Meat and poultry products are key components of our local food system, and we have to make sure we maintain the infrastructure needed to support livestock farming from the farm to the fork.

Opinion: Meat processors key link in local food value chain

The labour issues in the sector didn’t pop up overnight

Labour shortages have long been a challenge for the meat processing sector. It creates problems for meat processing businesses and also makes it harder for farmers to access much-needed processing capacity for their livestock when animals are ready for market. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the skilled worker shortage, while driving an increase in consumer demand


Tyson Foods ends COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees

Tyson Foods ends COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees

Reuters – Tyson Foods has confirmed it eliminated a requirement that employees receive COVID-19 vaccinations, a step the company said improved meatpacking operations after plants closed in 2020 due to outbreaks among workers. The biggest U.S. meat company by sales lifted the mandate on Oct. 31, one year after imposing it, according to a report


glass of milk and dairy cows

EU sees lower meat and dairy output

Meat and dairy production in the European Union is expected to decline this year and next as livestock farms feel the effects of drought, disease outbreaks and rising costs, the EU’s executive said Oct. 5. A historic drought in Europe this summer has reduced availability of grass and grain to feed herds, increasing costs for


(Fly View Productions/E+/Getty Images)

U.S. packer profit margins jumped 300 per cent during pandemic, economists say

Increased costs don't explain higher profits, White House advisors say

Washington | Reuters — Four of the biggest meat-processing companies, using their market power in the highly consolidated U.S. market to drive up meat prices and underpay farmers, have tripled their own net profit margins since the pandemic started, White House economics advisers said. Financial statements of the meat-processing companies — which control 55 to

Biden administration plans tougher action to rein in meat prices

Biden administration plans tougher action to rein in meat prices

U.S. plans to funnel money towards smaller meat producers and workers

Reuters – The Biden administration plans to take a tougher stance toward meat-packing companies it says are causing sticker shock at grocery stores. Four companies control much of the U.S. meat-processing market, and top aides to President Joe Biden blamed those companies for rising food prices in a blog on Sept. 8. As part of a set

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Canada dilutes plan to limit temporary foreign workers

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s Liberal government on Thursday watered down measures to limit the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers firms can hire after complaints the restrictions would cause major labour shortages. Under rules introduced by the previous Conservative administration, the number of low-skilled foreign workers a firm could employ would have dropped to


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

meat counter in a grocery store

Pressure mounts for changes to country-of-origin labelling

WTO ruling sets the stage for U.S. repeal of COOL

The United States has three months to repeal its country-of-origin labelling program on beef and pork imports before Canada and Mexico will proceed with billions of dollars’ worth of retaliatory tariffs on American goods. In the wake of the World Trade Organization’s final decision May 18 that COOL violates international trade rules, the House of