Turkey price-fixing cases closed

A federal judge in Illinois has granted preliminary approval to the final two settlements involving direct purchasers in long-running turkey price-fixing lawsuits. It means court cases scheduled for October trial are not needed.

The lawsuits resulted in the recovery of $130.7 million from processing companies.

The final settlements were with Butterball, Hormel Foods Corp. and Jennie-O Turkey Store. 

The direct-purchaser class alleged that some of the nation’s largest turkey producers conspired to inflate prices by exchanging competitively sensitive information. 

The winners are people and businesses that purchased fresh or frozen uncooked turkey breast, ground turkey or whole-bird turkey products directly from the processing companies between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2016.

Chapman’s spurns American suppliers

Chapman’s Ice Cream is busy replacing suppliers in the United States with ones in Canada and other countries.

It’s Chapman’s response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.

It aims to it replace more than 70 per cent of its American ingredients and won't increase prices for two years -.i.e. to March 2028.

One of the big changes involves sugar cones.

There are no producers of industrial sugar cones in Canada, so the company partnered with Original Foods, a company outside Hamilton, to bring in a cone oven, Chapman said.

“We are going to be the only company in Canada who has a 100 per cent Canadian cone line."

Original Foods Limited will produce the sugar cones for Chapman's. The Dunnville, Ont.-based manufacturer tapped the ice cream retailer a few months ago when trade talks with Canada and the U.S. intensified. 

"We knew there will be opportunities for customers who are currently buying in the U.S. to look for local manufacturing and we approached Chapman's to discuss if they would be interested to buy locally," said president Steeve Tremblay.  

Chapman's is also moving production of wafers used in its ice cream sandwiches to Canada and is sourcing ingredients such as almonds from Australia and cherries from Chile.

 

Chapman said some of the changes are long-term commitments, including the five-year contract for Canadian-made cones.

Chapman’s is also working to make its production more efficient to help control costs, he added.

“I am fully confident that we are going to make it to the other side of this,” Ashley Chapman told CBC Radio London, Ont.

 The company said it will continue to use 100 per cent Canadian dairy in its ice cream. 

I find that generous because I well remember reporting on the difficulties the family had starting its business at Markham and because the milk marketing board ran a plant supply program, it would not supply all the milk Chapman's needed to grow its business.

It's one of a few reasons why I am no fan of milk supply management marketing boards.

CFIA suspends a licence, cancels another

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence held by  G.B. La Référence Inc. of Montreal and has cancelled the licence held by Animals Halal Sano Inc. of Lasalle, Que,

It said G.B. La Référence fell short on the identification of hazards, a preventive control plan, recall procedures and product traceablility.

Animals Halal Sano had its licence suspended in December.

Where's the beef?

Global beef production is expected to decline by two per cent this year, according to Rabobank’s quarterly report on beef.

Rabobank expects production to fall in the United States, Brazil, China and Europe, with the global contraction expected to continue over the next 12 months. The tighter production outlook comes as trade flows shift in response to declining supplies, tariffs and import restrictions.

In the U.S., declining domestic production and historically tight cattle supplies have driven record beef imports. It’s beef imports increased by 11 per cent from a year earlier to a record 3.3 billion pounds during the first six months of 2026. 

Australia, Mexico and Argentina accounted for much of the growth, increasing shipments by 99 million, 91 million and 71 million pounds, respectively.

Cattle and beef prices reached highs across nearly every major U.S. market category during the second quarter before retreating sharply entering the third quarter. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s all-fresh retail beef price peaked at $10 per pound in April, while 500-pound and 800-pound steer prices reached record monthly averages of $5.17 and $3.68 per pound, respectively. Fed steers averaged $2.59 per pound in May.

Since those highs, cattle prices have declined by between8 eight and 16 per cent, reducing farm and ranch revenues by an estimated $200 to $500 per head depending on the market segment, according to Rabobank. 

Ample frozen beef inventories also allowed wholesale buyers to resist additional price increases during the summer grilling season.

International trade shifts could put additional beef into the U.S. market during the second half of the year. 

Australia and Brazil could become increasingly dependent on U.S. buyers as both countries reach safeguard quotas for exports to China.

The Trump administration has also said it is increasing import quotas by 300,000 pounds.

Feds renew innovation funding

 

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) announced that it will award $50-million to the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN).

It enables CAAIN to launch new programming, beginning this fall.

CAAIN will continue to focus on its primary mandate of funding the development and adoption of innovation that increases the productivity, profitability, and/or sustainability of our nation’s agricultural

producers, it said.

Over the past six years, we have committed more than $42M of ISED dollars to 56 projects whose total value exceeds $133M.million said board chair Laura Kilcrease.

Thirty projects have completed their CAAIN funding cycle, a number have successfully gone to market, validating ISED’s and our faith in their

long-term value and effectively providing taxpayers a strong return on investment, a news release said.

“To say we appreciate ISED’s belief in us and what we do would be an understatement. As someone who once farmed, I can’t begin to express the importance of the investments the ISED program allows,” she said.

Lambton has new venue for plowing match

 

The Ontario Plowmen’s Association has secured aa farm owned by Clayton and Linda McLauchlin for the 2027 International Plowing Match and Rural Explo.

It is east of Petrolia in Lambton County.

Earlier this summer, the Lambton County Plowmen’s Association withdrew its offer to host the match.

Then a week later the Ontario Plowmen’s Association said it would go ahead with the match in Lambton County.

The OPA said the Petrolia Line property has the perfect open landscape, easy access, and major operational footprint needed to pull off an event of this scale.

The OPA said it demonstrated the county’s ability to bring together agriculture, innovation, community leadership, and visitors from across Ontario.

The match is to be held Sept. 21 to 25, 2027.

U.S. blames Canada for failed trade talks

In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Canadian side had new requests when Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc returned from Ottawa after the tentative deal was struck on Aug. 18.

"We had agreed to, as I've shared before in the press, really the best deal available to any country on the planet with respect to Canada," Greer told CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton in his first one-on-one interview with a Canadian news outlet since trade talks broke down on Friday. 

"When [LeBlanc] came back, they had some additional views. They had some additional requests. They had some additional things that that were too much for the United States."

Yet when Trump was asked who in the U.S. weighed in with last-minute changes, he said “that sounds like me.”

Animal rights activists face uphill battle

 

With food prices escalating, animal rights groups are fighting an uphill battle to persuade the public to buy the scarce meat products they endorse.

Free-range chickens, pasture-raised pigs and chickens all command significant pride premiums.

A July Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that two-thirds of adults describe groceries as “unaffordable”—up more than 20 points since February and that’s for conventionally-raised meat and eggs.

Animal rights activists have had some success with California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sale of non-cage-free eggs and pork produced with the use of individual maternity pens, but now outdoor access seems to be next.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recently issued a supermarket guide for consumers on what kind of animal protein to buy. 

It only endorsed pasture-based systems, while also admitting that very little animal protein produced today actually meets these requirements. In fact, 99% per cent of poultry doesn’t satisfy it’s standards.

Allowing animal rights activists—many of whom don’t even eat meat—to dictate farming practices is not sustainable for family budgets, wrote Jack Hubbard in an on-line post.

Not everyone can afford expensive Whole Foods grocery carts. Veterinarians and farmers should be calling the shots, he wrote.

Rollins kept in dark

The Trump administration has said it will increase permission to import an extra 300,000 pounds of beef, but its Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, has been cut out the loop and doesn’t know where the beef will come from. 

She said Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and President Donald Trump are handling the situation.

She told farmers that the imports are to make up for the loss of imports from Mexico that have been blocked because of concerns about new world screwworms.

Farmers, ranchers and some of Trump’s own elected Republicans have criticized the extra imports which they say will discourage plans to rebuild the U.S. beef herd.

Somebody should give Trump some farmer advice: why keep a dog and bark, too?

Murray Hunt wins dairy award

 

Murray Hunt has been chosen the 2026 winner of the Dairy Cattle Improvement Industry Distinction Award.

Murray held influential leadership positions with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Holstein Canada, the National Advisory Council for Dairy Animal Improvement, the Canadian Milk Recording Board, the Canadian Association of Animal Breeders and the Canadian Dairy Network (now Lactanet Genetics).

He was instrumental in setting up a sire index to help dairy farmers identify bulls that will improve traits they deemed important for individual cows.

He continued contributing to additional traits on the index over his 40-year career.

 

At Holstein Canada, he modernized the national type classification program, strengthened research partnerships, and helped establish governance.

He took over Huntsdale Holsteins, earning a Master Breeder Shield in 1984.

He also was general manager for an association for Ontario sheep breeders, but sued it for wrongful dismissal. An out-of-court settlement, for which the terms were deemed confidential, was reached in 2015.

National cattle herd growing

The Canadian cow herd grew by 3.2 per cent in the past year, the largest year-over-year increase recorded since 2004.

As of July 1 Canadian cattle inventories totalled 12.1 million head, according to a report by Statistics Canada. This is the second year of increases. The key factors were reduced slaughter numbers increased imports and record-high prices.

The Canadian cattle herd had shrunk to its lowest level since 1989 in early 2024 as drought and scarce feed prompted farmers to cull herds.

 This year’s growth was the result of 5.7 per cent more heifers retained for breeding, 1.9 per cent more beef cows, 1.2 per cent more dairy heifers kept for breeding, 0.9 per cent more dairy cows, 3.8 per cent more feeder heifers and 3.4 per cent more feeder steers and 4.6 per cent more calves.

Canada matches U.S. tariffs on honey, dairy and wool

 

The federal government will match the United States dollar for dollar and product by product with retaliatory tariffs, the federal government announced.

On Saturday, the U.S. imposed 50 per cent tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods after negotiations collapsed.

 

The Canadian tariffs include: 

• Milk, cream and dairy ingredients at 50 per cent.
• Natural honey at 50 per cent.
• Various types of cheese at 25 per cent.
• Molasses at 50 per cent)
• Baking mixes and doughs at 50 per cent.
• Wool products.
• Various types of fish and fish products at 25 per cent)
• Harvesting or threshing machinery —mowers and parts — at 15 to 25 per cent.
• 
  

Many steel and aluminum products are also tariffed, which will hit farm equipment repairs and manufacturers. 

The federal government also announced a $7.5 billion aid package for businesses and workers hit by the U.S. tariffs.

Wilmot land assembly advances

 

Waterloo Region has bought more land for its planned 770-acre industrial park in Wilmot Township, but prices have escalated.

When it started buying in 2024, it paid about $75,000 per acre.

Now it paid $21 million for an 190-acre farm where it recently demolished an old bank barn and home.

And it paid $18 million for another 160-acre farm.

It now has accumulated 620 of the 770 acres it has said it wants.

The costs now add up to more than $55 million.

There has been strong opposition to the project which is backed by the province which wants to have “shovel-ready” sites for companies it tries to interest in locating in Ontario. 

One of the leading critics said he’s not giving up, but another vocal critic is now silent because his children have sold their farm and signed a non-disclosure agreement.

So far no company has said it is interested in locating at the site, but a publication has said it believes Toyota has expressed interest. It has assembly plants in Cambridge and Woodstock.

CFIA suspends a licence

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence held by Deccan Enterprises of Scarborough.

It said the company failed to develop a preventive program and a recall for imported foods.

It said CFIA also cancelled the licence held by The Little Oak Nutrition Company (Canada) Ltd, It is based in New Zealand.

 

Milk flunks quality standards

 

The United States Grade A milk standard allows for milk quality that would not be saleable from Canadian farms, said senior economist Al Mussell of the Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute website.

The U.S. also allows for a significant volume of milk used in processing that does not even meet US Grade A standard, he said.

The U.S. spending cuts to laboratory proficiency testing further undermine the integrity of the US Grade A milk standard, even as it presents a technical barrier to trade, he said.

His policy note describes both important gaps in U.S. milk quality and safety regulation, and the insistence that exporters of dairy products to the U.S. adopt its standards, rather than establish equivalence standards- thereby creating a technical barrier to trade. 

“Canada has been prepared to accept dairy imports from the U.S. as like product.  But the situation has changed- with the suspension of its proficiency testing of milk testing labs and the recent antagonistic approach that the U.S. has taken with Canada”, Mussell said.

“A reasonable and measured approach for Canada could be to require labeling of its dairy imports from the U.S. to indicate that they are not made from milk that does not satisfy U.S. Grade A, a renewal of U.S. funding for milk lab proficiency testing coupled with a serious review of its milk quality standards, and a review of the PMO as an instrument of disguised protectionism by the U.S.”.

Mussell said Canada has a national limit of a somatic cell count of no more than 400,000 per millilitre, but the U.S. allows up to 750,000.

Mussell notes that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been in negotiations with Canada, the European Union and New Zealand to accept their quality standards as equivalent or better than U.S. domestic milk, but so far no agreement has been reached.

He said the U.S. stance is a technical trade barrier.

Mussell’s post on the institute’s website comes as Canadian and U.S. trade negotiators are in tense deadline meetings leading up to an Aug. 19 deadline.

Tyson closing and selling beef plant

s

 

Because there are fewer cattle to slaughter, Tyson plans to close two plants and sell a third.

The company said it will shut down its Joslin, Ill., beef plant and Eagle Mountain, Utah, case-ready facility. Tyson also is pursuing the sale of its Pasco, Wash., beef facility.

Tyson will consolidate its beef business around three centrally located slaughter facilities in Dakota City, Neb., Holcomb, Kan., and Amarillo, Texas. Capacity from the closing facilities will be shifted to other Tyson locations with room for additional production.

Fertilizer prices to remain high

 

CoBank says fertilizer prices are likely to remain high for another two years.

Although prices have declined from the historic highs seen at the start of the war against Iran, elevated fertilizer expenses remain a major headwind for farmers, it said in a new report led by Jacqui Fatka, CoBank’s farm supply and biofuels economist.

Instability in the Middle East, constrained feedstock supplies and tightening phosphate availability will keep fertilizer costs elevated for ag retailers into 2028, she said.

“Ultimately, market recovery will depend on stabilization in the Middle East, lower sulfur prices and shifts in global demand patterns,” she wrote. 

The Middle East supplies more than 60 million tons of fertilizers and raw materials annually, with 45 million tons shipped through the Strait of Hormuz that Iran controls.

Half of globally traded sulfur and more than 30 per cent of global urea exports originate from the region, making these commodities particularly vulnerable to supply disruptions. 

Conflict in the region has resulted in fertilizer plant shutdowns and damaged facilities that will require significant time and resources to repair, she wrote.

An estimated 31 ammonia plants in the Middle East have been directly impacted by the war or shut down completely. Across India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, operations at 49 plants have been curtailed or halted due to limited feedstock availability. Meanwhile, at least 20 plants in Russia have been damaged by Ukrainian drone attacks, further exacerbating global supply challenges.

The disruptions have reshaped global trade flows and increased fertilizer prices for North America’s agricultural retailers, particularly for Diammonium Phosphate and Monoammonium Phosphate. 

While most domestic use is supplied by U.S. production, 17 per cent of those two those phosphate imports originate from the Persian Gulf — now one of the most unstable supply regions.

Phosphate markets are expected to remain especially tight. Even before the war, global phosphate supplies were constrained, and rising sulfur and ammonia costs have further limited production. 

Ammonia and sulfur are the two biggest variable cost inputs for phosphate production, and three of the world’s 10 largest ammonia exporters are located behind the Strait of Hormuz. 

China, the largest producer and exporter of phosphate fertilizer, has banned phosphate exports through August and high sulfur prices may lead to an extension of the ban.

Farmers have already responded by conducting more soil testing, adopting variable‑rate application technology and precision nutrient management to maintain yields. 

Under-fertilization can be more costly than higher fertilizer prices, which is why many farmers have not reduced nitrogen applications but have lowered phosphate and potassium levels by as much as 10 to 15 per cent in recent years.

“Lower or no fertilizer use creates a two‑ to three‑year gap before yield begins to suffer,” said Fatka. “The question now becomes how much longer the mining of the soils can occur without sacrificing yield.”

If fertilizer prices remain high through fall as expected, more farmers may push applications into spring, creating logistical challenges for retailers who must manage tight planting windows and uncertain demand. Lower global application rates could modestly reduce yields and support commodity prices, easing some inventory concerns for retailers, she said.

Whole Foods recalls some imports

 

Whole Food is recalling guacamoles, pico de gallos, salsas, and prepared foods because they may be contaminated with food-;poisoning bacteria.

The products were imported, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency did not say where from.

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.

Gay Lea investing $200 million

Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Ltd. is investing $200 million to expand and modernize cottage cheese production at its facility at Clayson Road in Toronto.

There has been a global surge in demand for protein since people began using GLP drugs to address diabetes and lose weight.

Extra protein is required when using the drugs.

Gay Lea said the expansion will introduce advanced processing technology and modern manufacturing capabilities designed to increase production capacity, strengthen productivity and enhance operational flexibility. 

The expansion, to be complete in 2028, will create up to 75 new positions.

The investment is part of planned investments of $450 million over several years in Gay Lea’s facilities.

                           

Canada Packers reports loss

Canada Packers lost $28.4 milllon in its second fiscal quarter.

A year ago it made a profit of $23.4 million.

Sales declined by 8.8 per cent because pork prices came down. 

The total was $421.7 million this year compared with $473.2 million last year.

There is more pork in the North American market this year – two per cent more market hogs in the United States despite a one per cent decline in the sow herd, and aggressive expansion in Mexico.

The financial report includes a $48.3 million non-cash decrease in fair value of biological assets. 

                            

Saputo sales down, profits up

 

Saputo’s sales declined by 1.5 per cent, but its profits increased by 10.4 per cent.

The surprising results come from increased demand and prices for whey.

Saputo’s global operations are tilted towards cheese production.

False blueberry advertising

A week ago I brought this false advertising to the attention of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Ottawa.

It was referred to the Hamilton office and I was assured they would investigate.

But a week later I had heard nothing. So I reminded the CFIA in Ottawa that I am a reporter, and said it was shaping

 up to be a good storyl

Then I heard from the Hamilton office which asked for most of the same information, including picture, that I had originally sent.

When do you guess I might hear the results of their "investigation"?

They couldn't even be bothered to walk into one of the many Loblaws-owned stores and see for themselves.

If you harvest blueberries for a living, don't count on prompt help from your Canadian Food Inspection 

Agency.

Valo gets egg quota for Sanofi’s vaccine plant

 

Valo has received national and Ontario egg supply management approval for 6,716,666 dozens of eggs, the equivalent of 492,000 laying hens.

Valo will be producing them for Sanofi’s new vaccine production plant at Mississauga.

The Farm Products Council of Canada recently granted its approval for the special annual production. It takes effect Jan. 1.

Valo and/or Sanofi will require annual approvals to continue egg production.

Many farmers lack education

Many Canadian farmers lack education and communication around business risk management programs, according to a study by Farm Management Canada.

That hinders their ability to make use of the programs, it said, and it recommends a national strategy be developed to address these challenges.

“Many producers are unaware, misinformed about or skeptical of the risk management programs and tools available, and underutilize proactive risk management practices,” the report said.

The federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture put business risk management programs at top priority when they recently met at Halifax.

Veggie board chooses new general manager

 

Mark MacPhail is the new general manager for the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers.

He takes over from Keith Robbins.

The board has about 350 members who grow nine main processing vegetable crops that are canned, frozen or pickled.

Province’s Tories oppose ALTO

Eleven provincial Tories have issued a statement calling for meaningful consultation on ALTO, the federal government’s proposed high-speed rail line linking Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

The 11 MPPs who made the statement include Laurie Scott, Steve Clark, Dave Smith, Tyler Allsopp, Ric Bresee, John Jordan, George Darouze, Stéphane Sarrazin and Billy Denault plus two cabinet members: Minister of Colleges and Universities Nolan Quinn and Labour Minister David Piccini.

“If Alto is to proceed, local voices impacted by this project deserve to see their feedback reflected in the project’s planning, route selection and delivery. 

"The federal government must ensure that any potential future rail project minimizes impacts on farmland and is supported by the people affected.” the statement said.

Dairy lobbying overwhelms trade talks

Canada’s dairy industry accounted for 90 per cent of the responses when the federal government invited public comment on trade talks with the United States and Mexico.

Matt Malone is a scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the author of Open Governments, Secret Canada: Hiding Information Other Countries Share, used Access to Information to learn that 4,572 of the total of 5,143 responses from stakeholders were dairy special interest groups or dairy farmers engaged in a letter-writing campaign.

All the public got was an opaque summary of the consultations, leaving it unclear where any specific input came from, Malone said.

“As with so much of the Carney government’s approach to trade with the United States, the attitude was tight-lipped and need-to-know,” he said.

It was similar with comments on government plans to regulate Artificial Intelligence. All the public got was an AI-generated summary of comments and no identification of who was lobbying and what for.

Cargill chief forecasts complex future

 

Cargill’s Brian Sikes, the board chairman and chief executive officer, foresees a complex future.

He wrote a letter in the annual report saying slowing population growth, aging consumers, shifting dietary preferences, geopolitical tensions, artificial intelligence (AI) and climate disruption are reshaping the global food system, requiring companies to focus on “smarter movement, stronger connections and deeper trust” rather than simply increasing production.

Cargill said it has spent the past two years restructuring its operations, consolidating five enterprises into three and reducing its business groups from 23 to 14 while investing in digital technologies, AI capabilities and acquisitions, including Mig-Plus and Teys, to improve efficiency and better serve customers.

As an example of its use of technologies, he said an AI-powered hypothesis engine is helping researchers reduce work that once took months to just hours. Cargill has been using AI in supply chain management, product development, grain forecasting and research.

Turkey price-fixing winding up

 

Class-action lawsuits alleging price-fixing by turkey processing companies in the United States are winding up with federal court approval of a settlement for four companies.

 House of Raeford and Prestage Farms will be paying $18.7 million US to their customers; Purdue and Foster Farmers reached settlements earlier.

In total, $59 million has been paid in class-action lawsuits filed by various groups of customers of Butterball, Cargill, Cooper Farms, Farbest Foods, Foster Farms, Hormel, Jennie-O Turkey Store, House of Raeford, Perdue Farms, Prestage Farms and Tyson Foods.

Corn, soy prices boost farmers’ mood

 

Higher prices for corn and soybeans brought a turn-around in farmers’ moods in the United States, reported Purdue University.

The improvement in July ended three straight months of declines in Ag Economy Monitor it publishes every month based on a survey of about 700 farmers.

Yet only 13 per cent said their financial situation is better than a year ago. About a third of those surveyed said they expect to end the year better than last year.

Only about a half of farmers think the U.S. is headed in the right direction, a sharp decline from the 70 per cent average for the last six months.