Manure can spread antibiotic resistance

 

Manure can spread antibiotic resistance, but a team from Oklahoma State University thinks it has a solution.

The concern is that antibiotic resistance can spread to other bacteria and pose a threat to animal and human health.

The solution is tiny bubbles of ozone thrust into manure.

Ozone bubbles have long been used to treat sewage, but not as small as the ones now being researched and tested.

Mark Krzmarzick from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and head of the research team said the nanobubbles destroy genetic material.

Even if the bacteria are killed, pieces remain and can spread antibiotic resistance he said.

The research team aims to find out whether nanobubbles of ozone can break that genetic material apart so antibiotic resistance can’t spread.

Farm workforce declines

 

There has been a decline of 52,000 on-farm workers since 2020, reported Statistics Canada.

The total now is 225,000.

Jennifer Wright, executive director of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council said the decline comes from an aging workforce, retirements, lack of young people taking agriculture jobs and competition from employers in other businesses.

She said the decline doesn’t mean there are fewer jobs, but that farmers are having more difficulty recruiting workers.

She said the numbers may also be missing temporary foreign workers, but Statistics Canada’s spokesman defended its survey numbers as consistently reliable and accurate.

The decline is not new. In 1993 the total was 400,000, but the decline has accelerated over the last few years.

Maple Leaf sales increase, profit slumps

Maple Leaf Foods Inc.reported a second-quarter profit of $40.8-million, down from $57.8-million a year ago, as its sales rose 1.6 per cent.

Sales totalled $1.02-billion, up from $1 billion.

Maple Leaf says poultry sales increased by 7.1 per cent, driven by higher volumes, improved channel mix and pricing.

Rainfall emergency in Niagara Region

 

Successive storms have flooded large areas of the Niagara Region leading to emergency declarations and significant farm losses.

Vineyards, orchards and floral farms have been flooded and waters have been slow to recede.

Farm organizations are thanking municipal and provincial governments for assistance, but have a few specific requests.

One is for regulatory approvals for aerial application of fungicides in fields too flooded or wet to support spraying equipment.

The federal government recently approved the use of drones to apply pesticides that have been approved for aerial application.

Another ask is for the extension of foreign workers stay in Canada so they can help with the recovery.

While Niagara Region has too much rain, British Columbia’s grape and wine industry is far too dry and under threat from wildfires.

Wine makers fear that wildfire smoke will taint their products.

Agri Stats settles pork lawsuit

Agri Stats has reached settlements with the remaining pork-industry companies that filed class-action lawsuit alleging price fixing.

They claimed Agri Stats gathered and share information with pork packers that enabled them to adjust production and pricing.

 

Agri Stats has denied wrongdoing but said it settled to contain legal costs.

Numerous pork processors have previously settled claims brought by various purchaser groups in the litigation, leaving Agri Stats as one of the final defendants facing continuing claims.

The private litigation is separate from the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Agri Stats. The company reached a settlement with the DOJ and six states in May requiring changes to how it collects and distributes competitively sensitive information about the meat industry.

No dollar amounts involved in the settlement have been reported.

                           

 

CFIA suspends, cancels licences

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended licences held by Groupe 3CNT Inc. of Chateauguay, Que. and by a business in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

It has cancelled two licences held by companies in Contrecoeur, Que. They are licences 7V7LVWL and 8N6CKY86.

                           

The non-helpful people at CFIA do not identify the company names by which they do business, nor do they allow the public to search its licence registry for the names.

PED outbreak in Huron County

 

There has been an outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in a finishing hog operation in Huron Count, reports Swine Health Ontario.

It is the first outbreak since May 21.