Consumers get price-fixing payout

 

Lower-income people in Washington State are getting cheques in the mail from a $35.5-million settlement in price-fixing cases for chicken and tuna.

The payouts actually total $40.6 million, the state attorney general Bob Ferguson said.

The cheques will go to about 402,000 households whose income is below 175 per cent of the federal poverty level.

Singles will get $50 and multi-person households will get $120. The cheques are supposed to arrive before Dec. 31.

Fifteen of 19 chicken companies have settled out of court. Trials remain for three – Foster Farms, House of Raeford and Wayne-Sanderson Farms. 

The court has scheduled the trial for October.

Microbe recipes boost yields

 

Trevor Charles, a microbiologist at the University of Waterloo, has helped three companies develop microbe solutions that boost yields and counter diseases and pests.

The technology involves a combination of DNA analysis of soils and water and then development of a blend of microbes that will complement what has been found.

One example is blends for hydroponic greenhouse operations which typically use ultraviolet light to sterilize growth mediums after a crop is harvested so the new crop can start out cleared of bacterial diseases and pests. The problem is that the sterile medium can also be a welcome place for invading harmful bacteria and pests. 

Healthy Hydroponics will provide a microbial cocktail that is healthy for nurturing the next crop.

Earth Microbial has become popular with golf courses. It takes soil samples to determine the microbial cocktail that will work best for each client.

Metagenom Bio Life Science provides support services, such as DNA analyses. One of its services is testing waste water to identify pathogens, including COVID-19.

Charles is the scientist behind these companies that operate out of shared space in Waterloo.

Charles said he thought clients would come as they learned about the technology and its benefits, but now realizes that business plans are necessary to grow the business.

Consultants at MarketsandMarkets estimate the market will be $4.3 billion a year by 2028. That’s based on a growth rate of 22 per cent per year between now and then.

Vertical farming is a prime market.

Less benefit from advance payments program

The federal government is trimming its support provided through the Advanced Payment Program.

Effective next year, only the first $100,000 of the advanced-payment loans will be interest free. That’s down from $350,000.

The $1 million limit on loans remains in effect.

Farmers who take advantage of the loans have up to 18 months to pay them off.

Chicken prices to increase

Chicken farmers will get a price increase on Jan. 4 when a new cost-of-production formula kicks in.

After negotiations with the Association of Ontario Chicken Processors an agreement was reached to increase the amount for labour by $0.0157 per kilogram, for capital costs by $0.0445 per kilogram an for operating costs by $0.0132 per kilogram.

The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission is slated to bring into force an adjusted farm-gate minimum guaranteed minimum price for the weight category of 2.15 kg to 2.45 kg, effective for quota period A-187, which begins Jan. 4. 

The new price will also include the adjusted producer margin components as well as the feed cost and chick cost components of the cost of production formula.

Farmers could earn carbon credits

A federal government proposal includes an opportunity for farmers who own cattle to earn carbon credits which they could trade or sell to those who need them.

The credits could be earned by reducing methane emissions – farts and belches – by management changes such as rations that reduce emissions or matings to achieve genetics known to lower emissions.

The proposals are open for comment until Feb. 6.

The full proposal is posted online at  an offset protocol, .

More Enoki mushrooms under recall

 

Canadian Foe]od Inspection Agency testing has detected Listeria monocytogenes food-poisoning bacteria in yet another shipment of Enoki mushrooms.

This time it is Golden Mushroom Enoki mushrooms that are under recall.

Do not eat them, said the CFIA.

                           -30-

C-234 ready for House of Commons

 Bill C-234 to exempt the carbon tax on natural gas and propane to dry grains has cleared the Senate and now goes back to the House of Commons.

The Senate made two major exemptions to the bill. The tax will remain on natural gas used to heat barns and greenhouses and the eight-year exemption has been reduced to three years.

The Conservatives oppose both amendments, the Liberals are likely to support them, but the question is how the NDP and Bloc Quebecois Members of Parliament will vote.

There’s also a question about whether the Liberals will try to stall the bill until it expires.