File photo of a thistle plant in a wheat crop. (Dave Bedard photo)

Vietnam to call off thistle seed ban in grain imports

Move will restore regular grain trade, Cereals Canada says

Vietnam is expected to resume nearer-to-normal grain trade with exporting nations such as Canada, after it loosens a significant restriction on weed seed content. Cereals Canada, a national cereals industry group, on Friday reported that Vietnam’s agriculture ministry has released a revised quarantine pest list due to take effect Sept. 29. The new list, Cereals

(Songqiuju/iStock/Getty Images)

Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines

U.S. Agriculture Secretary says farmers may purchase as precaution despite no domestic cases

Hanoi | Reuters – Vietnam has approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines against African swine fever, the government said on Monday, making them the world’s first commercial vaccines against the deadly disease. The vaccines include NAVET-ASFVAC, co-developed by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine and scientists from the United States, and AVAC ASF LIVE


African swine fever outbreak spreading widely in Vietnam

An African swine fever outbreak is spreading widely in Vietnam and is hurting the local farming industry, forcing the culling of three times the number of hogs culled last year, the government said Nov. 25. “The outbreak is evolving in a complicated manner,” the government said in a statement. “It is threatening to spread on






(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. criticizes Vietnam ban of glyphosate imports

Chicago/Hanoi | Reuters — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Thursday criticized Vietnam’s move to ban imports of glyphosate-based herbicides, saying the decision would have “devastating impacts on global agricultural production.” Vietnam’s government said in a statement that the toxic level of herbicides containing glyphosate had long been of concern, in the latest display

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, shown here March 14, 2019 at the Montreal-Trudeau airport with Canadian border services officers and detector dogs, announced new funding to expand Canada’s detector dog corps. (CNW Group/CFIA)

Canada to boost airport detector dog corps

With African swine fever top of mind, the federal government plans to more than double the total number of detector dog teams at Canada’s airports within five years. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, speaking in Montreal Thursday, announced new funding of up to $31 million over five years to add 24 Food, Plant, and Animal Detector