Food suppliers adding fuel surcharges

Maple Leaf Foods and Tree of Life, a Canadian distributor of United States organic produce, are among the food suppliers and distributors that have already sent fuel-related charges to wholesale distributors and grocery retailers, according to the Globe and Mail.

It has obtained a copy of a letter Maple Leaf sent to its clients and said it got confidential information from a Tree of Life source.

Josh Kuehnbaum, Maple Leaf Foods senior vice-president of sales and customer business development, sent a letter informing customers it is introducing a “temporary fuel surcharge” of 11 cents per kilogram on its prepared meats and poultry shipments.

“This is not a permanent price increase, but rather a temporary adjustment tied directly to fuel cost movements,”. Kuehnbaum‘s letter said.

The surcharge may “move up or down in line with fuel prices,” he wrote.

Olymel’a spokesperson Stéphanie Couturier said it is assessing the situation.

The Globe and Mail said some smaller, independent grocers say they have received multiple fuel-surcharge notices from their suppliers in the past couple of weeks.

Trump’s war sending beef prices higher

 Phil Lempert, the SupermarketGuru, predicts that the war with Iran will add 10 to 15 cents to a pound of ground beef prices in the United States even if it ends by the end of the month.

After that, the impact rises to 25 to 45 cents. If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed or uncertain until August, he estimates ground beef prices will rise by 75 cents to a dollar a pound.

He said the war has increased to cost of fertilizer to grow corn for cattle and diesel prices are up.

“And when we look at meat in particular, that’s brought to our distribution and our supermarkets by refrigerated trucks, which use more diesel than non refrigerated trucks, and then the plastic packaging and everything else,” Lempert told Meatingplace magazine.

Australia was the biggest foreign supplier of beef for hamburger iand it is among the most vulnerable economies to the Hormuz crisis, he said,

 Authorities there, as well as ranchers and other business people, are already warning that they could run out of transportation fuels as early as mid-April.

Two months ago United States President Donald Trump said he would bring beef prices down. Then he relaxed trade restrictions on beef from Argentina, a move that irked American beef farmers and meat packers.

PED in Oxford County

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus has broken out at a farrow-to-finish farm in Oxford County.

Profit guarantee entices corn growers to experiment

 

Farmers for Climate Solutions is enticing corn farmers to try split nitrogen applications, starting with only 30 pounds per acre at planting time and then whatever soil sampling reveals what’s best for the second application early in the growing season.

It was tried on a 12-acre plot in Lambton County last year where Mathew Wagenaar found it works. His iintention was to apply 130 pounds per acre at planting with a second application later.

The guarantee is that the plot following the Farmers for Climate Solutions program will not be less profitable than fields managed as the farmer traditionally does.

The idea is to improve fertilizer efficiency and reduce business risk.

Wagenaar said he worried that if the spring turned out wet he would be unable to apply the second side dressing on time.

Those who sign up this year get up to $500 in agronomist services for project support, including nutrient management recommendations, full reimbursement for the required nitrate test and a $1,000 honorarium for their time.

“Our goal is to assess if a profit warranty can be a helpful new tool to optimize nitrogen use,” said James Cober, strategic initiatives manager for the program 

“What enticed me is the fact that I get to try this without the fear of lost income,” Wagenaar said, adding he was already actively learning about new approaches to split-nitrogen application.

Spoelstras win award

Drew and Heather Spoelstra have been chosen winners of the Ontario Outstanding Young Farmer award.

Drew has been president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture since 2923.

They own Roy–Lea Farms Ltd., in Binbrook Ont. Where they breed purebred Clydesdale horses.They farm 2,000 acres of cash crop and dairy and beef cattle.

Royal Zaatar on recall

Alarjawi brand Royal Zaataris on recall due to salmonella food poisoning.

Royal Zaatar is a premium Middle Eastern herb blend, often featuring wild thyme, toasted sesame seeds, sumac, and salt, sometimes enhanced with pistachio.

It is a versatile seasoning used for dipping oil, seasoning meats, or in savory pastries.

CFIA suspends another Laval business licence

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence held by Dan Gifts Inc.

It said the company failed to identify and analyze hazards, was short of compliance on addressing complaints, recall and traceability procedures.

The company is out of business until it establishes compliance.

Two other Laval establishments had their licences suspended in March.

Ten cheeses on Sobeys recall

 

Sobeys and its sister supermarkets, such as Thrifty’s in British Columbia, are recalling 10 cheeses that the company believes may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes food-poisoning bacteria.

The products were distributed in every province but Quebec.

AgTalk helps farmers

AgTalk, an on-line forum for farmers feeling stressed, is proving effective in addressing mental health crises, according to executive director Merle Massie of the parent operation DoMoreAg.

Farmers can access AgTalk without revealing their identity, and Massie said that has resulted in more frank revelations of how farmers are feeling.

The 2025 annual report showed that 73 per cent of people who joined AgTalk are not engaged in formal mental health support, meaning AgTalk is their only outside support.

“Thirty-eight per cent of them report past thoughts of suicide or self-harm. These people are not feeling well,” she said.

“Eighty per cent reported their mental health as poor or very poor, and 42 per cent said that they shared something on Togetherall that they’ve never shared with anyone else.”

The statistics show people of all ages have joined.

DoMoreAg has additional on-line sites, including one on divorce.

Massis made her comments during a presentation at Canada’s Farm Show in Regina.

Ontario hog production increased

 

 

Ontario hog production increased by seven per cent to 6.2 million market hogs last year, the marketing board reported to its recent annual meeting.

Chair Tara Terpstra said farmers benefitted from a period of good prices and steady demand.

As part of its strategic plans, it will be increasing research into the impact that changes in trade policies could have on hog farmers.

The board directors are Tara and Tanya Terpstra, Karen Sanders, Charlie Illick, Jolanda Vandenbroek, Bruce Hudson, Philip Van Raay, Casssie Van Engelen and TJ Murray.

Listowel ag centre design is ready

 

The Agri-Food Discovery Centre that is to be built in Listowel now has a design ready for a $38-million project of 34,000 square feet.

Current plans include a main discovery centre, an outdoor amphitheatre, an observation tower and a dining pavilion, the community was told at the centre’s recent annual meeting.

There will be demonstration plots, gardens and a rain garden, but no livestock or poultry because of disease risks.

The centre will show the latest farming innovations and, as such, will be designed to educate both farmers and the general public.

Dairy farmer Steve Dolson, chair of the Agri-Food Discovery Centre, said now that they have plans, fundraising will ramp up. A number of companies have already contributed.

a2 shareholders bought off

 

Class action lawsuits filed on behalf of people holding shares in a2 Milk Company have settled out of court for $62 million Australian ($59.9 million Cdn).

The shareholders said a2 issued misleading advice about its financial prospects.

When share prices fell, two different legal firms launched class-action lawsuits on behalf of shareholders.

The two cases were combined and were due to be heard in court beginning June 21.

Farmers slightly optimistic

 

Farmers are slightly more optimistic heading into planting season according to the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

It rose 11 points to 127 in March.

The Future Expectations Index rose by 14 points as 62 per cent of those surveyed said they think the United States economy is headed in the right direction.

There was a slight improvement in farmers’ reports of their current conditions. 

The report said producers remain cautious. Only four per cent plan to increase machinery purchases and only 20 per cent expect improved financial performance this year.

Is the key to a bee’s heart through the stomach?

 

The key to queen bees’ hearts may be through their stomachs and a research team at the University is on the case.

About a third of queen bees fail to survive an Ontario winter and it might be because of the microflora in their guts, the researchers led by Brendan Daisley speculate.

Beekeepers import replacement queen bees from countries such as the United States, Chile and Italy and their digestive systems have evolved to suit a different environment, so that may be the reason so many die.

The Canadian Beekeepers Association has noticed and encourages its members to keep as many domestic queen bees as possible.

Now it is supporting the Canadian Bee Gut Project.

As part of the research the team is collecting data about the microbiome profiles of thousands of bees from across Canada.

They are looking into how those gut profiles differ in their support of digestion, immune system regulation and countering harmful bacteria.

They have already found that domestic bees have microbiomes that support those systems and are at least a big part of why their survival rates are better than the imported queen bees..

"We're trying to better understand how the microbiome impacts overwintering success," said Daisley, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Guelph.

Canadians import about 300,000 queen bees per year and they build colonies that are a mismatch with Canada's forage, pathogens and seasonal stressors, Daisley told CBC Radio in Kitchener.

"Their genetics have evolved to be most suited to warmer climates so when they come here, their offspring, the worker bees, are not adapted to colder climates and to surviving the winter,” he said,

Iran war increases food packaging costs

Food packaging costs are rising because of the war in Iran, said Christopher Mejía Argueta, a research scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. 

Most processed foods are packaged in plastics derived from oil.

Just as oil price increases have put up prices for gasoline, diesel and fertilizer, they will certainly impact food packaging.

Agueta said there are alternatives such as glass, reuseables and recycling, but none of those are easy or cheap alternatives.

Glass is also much heavier and fragile.

Even if returns, such as glass, are used, there are added transportation costs, he said, and the challenge of converting packaging lines.

There is already a shortage of truck drivers, he said, so ir will be a challenge to truck returns.

Three cheese-related recalls

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has posted three cheese-related recalls because of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes food-poisoning bacteria.

They are Hello Fresh meal kits that include cheese ingredients, cheese products distributed to hotels, restaurants and cafeterias and Auricchio brand Taleggio D.O.P cheese

CFIA tests revealed the contaminations.

No illnesses have been reported.

Agri Stats agrees to limit its data sharing

Agri Stats has consistently denied wrong-doing in class-action lawsuits in the pork, chicken, turkey and beef industriesm, but in a court settlement in Minnesota it agreed to significant changes to its reporting practices if pork reports resume.

That settlement of a class-action lawsuit resulted in $212.2 million for consumers.

Triumph Foods is on the hook for $4.1 million.

The changes Agri Stats agreed to make include eliminating sales reports, removing certain plant-level data and restricting how subscriber information is shared. 

The settlements followed earlier agreements with other defendants, including JBS, Smithfield, Tyson, Seaboard, Clemens Group and Hormel.

Farm wins drainage appeal

 

 Cassels Cook Farms Inc. has won an appeal it filed against South Perth municipality for drain work related to its 98-acre farm.

It was facing a bill of about $9,000 for open drain works. That was reduced to zero.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Agribusiness and Food Appeal Tribunal also reduced an assessment of $36.420 for a culvert under Highway 7 to $25,614.

Owner Dave Cook did not know that part of his property is zoned for industrial development. The tribunal ruled that if and when it is developed, the drainage bills could be re-visited.

Maple Syrup scam spotted

A maple syrup scam by a Quebec producer has been spotted by a reporter for French-language CBC radio.

He thought syrup he bought tasted different, so it had it tested at a laboratory.

It was half cane sugar, so he bought five more cans at the same grocery store and had them tested at centre ACER and all five were half cane sugar.

The syrup was labelled pure maple syrup and made by Steve Bourdeau of Saint-Chrysostome southwest of Montreal.

 His numbered company 9227-8712 Québec inc. markets under the name "Érablière Steve Bourdeau."

A milk scam on the internet

 

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said  it has received 12 reports since March 25 of phishing texts claiming the victim is eligible for a payout in a Canadian milk class action. 

Based on its experience, it believes about 10 times more people have received the scam message.

In fact there is no payout available to milk buyers.

There is, however, a payout on offer for clients of Silk which is a plant-based product marketed as a substitute for milk.

This scam is not part of that settlement with Danone whose contractor failed to eliminate food-poisoning bacteria from the Silk it made for Danone.

That contractor has since declared bankruptcy and another contractor is making Silk for Danone’s customers in Canada.

Cod population may not be recovering

Scientists are questioning the federal government’s decision to allow fishing for Northern cod to resume because the fish population is classified as healthy.

The scientists say the population has not increased, but what has changed is the government’s method of counting and classifying what qualifies as “healthy”.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada completed its latest assessment for the northern cod stock, estimating the population to be in the “healthy zone” with a 70 per cent probability under newly defined benchmarks. 

The classification has changed more than the underlying reality in the water, the critics said.

Under the new assessment the “healthy zone” is defined as 80 per cent of biomass at maximum sustainable yield, a benchmark that falls short of stronger conservation standards and relies heavily on modelled outputs with significant uncertainties, the critics said.

They said scientists and conservationists warn that the designation is overly optimistic and should not be interpreted as a full recovery or used to justify increased fishing pressure.

Rebecca Schijns, a fishery scientist for Oceana Canada, said while there are some positive signals of recovery, they must be weighed against persistent red flags and the broader context of northern cod rebuilding. 

Just a few years ago, this same amount of fish was considered critically depleted, and the stock remains well below historically healthy and productive levels, she said.

“We’ve seen this before for cod — optimism racing ahead of evidence, quotas rising too fast, and a stock pushed back toward depletion,” Schijns said.

 

“Scientific uncertainty remains high. The assessment model is comprehensive but unstable, total catches are not fully accounted for, and critical ecosystem signals persist. Declaring success too early risks creating a false sense of recovery.

 

“Cod recovery is inseparable from ecosystem conditions, particularly the availability of capelin, which is alarmingly low at roughly 20 per cent of pre-collapse biomass levels.  

Yet this relationship is not adequately reflected in quota decisions. A precautionary, ecosystem-based approach is essential,” she said.

Jasmine Hofer wins nomination

 

Jasmine Hofer, inventor of an on-farm press that extracts diesel fuel from soybeans and meal for livestock rations, has been nominated as one of 33 finalists for the 2025 Purolator True North Small Business Grant Contest.

Her Energrow business was one of thousands of entries.

The Energrow system includes a roasting system for the meal to become a good livestock and poultry ration ingredient.

Hofer has been recognized as a winner of the province’s 2025 Women’s Excellence award and the Stratford Chamber of Commerce award for youth entrepreneurs in 2010.

Jasmine Hofer wins nomination

 

Jasmine Hofer, inventor of an on-farm press that extracts diesel fuel from soybeans and meal for livestock rations, has been nominated as one of 33 finalists for the 2025 Purolator True North Small Business Grant Contest.

Her Energrow business was one of thousands of entries.

The Energrow system includes a roasting system for the meal to become a good livestock and poultry ration ingredient.

Alberta delaying carbon pricing

 

The Pembina Institute said Alberta is dragging its heels on implementing higher carbon pricing agreed to in a memorandum of understanding signed with the federal government in November.

That agreement would increase the price of carbon pollution to $130 a tonne.

The province has also been lagging on building renewable wind and solar energy projects, on tackling methane emissions and on funding carbon capture projects, the institute said.

There has also been no private-sector support for a proposed oil export pipeline to the west coast, it said.

It said the Alberta government is “kicking the can down the road”.

Canadians to pay more to buy less food

 

Farm Credit Canada has issued a forecast that Canadians will pay more for food this year and will buy less.

They will pay eight-tenths of a per cent more and buy seven-tenths of a per cent less it said in its report on the food and beverage sector of the Canadian economy.

Chief economist Craig Johnston said higher food prices over the past several years are really weighing on households’ budgets,. They’re making more cost-conscious decisions.

He said margins are tight across the sector, including for farmers.

The report was prepared before the United States and Israel attacked Iran leading to a sharp increase in prices for diesel, gasoline, fertiliers and ultimately almost all products farmers need.

Food production costs increased by an average of two per cent last year, it said.

Dairy prices are likely to increase by 3.5 per cent this year, it said. Farmers will be paid more, but that is only one of the reasons dairy prices will rise this year.

The outlook for meats is a 1.5 per cent increase in prices, but a 5.6 per cent decline in sales volumes.

Last year outbreaks of highly-pathogenic avian inlluenza and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus drove the cost of producing poultry and pork higher.

CFIA testing finds 99 per cent compliance

 

Canadian Food Inspection testing found that 99 per cent of Canadian-produced foods it tested last year were satisfactory on microbiological standards.

The track record for imported foods was 98.9 per cent.

It performed 12,641 tests on 5,304 domestic products and 3,933 on 1,248 imported products.

Delton Williams judged guilty

 

Delton Williams Poultry Services Ltd. has been judged guilty of abusing turkeys it loaded at a farm near Ripley and taking them to slaughter in Mitchell.

A Canadiian Food Inspection Agency official saw a turkey that had a broken wing and femur, so issued a notice of violation of animal welfare standards.

Williams appealed to the Canadian Agricultural Appeal Tribunal where chair Emily Crocco listened to the evidence and ruled that the CFIA notice of violation was justified.

The evidence indicated the turkeys were agitated when they were directed into a loading machine and therefore likely to be injured,

Turkey industry changes its calendar

 

The national supply management agency for turkeys is changing its annual calendar by two months.

Starting with 2027/2028, quota will be set after Christmas.

It said the production requirement for the upcoming control period will be clearer at that time of year.

It also said that flocks lost to HPAI (highly-pathogenic avian influenza) in fall and winter will more easily be replaced within province before tend of the control period, thereby reducing the need to lease quota interprovincially. 

The first control period under the new schedule will be from Sunday, June 27, 2027, to Saturday, June 24, 2028. That adds two months to the current quota control period.

The National Farm Products Council has approved the change.

Eggs face six-cent levy hike

 

 

The National Farm Products Council has approved a request from the Egg Farmers of Canada to hike its levies by six cents a dozen effective April 19.

The agency told the council is needs the increase because markets have been fluctuating more than usual.

The increase is to support the Unrestricted Pooled Income Fund which will be drawn down from about $92 million at the beginning of this year to less than $34 million by the end of the year even with the levy increase, the agency said.

Simpler, quicker trade deals favoured

Canadians working on trade with the United States are looking to make quick and simple deals on specifics rather than a comprehensive free-trade agreement, according to Michael Harvey, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance.

And that approach has support from Julie Callahan, chief agricultural negotiator with the United States Office of Trade Relations who pointed to quick deals signed with nine countries and framework agreements with 10 others after United States President Donald Trump hit them with Liberation Day Tarrifs.

Harvey said Canadian trade“ officials have told us that they’re much more open to less comprehensive agreements that can be signed more quickly.

“We think that’s a good thing because it allows us to make progress in an uncertain environment,” he said,

“The weakness of the U.S. approach is that it’s not clear how solid those trade agreements are given the legal and political uncertainty inside the U.S.,” he said. The United States Supreme Court recently overturned the Liberation Day tariffs and Trump is trying to find an alternative.

On a global basis, Canada has some advantages because it has comprehensive trade deals with the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the European Union which the United States does not.

Cattlemen object to CFIA’s traceability plans

 

The Canadian Cattle Association is so upset about requirements that it has withdrawn support for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency plan for changes to the national traceability program;

 It plans to work with provincial beef associations to develop its own plan,

It acknowledges that it’s important to be able to document the movement of cattle in the event of an important disease outbreak, but is reflecting its members’ concerns that the CFIA proposals are too onerous.

The CFIA plan would require reporting animal move-ins within seven days and more information about premise identification numbers and reporting,

The CFIA realized its plan was not popular and recently put its implementation on pause for further negotiations.

                           

Al Mussell paints a gloomy future

 

Al Mussell paints a gloomy picture in his most recent global analysis of agriculture and politics.

He said the oil price spike related to the United States and Israeli attacks on Iran illustrate how “a calorie is a calorie” whether derived from oil or crops.

As oil supplies are disrupted and prices rise, governments turn to corn and oilseeds to supplement gasoline and diesel fuels.

That increases food prices and has governments borrowing more money to pay for the crop-based gasoline and diesel supplements.

Governments are becoming so indebted that paying interest on their debts leaves them with little room to offset the decline in calories – i.e. oil-based costs or food prices.

The two calorie sources are closely linked, Mussell said. For example, nitrogen derived from oil and natural gas is needed to grow the corn needed for ethanol, livestock and poultry rations and food products.

Mussell is senior research fellow for the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.

It’s a gloomy outlook.

Mississippi bans lab milk

MIssissippi plans to become the first state to ban lab-cultured dairy products.

The proposed legislation would classify cell-cultured dairy separately from conventional milk products and make it illegal to manufacture, market or sell these products within the state. 

Violators could face civil penalties of up to $500 per day, with total fines capped at $10,000 for the same offense.

It earlier banned cell-cultured meat product, joining Florida and Alabama to protect livestock farmers.

Cheese on recall

Auricchio brand Gorgonzola D.O.P dolce cheese is on recall in Ontario and Quebec.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency identified Listeria monocytogenes food-poisoning bacteria in the product.

There have been no reports of people being sickened by the cheese.

                                    

Hot and dry summer coming

 

By the second half of summer, the weather could be hot and dry, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

That’s because the weather coming from the Pacific Ocean is in transition from El Nina to El Nino.

Between now and then the weather Is likely to be quite variable as the two battle for dominance.

The winter was cold and snowy because El Nina dominated.

“La Niña and El Niño are two oscillations of ocean water temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño is when it’s warmer than normal, and La Niña is cooler than normal,” Gillham said in an earlier interview. La Niña gives us a wavier jet stream and tends to give us more storms.

While a La Niña effect may produce harsh, cold winters in parts of Canada, as jet streams from the Pacific Ocean disrupt the polar vortex over the North Pole, El Niño’s effect usually means it will be warmer than normal.

It depends where the jet stream waves set up.

During La Niña, sea surface water temperatures from the tropical Pacific Ocean tend to drop by half a degree Celsius.

PED in Perth County

 

Swine Health Ontario reported an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at a nursery barn in Perth County.

The disease is deadly for pigs that age.

Two more PED outbreaks

 

There have been outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in a nursery-to-finish facility in Oxford County and a farrow-to-wean facility in Haldimand-Norfolk. There have been five outbreaks in that area of the province in less than two weeks.

 

McCain heir challenges siblings

Eleanor McCain has gone to the New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench hoping to gain permission to sell her inheritance to outsiders.

Her siblings have threatened to shun her from the family if she does, yet she said they have only made low-ball offers for her share of inheritance in the world’s largest French-fries business.

It is not the first family fracture. Her father and uncle fought over the company. Wallace left Harrison and bought Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and installed his son as president and chief executive officer.

Based on the value of publicly traded peers, the private company is worth about $20 billion.

McCain Foods with its head office in Florenceville, N.B., employs more than 20,000 employees people 160 countries and has annual sales of $16 billion. 

McCain Foods, the operating business, is owned by the holding company, MFGI. Ms. McCain, a professional musician, has been trying to cash out of MFGI since April, 2025. She plans use her inheritance to back charities and her own business ventures. 

Wallace and Harrison McCain, sons of a potato farmer, opened their first frozen fry factory in 1957. They built a global business, then feuded over leadership in the early 1990s, prior to their deaths in 2011 and 2004, respectively. 

Since 1995, McCain Foods has hired outside executives to run the company.

Control of MFGI is now shifting to 55 second- and third-generation McCain heirs.   

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Easter chocolates prices have soared

 

 Blame much higher chocolate prices on big swings in global cocoa markets, said CoBank’s  Billy Roberts, the bank’s senior food and beverage analyst.

That has oomplicated planning for chocolate manufacturers and led to higher retail prices for consumers, he wrote in a report on cocoa.

 

While short-term cocoa prices have come down, he said that will not likely be reflected in chocolate prices.

He said some manufacturers hedged against potential higher prices s they continue to pay high prices for cocoa.

Despite rising prices, Roberts said shoppers are opting for premium chocolates.

NFU blasts research cuts – again

 

 

The National Farmers Union issued another news release critical of the federal government’s cut to agriculture research budget and closing seven research centres.

Now is not the time to cut funding for research centres, farms and programs that are on the frontlines of agricultural climate science, it said, citing eight years of droughts in Southern Saskatchewan and two floods in British Columbia.

Public interest research on sustainable agriculture should be a central part of Canada's climate action strategy. 

Research capacity is essential to facilitating transitions towards a more sustainable Canadian agricultural sector. Public science is a public benefit, it said.

“The harm will be felt for generations,” it said.

 “Science isn’t a luxury, it’s an insurance policy.” 

Halting agricultural research that has been on the cutting edge of emissions reductions research will cost the government billions, and will have long-lasting negative impacts on the climate and the food system. the NFU said.

                  

 

Third PED case in Oxford County

There has been a third outbreak or Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus in Oxford County, this one a weaning finishing facility.

Water too often neglected says expert

Hog farmers should pay more attention to water quality, said Chelsea Fallis of Kemin, a global animal nutrition company.

She said most often water quality is an afterthought addressed only when it becomes an immediate concern. 

Yet water is the number one resource animals need to consume daily to survive. 

Without regular monitoring or testing of your site’s water, this leaves an open door to your biosecurity plan. Unchecked water can pose a significant risk to the health of your animals and bottom line, she said.

“If we’re not evaluating water as we are evaluating feed ingredients, operations are missing a huge opportunity,” she said.

She worked with hog farmers and contractors before joining Kemin and her on-farm experiences over almost six years prompted her to take on water quality as a full-time job at Kemin.

 

Aside from reduced water intake due to odor, taste, or temperature, inconsistent or poor water quality can cause a slew of other problems, she said.

She flags biofilm build-up in waterlines as a big issue because it can harbour pathogens and bacteria potentially impacting the efficacy of antibiotics. 

What we do not know right now is how much of that antibiotic is getting eaten up in the water line before it gets to the pigs, she said.

This could lead to a perceived drug failure and a re-administration of antibiotics increasing the cost going into those animals, increased labor and time lost getting animals to recover.

“Producers are working with their veterinarians on utilizing the right drug for the right bug at the right time, and often yield less of a result than anticipated. The concern is, are we truthfully getting a therapeutic dose to the animal as expected or are we losing efficacy due to contaminants (biofilm) in the water?” she asked.

 

“Operations are adding some form of water treatment for one reason or another. I.e.: bleach, chlorine tabs, citric acid, apple cider vinegar with no standardization or measurement of success,” she said,