In January, the National Beef Strategic Planning Group published its strategic goals for 2020 in a paper that brought to light the full depth of funding issues being faced by the industry. “Since the National Check-off was introduced in 2002,” the report reads, “inflation and a reduced number of marketings resulted in less check-off collected,... Read More
Category: Livestock
A new training and education facility built to promote Canadian beef officially opened its doors on Monday. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, joined beef industry officials for the opening of the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence in Calgary, Alberta. "Our government is proud to see this... Read More
The great thing about social media — like Twitter and Facebook — is that it provides a megaphone for farmers, a group of people who have struggled for decades to be heard by consumers. The flipside is, of course, that technology doesn’t discriminate; a megaphone for farmers is a megaphone for everybody else, too. Which... Read More
*Update on Monday, March 9th: The USDA on March 9th confirmed a second case of H5N2 avian influenza in the Mississippi flyway on a turkey farm in Missouri. Another turkey facility in Missouri has also been quarantined after preliminary tests came back positive for the virus. The first finding of the highly pathogenic H5N2 avian... Read More
If you’re looking to catch up on what’s been happening in the world of Canadian agriculture, this week’s podcast runs the gamut — from seed companies collecting end point royalties to why some weeds are more prone to herbicide resistance to why McDonald’s is looking to Canada for “sustainable beef.” Here’s “This Week on Real... Read More
What if you could get a two- or three-day notice on a dairy cow going into heat? Or be alerted to an impending infection or sickness days before a cow showed signs? As Nancy Charlton, with DeLaval, explains in this interview from the Canadian Dairy Xpo, the Herd Navigator software can do just that. The... Read More
While much of the public conversation has been focused on UPOV ’91 and plant breeders rights, changes are also being made to the federal government’s Advance Payments Program now that Bill C-18 — the Agricultural Growth Act — has become law. The amendments to the Agricultural Marketing Programs Act are supposed to make cash advances... Read More
As part of McDonald’s 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Framework, the company has commited to begin purchasing a portion of verified sustainable beef in 2016. Using principles and criteria approved by the Global and Canadian Roundtables for Sustainable Beef, the company is currently recruiting for the pilot project. “When you look at consumer data,... Read More
The recent case of a BSE-positive cow found in Alberta has been traced back to a birth farm that produced another positive BSE case in 2010. In the case of that cow, the 17th detected in Canada, the animal was born in 2004, three years before the enhanced feed ban came into effect. The Canadian... Read More
From the Agricultural Growth Act receiving Royal Assent to new questions surrounding the strange case of missing quarantined heritage sheep in Ontario, there's plenty to discuss in this week's ag news recap. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, meteorologist Drew Lerner, McGill University's Joe Schwarcz, Dave Solverson of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and others make it into... Read More