food Pilot to be extended and made permanent.

Meat processors also bring in workers through provincial nominee programs. Larkin noted that some provinces have looked to the federal government to increase the number of immigrants allowed under those programs.

In Manitoba, industry groups like the Manitoba Pork Council have cited for the nominee program’s success and have argued for a nuanced approach to immigration, one that takes rural and agricultural labour needs into account.

In the wake of federally driven cuts to the program, Manitoba announced in January it would have to narrow its focus on workers already here (such as temporary foreign workers or international students) rather than accepting as many new international nominees.

Ottawa’s broader push to reduce temporary foreign workers

In recent years, the federal government has made moves to reduce hiring of temporary foreign workers amidst a perceived overuse and abuse of the system. Besides placing stricter caps on certain categories of temporary foreign workers, the government also cut the maximum employment term for low-wage TFWs to one year from two.

The Carney government’s 2026 to 2028 Immigration Levels Plan includes a reduction in temporary resident arrivals as part of a broader “re-calibration” of the immigration system. This includes cutbacks on the number of temporary foreign workers, with the target number dropping from 60,000 in 2026 to 50,000 in 2027 and 2028. The 2025 target was 82,000.

Criticism of the TFW program includes accusations of labour exploitation and less jobs being available to Canadian workers. In September, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called on the TFW program to be scrapped and a standalone agriculture program created.

Larkin said meat processors would prefer to hire domestic employees but lack people who want to build a career in the industry.

“There’s massive financial costs to meat processors in bringing in foreign talent,” Larkin said, citing labour market assessments, legal fees, the effort to find workers internationally and potential fees for relocating workers.

Workers who become permanent residents in Canada tend to stay in the sector, Larkin said.

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The company, whose products include beef, poultry and pork, posted a net profit of $415 million (C$574.8 million) for the October-December period, up 0.5 per cent from a year earlier but slightly below the $428 million forecast by analysts polled by LSEG.

JBS said tighter cattle supplies in the United States have driven up livestock costs and squeezed margins in its North American beef division, its largest business by revenue.

Chief Executive Gilberto Tomazoni told Reuters the U.S. cattle supply outlook would remain challenging this year because of the current downturn in the livestock cycle. The company also faces a labor strike at a Colorado plant.

“We don’t think there will be any significant change this year in U.S. cattle supply. It will continue to be a difficult year for us,” he said, adding that strong customer demand could help offset some of the pressure.

North American beef still better than expected

Analysts said despite the pressures on the business, the results from JBS’ North American beef division were better than expected, including the year-over-year margin compression.

“This reflects resilient U.S. demand and disciplined cost management, even as cattle prices remained high,” analysts at JPMorgan wrote.

Santander analysts said they believed tailwinds from derivatives contracts helped to offset elevated U.S. cattle prices, and noted beef demand remained strong despite higher prices.

JBS shares were little changed in after-hours trading. In a separate statement, the firm announced dividends of $1 per share.

JBS’ total adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell seven per cent to $1.72 billion (C$2.38 billion), but above analysts’ forecasts of $1.56 billion. The adjusted EBITDA margin fell 1.8 percentage points to 7.4 per cent.

Net revenue rose 15 per cent to a record $23.06 billion (C$31.94 billion), topping analysts’ estimate of $22.38 billion, helped by record sales in its North American and Brazilian beef operations.

Logistics costs and China’s measures

Tomazoni said the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran had increased logistics costs, but he said trade flows remained open and the firm has not seen impacts on protein demand in the Persian Gulf. JBS’ three factories in the Middle East are working normally, he added.

JBS, like other beef exporting companies, also faces restrictions in 2026 on expanding shipments to China, as the Asian country has implemented curbs, including quotas and tariffs, on beef imports from key supplier nations.

He said in Brazil’s case, the country will have to place the volumes that do not go to China in other markets, adding domestic sales could partially offset the impact of the restrictions.

— Additional reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru

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The labor disruption pits a workforce made up largely of immigrants against the world’s largest meat company, and it has already driven ranchers to deliver cattle to alternate facilities.

Beef prices set records this year after the nation’s cattle supply dropped to a 75-year low. Meatpackers including JBS benefit from climbing prices but also must pay record costs to buy cattle to slaughter.

JBS in November reported third-quarter profit of $581 million (C$787.4 million), down from $693 million a year earlier.

Contract not negotiated fairly says union

“While customers are paying more than they ever have, none of that is trickling down to the frontline worker that’s actually doing all the heavy work,” said Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union that represents workers in Greeley.

JBS has participated in unfair labor practices and not negotiated fairly on a new contract over the past eight months, Cordova said. Workers sought wages that keep pace with inflation and wanted the company to stop charging them for replacing protective equipment they wear to do their jobs safely, she said.

JBS said it complies with labor laws, sought to reach a fair agreement, and charges employees for protective equipment that is lost or maliciously damaged.

“We stand by the offer we presented,” JBS said. “It is strong, fair, and consistent with the historic national contract reached in 2025.”

Last year, unionized meatpacking workers at multiple plants ratified a first-ever national contract with JBS. However, workers in Greeley already had some benefits in that contract, including sick leave, Cordova said.

JBS did not slaughter Monday

JBS said it was now adjusting cattle deliveries and processing schedules at Greeley and shifting production to other facilities to meet customer needs.

The company did not slaughter cattle at the plant on Monday. Cattle feeders said JBS canceled slaughtering in Greeley for the whole week, and one feeder said he was delivering livestock to a company facility in Cactus, Texas, instead.

“We’ve got way more kill space than finished cattle ready to slaughter,” said Corbitt Wall, a livestock market analyst for DVAuction. Ranchers will “just move them somewhere else.”

Rival meatpacker Tyson Foods closed a massive beef plant in Nebraska this year.

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That may not happen, immediately, because Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberal government have been busy over the last 10 months, dealing with trade conflicts, wars and the potential end of the global world order.

“We continue to speak to elected officials… (but) Prime Minister Carney’s attention has been focused elsewhere,” said Kaitlyn Mitchell, director of legal advocacy with Animal Justice, a Toronto-based animal welfare organization.

Exporting live horses from Canada made headlines in mid-February, due to an unusual trial at the Provincial Court in Winnipeg.

Animal Justice led a private prosecution of a horse exporter from Swan River, Man., charging him with shipping horses to Japan without making the necessary plans to protect their welfare.

The group launched the private prosecution in 2024 because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency didn’t take legal action in the case.

On Feb. 13 the prosecution and defence submitted their closing statements to the court. Justice Sandra Chapman reserved her decision for a future date.

Animal Justice’s lawyer, Dan Stein, laid out the basic facts of the case in his closing submission:

• On Dec. 11, 2022, Lyle Lumax, the owner of Carolyle Farms in Swan River transported 97 live horses by truck to the Winnipeg airport
• Of that group, 79 horses were put in crates and loaded onto a Korean Air plane in the early hours of Dec. 12
• The flight departed Winnipeg at approximately 4:00 a.m. that day, but the plane was re-routed from Anchorage, Alaska to Seattle, Wash. because of a snowstorm in Anchorage.

Stein said that re-routing caused the horses to be in transport for more than 33 hours without food, water or rest, in the journey to Kagoshima, Japan.

That exceeded the 28-hour time limit for transporting horses in CFIA regulations.

The travel time was in excess of 28 hours, but Animal Justice claims that Carolyle Farms failed to a have a contingency plan for unknown but foreseeable events for the shipment from Winnipeg to Japan.

Canada’s Health of Animals Regulations require a contingency plan, to prevent an animal’s death, injury or suffering.

Carolyle Farms did file a contingency plan in September 2022 for the trip to Japan. But Lumax only had a contingency plan for the transport of the horses from Swan River to Winnipeg, not the entire journey to Japan, Stein said.

“His plan only went as far as the airport and wheels up,” he said. “Was it OK that Carolyle Farms washed their hands of this (contingency plan), once this plane lifted off?”

Farmer’s responsibility ends at the airport: defence

Lumax wasn’t in court Feb. 13. His attorney told the court that the farmer can’t be held responsible for decisions made, or not made, after the Korean Air flight departed from Winnipeg.

Yes, there is shared responsibility to ensure the welfare of the horses and develop a contingency plan, the defence said.

But ultimately there is a decision maker and when the plane is in the air, Korean Air was responsible for the welfare of the animals.

The defence pointed to testimony from Dr. Erika Spek, of the CFIA, who told the court that the air portion of the contingency plan is the responsibility of the airline.

Another bill to ban live horse exports?

Each year, 2,000 to 3,000 horses are exported from Canada to Japan. Once there, they are fattened, slaughtered and the meat is served raw, as sashimi, said Animal Justice.

“There are a small number of feedlots. There is one here (in Manitoba). There are about four in Alberta,” Mitchell said.

“It’s about $18 million a year going to this handful of companies.”

From 2023 to 2025, Bill C-355 was before Parliament. It would have prohibited the export of live horses, by plane.

It passed the House of Commons in May 2024 but died in the Senate when the election was called in early 2025.

Animal Justice continues to lobby for a new bill or regulation to stop the practice and some MPs have committed to getting this done, Mitchell said.

“As far as we’re aware, that’s still the plan.”

There are, however, politicians who support horse exports for slaughter, including Senator Don Plett, who retired from the Senate in 2025.

In a piece published last year in The Hill Times, Plett argued that this issue isn’t about animal welfare.

It’s mostly about misinformation and emotional manipulation, he said.

“The legislation (Bill C-355) was… a tool of animal activists who are ideologically opposed to the human consumption of horse meat.”

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For example, before 2021 ground beef was about $1.00 per pound cheaper than chicken breast, wrote FCC senior economist Graeme Crosbie in a Feb. 11 report. Since mid-2024, the price of ground beef has caught and even surpassed the price of chicken breast in some months.

Chicken prices at retail, farm gate

This rise in beef prices has pushed consumers toward other meats, like chicken and pork. Since 2022, pork prices have risen by more than 13 per cent, chicken prices by almost 22 per cent, and beef prices by nearly 38 per cent, FCC reported on Jan. 28.

Additional demand for chicken has led to higher prices. Fresh or frozen chicken prices rose by an average of 6.7 per cent in the final three months of 2025, FCC said. January to September, they rose 0.9 per cent on average per month.

The rise has been largely independent of farm gate prices in the latter half of the year.

FCC predicted that farm gate prices for chicken will be flat to lower in 2026 as feed costs are expected to remain low.

“Margins will remain positive given strong demand and aforementioned low feed costs,” Crosbie wrote.

Crosbie noted that there’s some concern that avian influenza will hamper producers’ ability to fill demand — particularly in B.C. However, 5.6 per cent more more chicks were placed for broiler production in the latter half of 2025 than in the same period in 2024.

“Assuming avian flu outbreaks are well controlled, this bodes well for production numbers in the first part of 2026,” Crosbie wrote.

Imports of chicken under the Canada-United States-Mexico (CUSMA) and Trans-Pacific (CPTPP) trade agreements reached nearly 100 per cent of tariff-rate quotas for the first time in 2025.

Egg demand, production up

Eggs are also benefiting from demand for economical protein.

While egg consumption per capita has been on the rise since the 90s, there was a “significant jump” in the second half of 2025, said Crosbie.

Specifically, the number of eggs available for consumption rose to 5.54 dozen per person in the third quarter of 2025 from 5.00 dozen per person in the same quarter of 2024.

This “indicates a large increase in production amid slowing population growth,” Crosbie said.

Two opposing forces appear to be in play, Crosbie wrote. There appear to be plenty of eggs available, while there’s only anecdotal evidence of the impacts over the winter of avian influenza on laying flocks.

“Quota allocation may be slowed or altered to begin the year if no significant production capacity was lost,” Crosbie wrote.

“Regardless, the longer-term outlook for egg consumption and production continues to be positive.”

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WHY IT MATTERS: The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level in nearly 75 years, pushing up prices and challenging packers’ margins.

The Cargill Meat Solutions facility will stop production around mid-April and fully close around the end of May, a notice filed by Cargill with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development said. The plant specializes in fresh beef, ground beef, and value-added products but does not slaughter cattle.

Cargill said the move was made “to better align our portfolio with current customer demand and prioritize investments,” adding that ground beef production will shift to its other North American facilities with no impact on its consumer contracts. The company operates seven other facilities in the state and some of the employees affected are expected to move to one in nearby Butler, Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee plant closure comes after rival meatpackers JBS and Tyson Foods announced they were shuttering beef plants late last year.

Beef prices are hovering near record highs due to strong demand and reduced supply. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation to hike low-tariff imports of Argentine beef.

U.S. beef packers have been losing money as tight supplies of cattle forced them to pay more for the livestock they slaughter and process into hamburgers and steaks.

The U.S. cattle herd has dropped to the lowest level in nearly 75 years due to persistent drought that dried up grazing pastures. A halt on U.S. imports of Mexican cattle tightened supplies further, as Washington seeks to keep out New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite.

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“I look forward to working with the team in advocating on behalf of Canada’s meat industry and delivering value to members. It will be a pleasure to continue working in the agriculture and agri-food space in Ottawa,” Larkin said in a Dec. 9 LinkedIn post.

The Canadian Meat Council represents members of the Canadian meat processing industry.

Earlier this month, Larkin announced he would step down from his role at Grain Growers of Canada. December will be Larkin’s final month at the organization. He’ll officially assume the CEO role on Jan. 19, 2026, the Canadian Meat Council said in a news release.

“He brings the strategic understanding, relationship-building skills and member-focused approach needed to position our industry for long-term success,” said council board chair Russ Mallard.

The meat council said the transition comes at a “critical time for CMC and the broader meat industry,” given growing pressures in areas like trade and regulation.

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“It’s very impactful,” said Lorne Voth, president of ProLine Pork Marketing.

“We get more and more guys that are saying, ‘I need Americans. I need American pigs.’ ”

WHY IT MATTERS: Although voluntary on paper, many Canadian pork producers worry that voluntary country of origin labelling (vCOOL) will, in practice, have similar impacts as mandatory country of origin labelling did more than a decade ago.

U.S. voluntary country-of-origin labeling rules were passed in 2024 and take effect Jan. 1, 2026. They will restrict companies from adding “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” labels to meat, poultry and egg products unless they come from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.

In 2024, the U.S. imported 6.8 million head of live pigs from Canada valued at $779 million, according to data from the Manitoba government.

The province sent 29 per cent of those imports, representing 27 per cent of pigs sold in the province. This included millions of weanlings that are raised and slaughtered south of the border.

Livestock and industry groups are concerned the new labelling rules will discriminate against Canadian animals due to a need to segregate them from American animals, which would be costly and inefficient.

Pigs are moving, but it’s not always easy, Voth said at a Manitoba Pork producers meeting earlier this month.

Voth told the Manitoba Co-operator that a few American processors have said they won’t take Canadian pigs.

He hesitated to say what percentage of processors had opted out but said the packers refusing Canadian animals were concentrated in the Midwest, where some of the largest plants are located.

Packers to the east remain happy to buy Canadian pigs.

“That’s because they’re not full,” Voth said.

“So you’re not full, and you’ve got to fill your shackles, then you’re open.”

Voth said some plants never reopened to Canadian pigs after mandatory COOL rules were repealed in 2015.

The repeal came after a protracted battle before the World Trade Organization.

Manitoba Pork chair Rick Prejet told producers Canada will have to wait until vCOOL takes effect before it can go to the WTO. It will need to prove there have been damages to Canadian meat sectors.

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