Cervid Industry Receives Federal Funding

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has announced an investment of over $1 million to the Canadian Cervid Alliance to help the cervid industry capture new market opportunities and respond to the growing consumer demand for full traceability in livestock and poultry. The Canadian Integrated Food Safety Initiative (CIFSI) is funding two projects that will help producers

Traceability Target Date Unchanged

Canada remains committed to national livestock traceability, even though Canadian cattle producers want some slack and the United States is backpedalling on its own traceability program. Plans for a traceability system in 2011 are unchanged, despite recent developments in the U. S., Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said. “Our government remains committed to working with industry


Potential Benefits From Livestock ID

Here in Canada, we’re enhancing our livestock identification programs. Individual cattle ID with radio frequency eartags (RFID), age verification, premise ID, animal movement records – about the only thing that isn’t planned is a GPS locator attached to each individual animal. Incredibly, American efforts for a National Animal Identification System are back to Square 1.



U. S. Will Narrow Scope Of Livestock-Tracking Plan

The government will redraft its moribund livestock-tracking program, attacked as a violation of privacy, so it covers only animals that cross state lines, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Feb. 5. In a speech to state agriculture directors, Vilsack said the revamped system would be run by states, with the Agriculture Department bearing much of the

Sheep And Goat Industry Receive $6 Million

The federal government is investing $6 million in Canada’s sheep and goat industry to help with disease eradication, enhance traceability and improve on-farm food safety practices. “As Canada begins to show signs of economic recovery, the Government of Canada knows that the sheep and goat industry can deliver tremendous returns as it already brings in


McDonald’s VP Hears Ranchers’ Beefs

The first rule of marketing is to know who the customer is and what they want. In the cattle business, that’s the buyers of burger meat, because up to 60 per cent of every steer that goes down the kill chute is eventually sold as hamburger. Out of last year’s beef crop, some 64 million

Pork Becoming Traceability Leader

The pork industry has caught up with other sectors of Canadian agriculture in the development of traceability systems, says Clare Schlegel. “We’re as advanced as any commodity in Canada,” says the Ontario pig farmer and chairman of the Canadian Pork Council’s ID & Traceability Working Committee. The federal and provincial governments have agreed to have


CCIA To Test Radio Tags In Auctions

“We are really excited with the broad cross-section of markets in our project.” – DONNA HENUSET The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) has launched its Auction Market Applied Research Project to evaluate multiple Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems at auction markets across Canada with support from the federal government’s Growing Forward program. The work will

National Approach To Traceability Urged

“Right now it’s everybody’s and nobody’s responsibility.” – Ed Tyrchniewicz Anew report for a federal advisory committee strongly urges a coordinated national approach to implementing food traceability in Canada. The report recommends establishing a national institute for research and development in food traceability. It also calls for a Canada-wide value chain approach to sharing the