Danish Crown cutting staff

Danish Crown, one of the major competitors for Canadian pork packers in export markets, is cutting costs by laying off about 500 staff.

"Danish Crown is in the midst of a crisis and we are facing radical changes. Our costs are simply too high in relation to our earnings," said chief executive officer Niels Duedahl.

"We are now adapting our organization and focusing 100 per cent on our core business to ensure a better payment to the farmers who own Danish Crown," he said.

In April it announced it will close one of its major slaughterhouses and lay off nearly 1,200 employees by mid-September.

Danish crown said at the time that the number of pigs sent for slaughter has dropped significantly since 2021, making it necessary to streamline production in order to pay Danish farmers a competitive price for their pigs.

Cash croppers in a squeeze

 

Cash cropper margins could be the worst in 20 years, according to a writer for the AgWeb news site.

“The margins that farmers are facing on average are really a tough place to be in for 2022 to 2024,” said Krista Swanson, lead economist for the National Corn Growers Association. 

“According to  USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), the cost to produce corn dropped five per cent, but the price was down by 37 per cent.

“And when we look at those average numbers from the USD, looking at cost of production for corn prices and yield, that comes out to average losses of $125 per acre.”

USDA’s revised Net Farm Income projections, released in early September, show net cash farm income for the 2024 calendar year will fall by $12 billion, which is down about seven per cent from 2023, and net farm income will fall by $6.5 billion or 4.4 per cent. 

This is compared to projections released in February which suggested net farm income would fall by 26 per cent.

Beef prices and margins are much higher, but not enough to offset the grim news for cash cropping.

Tractor and combine sales tumble

Tractor sales in Canada were down by 24 per cent in September from a year ago and combine sales by 52 per cent.

In the United States, tractor sales were down by 19 per cent and combine sales by 51 per cent, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

AGCO announced layoffs at its facility at Hesston, Kansas.

Beef and egg prices still rising

 Food prices continued to rise faster than the overall Consumer Price Index in September, led by beef, up by 9.2 per cent, eggs up by five per cent and fats and oils up by 7.8 per cent.

The food price index rose by 2.2 per cent while the Consumer Price Index came in at 1.6 per cent, the lowest increase since 2021.

The food price index has risen by 21.7 per cent in three years.

Gasoline prices were down by 10.7 per cent from a year ago.

                          

 Question: How does supply management for eggs lead to price increases greater than CPI?

Avian flu returns to Utah

 

Highly-pathogenic avian influenza returned to Utah, resulting in the culling of 1.8 million chickens on one farm in Cache County.

For comparison, there are about 24.6 million laying hens in Ontario.

There was another recent outbreak that affected 62,800 birds in California, the first outbreak in that state since January.

Avian influenza has also infected the sixth person stricken in the United States; he was working with dairy cattle.

Canada Packers brand name returns

 

Maple Leaf Foods is bringing back the Canada Packers brand for its premium meats that will be processed from animals and poultry that meet standards for environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety.

Canada Packers merged with Maple Leaf Mills to become Maple Leaf Foods in 1991.

Maple Leaf later bought J.M. Schneiders from Smithfield Foods in 2003.

“We’re not just celebrating our heritage, we’re leading the way for the future of pork and poultry production, both at home and globally,” Swinex quotes Michael McCain which it identified as chief executive officer.

Except he’s no longer ceo. It’s Curtis Frank.

And Dennis Organ will be ceo of Canada Packers.

Avian flu spreading in California dairy herds

 

Highly-pathogenic avian influenza has spread to 93 dairy herds in California, but dairy industry officials are uncertain what it means for milk supplies.

Usually the disease in cattle is mild, but is deadly to poultry. It is turning out to be more serious among cattle than previously thought.

California has about 1,100 dairy herds and 1.7 million cows which account for about 20 per cent of the U.S. milk supply.

State and federal health authorities insist that H5N1 poses little threat to humans and that it is safe to drink milk that has been pasteurized, because the process kills the virus.

However, dairy farmers and veterinarians are reporting far greater rates of mortality among infected herds than anticipated and steep drops in the rate of milk production among recovered cows. 

At the same time, some epidemiologists fear that as the virus spreads among California farms, it greatly increases the odds that it can mix with a human virus and create a health threat for people.

“I was shocked the first time I encountered it in one of my herds,” said Maxwell Beal, a Central Valley-based veterinarian who has been treating infected herds in California since late August. 

“It was just like, wow. Production-wise, this is a lot more serious than than we had hoped. And health-wise, it’s a lot more serious than we had been led to believe.”