Vine crusher reduces weed pressure

Tests indicate that potato harvesting equipment designed to crush vines also crushes bugs and larger-sized weed seeds, thereby reducing insect and weed pressure on crops planted on the same field the following year.,

But it does not eliminate the need for herbicide sprays to control weeds and sprays or other methods to control bugs such as Colorado potato beetles.

Seed size played a role in how consistently the crusher worked, federal agriculture departmrnt researcher McKenzie-Gopsill said. 

“It’s actually on springs, so that if a large piece of debris (such as a rock) moves through it… it allows the rollers to move out of the way to accommodate that.”

Haverkamp term extended

 

Samantha Haverkamp has had her directorship on the Farm Products Council of Canada extended by three years.

The council oversees national marketing agencies for chickens, eggs, turkeys and hatching eggs and promotion agencies for beef and pork.

Haverkamp has been chair of the Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg Producers Association since 2022 and has a seat on the Poultry Industry Council’s board of directors.

JBS increases global reach

JBS is paying $150 million US for 80 per cent of a meat-packing business in Oman in the Middle East.

The deal opens the door for JBS to process local chickens and source lamb and beef from countries in Africa and the Middle East.

JBS is already the world’s largest meat packer and in Canada owns the former XL Packers beef-packing plant in Alberta.

 JBS chief executive officer Gilberto Tomazoni said the purchase enables the company to use the facilities in Oman as a hub for accessing other markets.

“We will continue investing because we have built a platform here.”

JBS is also expanding its poultry production in Saudi Arabia, which borders Oman.

JBS has been busy recently selling its half ownership of Jack Link’s in Brazil, a $70 million US investment in poultry iin Paraguay and controlling shareholder Wesley Batista said the European meat-packing industry is ripe for takeovers because it is fragmented.

OECD inflation rate 3.7 per cent

 

Inflation rates came in at 3.7 per cent in December for countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Canada’s rate was higher than that because a tax break the previous year was no longer in effect.

Canada’s food inflation also continued to rise whereas it held steady in Europe.

The report contains a number of qualifiers on United States figures which used to be reported by the federal labour department, but which President Donald Trump gutted because he didn’t like the numbers.

Quarantine zone lifted

 

The first of several quarantine sones established around turkey farms in Strathroy-Caradoc has been lifted.

Outbreaks of avian influenza prompted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to order the turkeys euthanized and they established the quarantine zones which restricted traffic in and out of a circle around the infected premises.

Juilie Henderson named manager at OSCIA

Julie Henderson has been appointed general manager at the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.

She will be the organization’s link to the board of directors and will lead a team of four department heads.

Gabriella Visontai Perry will be the director of IT(Information Technology) and shared services. 

Nicole Mackellar will be the director of member services and business development.

Two directors remain to be named: director of programs and a director of research and knowledge transfer. 

The changes come as a result of a two-year organization review.

The OSCIA administers a number of government programs dealing with soils and crops.

                           

Julie Henderson

Beef leaders not consulted on Lacombe closure

The Beef Cattle Research Council was not consulted before the federal agriculture department announced it will close the research station at Lacombe, Alta.

It did research on cattle and pastures and on hog genetics, rations and management.

Dr. Howard Fredeen, who developed the Lacombe hog breed, was among high-profile researchers who worked there.

Reynold Bergen, science director with the Beef Cattle Research Council, said “we weren’t consulted, but we were kind of expecting that the votes of confidence we have put in in the past based on past funding decisions or funding investments in these programs would indicate where our priorities are and those priorities don’t line up with the decisions that have been made here.

Bergen said the news has caused uncertainty because they don’t know which researchers will be retained and where they will be moved.