Cargill workers ratify contract

About 2,000 workers at the Cargill plant at High River, Alta., voted 71 per cent in favour of a contract their union leaders negotiated.

In a statement, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 401 said the contract is “the best of its kind and presented unprecedented gains in this time of economic and political uncertainty.”

It also says it was reached “during the biggest health crisis the world has ever seen.”

Jarrod Gillig, the business operations and supply chain president for Cargill’s North American protein business, says the deal is “comprehensive” and “fair,” adding it reflects their employees’ “commitment to excellence.”

A company spokesman had previously said the deal offered a six-year collective agreement that includes retroactive pay, signing bonuses, a 21-per-cent wage increase over the life of the contract and improved health benefits.

                           

 

 

Lawyers win big in price-fixing lawsuits

Lawyers representing class-action companies suing poultry processors for price fixing have been awarded more than $100 million.

A court in Illinois has awarded $60 million to lawyers who represented wholesalers who filed class-action lawsuits against chicken processors.

And in the same court, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin granted $56 million in legal fees to attorneys who represented the direct buyers of chicken, such as supermarkets and food service providers, for what he called “interim attorney fees,” and reimbursement of litigation expenses and incentive awards for five named class representatives.

The court split the money processors were fined in the wholesaler case with two-thirds for the wholesalers and a third for the lawyers.

Justice Thomas Durkin awarded about $55.2 million in fees, $4.5 million to cover litigation expenses, and a $15,000 incentive award for each of five named plaintiffs: Maplevale Farms; John Gross and Co.; Ferraro Foods; Joe Christiana Food Distributors; and Cedar Farms Co.

Eight processors have reached settlement agreements with direct purchaser plaintiffs totaling nearly $180.9 million in the broiler chicken antitrust litigation. Tyson, Pilgrim's, Mar-Jac Poultry, Harrison Poultry, Peco Foods, George's, Amick Farms and Fieldale Farms all have reached settlements.

The latest settlement agreements, which received preliminary approval from the court in early October, require Mar-Jac to pay nearly $8 million and Harrison Poultry to pay $3.3 million.

Of the previous settling defendants, Tyson has paid more than $79.3 million, Pilgrim’s Pride has paid $75 million, Peco has paid nearly $5 million, George’s has paid almost $4.1 million, Amick has paid almost $4 million, and Fieldale has paid close to $2.3 million.

The court granted final approval to settlements with Fieldale in November 2018; Amick Farms, George’s and Peco Foods in October 2020; and Pilgrim's and Tyson in June 2021.

                           

 

Global food prices continue rising

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that food prices continued to rise for the fourth month in a row.

In November the FAO index stood at 134.4 points which is 1.2 per cent higher than October. And 27.3 per cent higher than a year ago.

The greatest increases for cereals and dairy, followed by sugar. Meat and vegetables prices declined slightly; meat prices were down for the fourth month in a row.

The dairy index increased by 3.4 per cent and is 19.1 per cent higher than a year ago.

International prices for butter and milk powders rose sharply in November for the third consecutive month. Strong global demand persisted, due, in part, to market uncertainty and anticipation of tightening markets.

Cheese quotations also rose slightly.

Subsidy for Newfoundland milk manager

The federal government is giving Milk Moovement in Newfoundland another $1.5 million.

The company develops software to improve the efficiency of the supply chain for milk, including planning the best trucking routews for picking up milk from farms.

The company previously got a federal government subsidy for early-stage entrepreneurs.

Cargill has tentative agreement

Cargill and leaders of Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union have reached a tentative deal on a new contract for about 1,400 workers.

The plant at High River, Alta., is Canada’s largest beef-packing facility, accounting for about a third of slaughter capacity.

"The offer is comprehensive and fair and includes retroactive pay, signing bonuses, a 21 percent wage increase over the life of the contract and improved health benefits. We remain optimistic we can reach a deal before the strike deadline," Cargill.

The voting is due to be finished by Sunday.

The union said what’s on offer is the best wages in the food processing industry.

"The company’s new offer is a dramatic improvement from the offer that union members saw last week and will significantly improve Cargill workers’ lives," the union said on its website.

The negotiations took place in the context of a Dec. 6 strike deadline which had 98 per cent worker approval.

High fertilizer prices poised to remain

The big price increases for fertilizer, especially nitrogen, are likely to remain high into spring, says CoBanks Knowledge Exchange.

The rising cost of nitrogen fertilizers is caused by production challenges, tight global supplies, rising natural gas costs and steady demand, the bank said.

The report also suggests that while U.S. soybean acres will rise nominally compared to 2021 as a result of higher fertilizer prices, the total volume of soybean acres will not exceed corn acres in 2022. 

“The sharp rise in fertilizer prices has fueled speculation about a major acreage shift away from corn,” said Kenneth Scott Zuckerberg, lead grain and farm supply economist with CoBank. “We don’t see that happening in 2022. The current price ratio of soybeans to corn shows that soybean prices remain weak compared to corn.

Demand from ethanol producers is expected to remain strong given the current high fuel prices and record blending margins.” 

Larger acreage shifts from corn to soybeans are likely in the longer term, however, as production of biofuels such as renewable diesel lean more towards soybeans and away from corn, Zuckerberg said. 

The benchmark Green Markets North American Fertilizer Index has risen by 265 per cent since May, 2020, and there is little reason to expect it to reverse any time soon, the bank said.

                           

Plant protein sales slipping

The bloom is off the plant protein boom.

Sales for four weeks ending Oct. 3 were down by 1.8 per cent from the same period last year.

SPINS, a company that tracks retail sales, reported that vegan alt-meat sales have now fallen by 0.6 percent this year.

It explains why Michael McCain, president and chief executive officer for Maple Leaf Foods, recently said the company is reassessing its investments in plant-based proteins.

A new study published in the journal Nutrients questioned the nutritional content of the meat competitors.

“Diets based on novel plant-based substitutes were below daily requirements for calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc and Vitamin B₁₂ and exceeded the reference diet for saturated fat, sodium and sugar,” the researchers from the National University of Singapore and Wageningen University in the Netherlands wrote.