CME June 2020 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hogs pare gains as Trump plans order to keep meat plants open

Cattle up with wholesale beef prices

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures hit a four-week peak on Tuesday on worries about tightening pork supplies as the coronavirus shutters meat processing plants, but the market pared gains on news that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to order such sites to stay open. June lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile

(Shadowinternet/E+/Getty Images)

Pork sector’s calls for aid heard, not yet answered

Federal government says it's examining "all options"

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s office said late last week the government is working “around the clock” to respond to the pandemic’s impact on farmers and agri-food businesses. But there was no commitment to the direct support Canadian pork industry officials say is now necessary to carry the sector through a crisis which has led


(LedbetterFoods.com)

JBS to buy U.S. meat processor Empire Packing

The U.S. arm of Brazilian meat packing giant JBS plans to expand its footprint in case-ready further processing with a deal for Memphis-based Empire Packing. Empire operates meat and poultry processing plants in its home town of Memphis as well as in Cincinatti, Denver, Olympia, Wash. and Mason, Ohio. It also makes the Ledbetter line

Blaine Pedersen, minister of agriculture and resource development, with ACC students at the grand opening of a new animal protein-processing training facility.

Meat-processing training centre opens in Brandon

Food Processing Centre for Animal Proteins has held its grand opening

Assiniboine Community College’s new Food Processing Centre for Animal Proteins is officially open for business. The facility held a grand opening last week, hosting donors who contributed to its construction. FPCAP will allow the college to provide training and experience to those interested in working in the meat-processing industry, which will help address a labour


File photo of a small greenhouse operation in Quebec. Greenhouse crop producers will be among the specific beneficiaries of a new federal pilot program for temporary foreign workers. (ManonAllard/E+/Getty Images)

Agriculture foreign workers get new path to residency

Updated, July 15 — The federal government has announced a pilot program that will make it easier for farms and food companies to maintain workers they recruit from around the world. Ahmed Hussen, minister for immigration, refugees and citizenship, announced the program Friday at Maple Leaf Foods in Mississauga. Why it matters: There’s a labour

HyLife Foods staff work in the recently expanded integrated pork-processing plant in Neepawa.

HyLife to hand over to Thai conglomerate

Over half of HyLife Foods stock will belong to Thai-based conglomerate CPF once the deal closes

Manitoba pork giant HyLife Foods will soon have someone else calling the shots. The company announced a deal with Thailand-based exporter Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF) for 50.1 of the company’s stock April 22. The $498-million deal adds HyLife to the conglomerate’s list of companies, which span 17 countries and include hogs, chickens,





Rich Vesta

Editorial: Beef production and the view from Alberta

The view is different out here — and it’s not just the scenery. Granted, Co-operator staff had the rare opportunity last week to visit with ranchers in and around Calgary that were specifically selected by their colleagues at Alberta Farmer Express specifically because they do things a little differently. Nevertheless, it was an eye-opener listening

High compound feed cost hits pig farmers

amsterdam / reuters Europe’s pig farmers are struggling to maintain production, caught between a slide in pork prices and a rise in the cost of protein-rich soymeal and rapemeal used in compound feed. The price of soymeal has surged nearly 40 per cent this year. Along with rapemeal it is used as the main source