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.