The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has lifted a quarantine in an area in Strathroy-Caradoc municipality where a turkey flock was hit by highly-pathogenic avian influenza. It’s the second quarantine zone in the area of turkey farms that has been lifted.
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Quarantine lifted in Strathroy-Caradoc
Friday, February 13, 2026
Moonfleet wins another appeal
Moonfleet Poultry Inc. of Harriston has notched another appeal tribunal victory over the Canadian Food Inspection Agency which was trying to impose a $10.000 fine.
Patrician Farnese of the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal ruled that a chicken that died on route to the slaughter plant could have suffered because of a number of causes besides a damaged crate cited by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
There was a two-hour delay on the trip to the packing plant because of a mechanical breakdown.
Moonfleet handled loading of 5488 chickens into 784 crates.
Laplante Poultry Farms Inc. handled the transportation.
Moonfleet won two tribunal victories against the. Canadian Food Inspection Agency in October.
U.S. scraps vehicle emissions standards
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has scrapped its vehicle emissions standards and a 2009 study that outlined the dangers the emissions pose.
Lee Zeldin , head of the EPA, called it the “single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history” and said it will save consumers $1.3 trillion.
EPA is eliminating both the 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond. The action also eliminates all off-cycle credits, including for the start-stop feature.
“EPA’s historic move restores consumer choice, makes more affordable vehicles available for American families, and decreases the cost of living on all products by lowering the cost of trucks,” EPA said in a release.
Former President Barack Obama said the announcement means “we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.”
Cargill closes Minneapolis plant
Cargill said it is closing its meat-packing plant in Minneapolis.
Makes me wonder it ICE seized too many of its employees.
U.S. scraps vehicle emissions standards
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has scrapped its vehicle emissions standards and a 2009 study that outlined the dangers the emissions pose.
Lee Zeldin , head of the EPA, called it the “single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history” and said it will save consumers $1.3 trillion.
EPA is eliminating both the 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond. The action also eliminates all off-cycle credits, including for the start-stop feature.
“EPA’s historic move restores consumer choice, makes more affordable vehicles available for American families, and decreases the cost of living on all products by lowering the cost of trucks,” EPA said in a release.
Former President Barack Obama said the announcement means “we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.”
Meanwhile, an audit in Canada said governments last year missed every emissions-reduction goal they announced.
Thursday, February 12, 2026
Kraft-Heinz split shelved
The new boss for Kraft-Heinz has shelved plans to split the company and is instead implementing a plan he hopes will fix it.
Chief executive officer Steve Cahillane took over in January and said he believes many of its problems can be fixed.
“My number one priority is returning the business to profitable growth, which will require ensuring all resources are fully focused on the execution of our operating plan. As a result, we believe it is prudent to pause work related to the separation, and we will no longer incur related dis-synergies this year.”
The previous plan was to spin off some businesses, including Oscar Meyer and its lunchables brand,
He will invest $600 million across marketing, sales and research and development.
Ten years ago Kraft and Heinz were merged for $46 billion.
But then U.S. sales declined and it took writedowns on several iconic brands including Oscar Mayer.
The company has now reported fourth-quarter earnings that were down by nearly 60 per cent and sales down by 3.4 per cent.
Warren Buffet orchestrated the merger in which he holds controlling interest, but turned over management to partner 3G Capital from Brazil which had a track record or cutting costs immediately after purchasing a company. That would boost short-term profits, but then result in a decline in sales.
Tim Horton’s chain is another of its acquisitions and there, too, the leaders from Brazil cut costs by dismissing a majority of its top and mid-level managers.
Its Restaurant Brands Inc. also owns Burger King, Popeye’s and YUM! Brands which in turn owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.
Hog diseases continue to pop up
There have been outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in finisher bans in Huron County and Haldimand-Norfolk and of porcine deltacoronavirus in a finisher barn in Huron County, reported Swine Health Ontario.
More protein, less fat wanted in milk
Milk marketing boards in Eastern Canada have announced another adjustment in milk pricing to favour protein and discourage fat.
This change is to take effect on April 1. A similar adjustment came into effect Jan. 1.
The Ontario milk marketing board said the April 1 change increases the price for SNF (solids, not fat) by $2 and reduces the price for butterfat by $1.80.
The Jan. 1 change had little impact, but after April 1 observers said they expect dairy farmers will react by changing rations.
U.S. farm leaders support CUSMA
A group of 40 leading agricultural organizations in the United States has told U.S. President Donald Trump that it wants the free trade deal with Canada and Mexico to continue.
The group representing farmers, ranchers, food producers and processors has launched what it calls the Agricultural Coalition for USMCA (the American acronym for the three-way trade deal).
The campaign, which includes advertising, research and lobbying, puts a heavy emphasis on how the agreement has boosted jobs and revenue in the U.S. agriculture industry. The targets include members of Congress, senior White House officials and U.S. President Donald Trump.
However, the U.S. dairy industry continues to lobby for changes in trade with Canada, including administration of tariff-reduced permits so they no longer go mainly to Canadian dairy processing companies and curbs on Canadian exports of milk ingredients at reduced prices.
On another front, Congress passed a bill calling for an end to some of Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
It means little because it would need approval from the Senate and then Trump’s signature. If he refuses to sign, it would need two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate to become law.
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Farm Credit boosts funding for innovators
Farm Credit Canada has lined up 20 investors to support innovators.
FCC is putting up $325 million in new capital this fiscal year, the lender said in a news release. The 20 investors will be partners.
It said the cash will “bring new innovation to Canadian farmers through investments in innovative Canadian businesses, construction and project finance opportunities, and early-stage ag-tech companies.”
Last year it said it will offer $2 billion for investments over five years into agriculture technology innovation.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Sunterra kited cheques
Alberta judge had harsh words for Sunterra Farms Ltd. for kiting cheques between its Alberta and United States hog businesses, resulting in $35 million in losses for lender Compeer Financial PCA.
He also found president Ray Price guilty.
In a Thursday statement, Price said, “I want to be very clear about one thing: at no time did I personally benefit from the matters currently before the court, nor was there ever any intention to do so.”
All decisions, he said, were made “with the goal of sustaining the business, protecting employees and preserving a food system that supports thousands of Canadian and U.S. families.
“There were no hidden accounts, no personal enrichment and no diversion of funds for individual use.
"Any suggestion otherwise fundamentally misrepresents who I am and how I have conducted myself throughout my career,” Price said.
For a short time Sunterra owned a hog-packing plant in Clinton which was started by the Terpstra family which declared it bankrupt.
Feds add $75 million for food businesses
Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald announced $75 million will be on offer over five years to small and medium-sized food and fisheries businesses to seek new export markets.
The money goes to two programs announced in 2023 when $125 million was offered.
MacDonald made the announcement at an annual policy breakfast hosted by Food and Beverage Canada on the national Agriculture Day.
MacDonald said commodities affected by trade barriers will get priority: canola, pulses, pork, fish and seafoods.
The two programs are the AgriMarketing and Market Diversification for National Industry and the Market Diversification for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
He defended closing 17 research facilities.
Closing the facilities was a matter of aligning and co-ordinating the federal food strategy, he said.
A number of the centres were operating with overhead and maintenance costs of 50 to 60 per cent, he said, and others were conducting research no longer in line with Ottawa’s vision for Canadian agriculture, such as deforestation.
“I’ll put it bluntly,” he said. “The mandate we ran on was spend less and invest more. This is spending less on infrastructure and more in science and research.”
Ostrich farm wins appeal
Universal Ostrich Farm of British Columbia has won an appeal against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, relieving it of a conviction and $10,000 fine.
The company did, however, lose all of its approximately 300 ostriches which the CFIA shot to prevent the spread of highly-infectious avian influenza that had infected some birds in the flock about two years earlier.
It took two years for the CFIA to overcome appeals and court cases so it could carry out its orders.
But it lost its case for the $10,000 fine and failure to comply with CFIA orders because Patricia Farnese of the of the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal ruled that it did not property deliver a personal notice of violation of its orders.
Farnese did not rule on a number of other issues the lawyer for the ostrich farm raised.
It argued that the NOV (notice of violation) was unfair because the conditions they were alleged to have breached were designed for quarantining poultry and were either impractical or ineffective when dealing with ostriches.
Universal also claimed that the conditions imposed to prevent wild birds from coming into contact with the ostriches, their feed and water were either impossible or impractical.
Finally, they argued that the NOV is unjust because the continuation of the quarantine order was unwarranted. It said its ostriches were no longer dying of avian influenza.
Pork research payback is eight-fold
Farmers and the Canadian public garner $8 in returns for every dollar invested in pork-industry research, according to economist Dr. Stuart Smyth of the University of Saskatchewan.
He was commissioned by Swine Innovation Porc to undertake the study of investments in pork-industry research.
He delved into more than 70 research projects funded in part by Swine Innovation Porc between 2010 and 2023.
The assessment estimates that pork research during the 15-year period generated approximately $225 million in total economic benefits for the Canadian economy.
Leading the results was improvements in feed efficiency.
Nova Scotia joins EastGen
The Nova Scotia Animal Breeders (NSAB) Co-operative members have voted 98 per cent in favour of joining EastGen.
The deal will take effect June 1.
It ends a 40-year relationship with CIAQ of Quebec - Centre d’insémination artificielle du Québec.
“The relationship between NSAB and CIAQ has been a cornerstone of our industry,” said Reg Dillman, chairman of the Nova Scotia board of directors. “We are forever grateful for the collaboration with CIAQ that allowed us to achieve so much.”
The Nova Scotia co-op will establish a Legacy Fund dedicated to supporting Canadian ruminant agricultural programs with a specific emphasis on youth, ensuring the co-operative’s 80-year history leaves a lasting impact on the next generation of farmers.
Monday, February 9, 2026
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.
Friday, February 6, 2026
Quarantine zone lifted
The first of several quarantine sones established around turkey farms in Strathroy-Caradoc has been lifted.
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.
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Nitrogen leaf spray unveiled
Tidal Grow AgriScience has announced a nitrogen product that can be sprayed on leaves to boost yields of canola, corn and wheat.
The company said the technology results in maximum crop uptake of 18-0-0 fertiluizer.
“Canadian growers now have a new way to protect their precious fertilizer investments,” said Norm Davy, president and chief commercial officer for Tidal Grow AgriScience.
The company said trials it conducted indicate wheat yields can be increased by 22 per cent and canola by 10 per cent and improve net returns by $15 to $35 per acre.
AGCO sales, profits slump
AGCO reported a 10 per cent decline in tractor sales and 27 per cent decline for combines in North America last year.
In dollars, sales in North America were down by 7.8 per cent,
But Eric Hansolia put a brave face in the financial report, saying “AGCO delivered strong fourth quarter results . . .”, reduced dealer inventories and gained market share.
Sales were also down in its divisions for Brazil and Western Europe.
The outlook for this year is for production and sales to hold steady.
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Strychnine denied registration
Grain Growers of Canada is disappointed that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency has denied emergency use registration for two per cent liquid strychnine to Alberta and Saskatchewan and is seeking a reconsideration.
Grain growers in Alberta and Saskatchewan wanted to use it to rid fields of gophers that are destroying crops.
Grain Growers of Canada said it recognizes the importance of strong environmental and health protections, but said the Pest Management Regulatory Agency should also ground its decisions in sound science and reflect on-farm realities.
“Farmers are responsible stewards of the land and depend on practical, effective pest-management tools to maintain sustainable production and protect Canada’s food supply.” Grain Growers of Canada said.
It said the application included enhanced stewardship measures, targeted application windows, and additional safeguards to mitigate risks to non-target species.
It said that by rejecting this request, the current regulatory approach disregards both on-farm realities and the need to maintain agricultural competitiveness and food system resilience.
In its request for reconsideration, it noted that there is a Prime Minister’s initiative to make regulations more sensitive to the needs of the economy.
Land market cooled
The red-hot market for farm land cooled off last year, according to the annual report from Valco Consultants.
Ryan Parker, who wrote the report, said some farms listed for sale did not find a buyer, particularly south-west of London and along the shore of Lake Erie.
He said some of that is sellers asking for prices that were too high and another part was lower profits from crops.
Prices remain highly variable by location.
His report said:
- $27, 258 – average per acre value across all 11 counties in 2025 compared with $6,000 in 2010.
- $38,000 – average per acre value in Perth and Oxford.
- $20,000 – average per acre value in Essex County.
- 10.7 per cent – average annual value change from 2010 to 2025.
- 2.7 per cent – overall value increase from 2024 to 2025.
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Kimberly Earls heads Rural Ontario Institute
Kimberly Earls heads Rural Ontario Institute
Kimberly Earls has been chosen executive director of the Rural Ontario Institute.
She has worked in the business community in Norfolk County and served on a number of provincial and federal advisory boards.
She has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Western Ontario and teaches at Fanshawe College.
She takes over from Gabe Ferguson who has been acting executive director.
Farmers’ confidence shaken
Farmers’ confidence is being shaken by lower profits, according to the monthly survey conducted by Purdue to calculate its Ag Economy Barometer.
Farm sentiment dropped sharply in January – by 23 points to 113.
Half of the farmers said their financial conditions have worsened from a year ago and 30 per cent believe things will worsen this year.
Producers reported worsening financial conditions compared to a year ago, with half indicating operations were worse off. Thirty percent expect Operating loans are rising, often due to carryover debt from prior years, signaling increasing financial pressure, the report said.
Concerns about U.S. agricultural exports also grew, particularly for soybeans, with competition from Brazil weighing heavily on producers.
Five named to Hall of Fame
Five people will be added to the Ontario Agriculture Hall of Fame in June.
They are Senator Rob Black, Scott Graham, Brian O’Connor, and the late Dr. Helen Fisher and the late Percy Hodgetts.
Black is chairman of the Senate’s committee on agriculture. He was named a senator after serving as the founding chief executive officer of the Rural Ontario Institute, program director for the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program and transitioning 4-H Ontario into an independent charitable organization.
O’Connor is EastGen’s founding general manager which he helped create by merging Gencor with Eastern Breeders Inc.
At Gencor he set up Gencor Foods to take over a Kitchener beef-packing plant to provide a market for cull cows which were banned from their traditional markets in the United States because bovine spongiform encephalopathy turned up in Alberta. He also used EastGen to support the revival of Thornloe Cheese. Both businesses subsequently folded.
Scott Graham was chairman of Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board and was instrumental in developing an egg quality assurance program and a quota transfer system. He became a marketing board director when his father retired.
Dr. Helen Fisher helped Ontario grape growers to transition vineyards from labrusca to vinifera grapes which have earned an international reputation for wine excellence.
Percy Hodgetts spent 41 years at Ontario’s Department of Agriculture and 35 as the first director of the Ontario Fruit Branch, transforming household orchards into a thriving commercial industry. He was Ontario’s first specialized apiarist and entomologist and he establishment the Horticultural Experimental Station at Vineland.
He standardized box packing, cold-storage infrastructure, and “Big O” brand, conducted many training programs, provided growers with vital knowledge and laid a strong foundation for the industry’s resilience and adaptability even during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Ostrich cull costly
The ostrich case cost taxpayers $6,810,846, health reporter André Picard has found.
The farm, in comparison, was fined $10,000 as it stubbornly refused to sacrifice the flock in British Columbia where highly-pathogenic avian influenza infected some of the birds.
A billionaire in the United States footed the ostrich owners’ legal bills.
The flock was finally euthanized early this year.
Picard wrote that “the important number that doesn’t get mentioned is what the cost of inaction would have been: the threat to Canada’s $6.8-billion poultry industry. Failure to cull an infected flock could be a violation of trade agreements, and put $1-billion in exports at risk.
In that context, $6.8-million was money well spent. Doing the right thing, no matter how unpopular, often comes at a steep price.
Monday, February 2, 2026
Turkey agency allow Ontario more quota
The national agency for turkeys has increased Ontario’s quota for exports from 1.8 to 1.87 million kilograms.
The Farm Products Council of Canada has approved the increase.
The council also approved an increase in per diem and meal allowances for directors of the national chicken agency. The per diem rate for the chairman increases from $585 to $595 and for directors from $440 to $450. The meals allowance increases from $90 to $100 per day.
The national agency for hatching eggs received council approval to increase its levy from 0.0034 to 0.0038 per chick. In Ontario, the combined provincial and national levies are now 0.0051 per chick.
The hatching agency and chicken agency plans to increase production both received council approval.
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Sex matters in pigs’ survival
Gilts survive better than barrows, according to research by Adam Moeser, a professor at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Much of that traces to early gut development and stresses at weaning that result in persistent leaky gut, chronic low-grade inflammation and altered enteric nervous system function, which increases disease risk, he found.
Females exhibit a stronger immune response but are more prone to chronic inflammatory disorders. He said research has shown that females typically have higher survivability rates than males, with males dying at a disproportionately higher rate from infection compared with females. That’s likely due to a more robust immune response in female pigs.
A weakness for gilts because when there are chronic and unrelenting stressors, female pigs are more prone to chronic pain and inflammation disorders.
“That may give them a trade-off for survivability versus chronic disease,” Moeser said.
A conservative estimate suggests there’s a two to four per cent higher mortality rate in castrated males. That puts a big dent in potential profits.
For decades, Dr. James Squires of the University of Guelph has been researching boar taint which results in an objectionable odour when boar pork is cooked. If ie succeeds, castration would no longer be necessary.
Moeser said “If we can understand the biology, what’s really different between a male and a female, maybe we can come up with some new interventions, or targeted strategies, or sex-specific strategies, that can put a dent in this health disparity.”
Friday, January 30, 2026
U.S. farmers sell soybeans, hold corn and wheat
CoBank said its data and analyses indicate farmers have sold more soybeans than this time a year ago, but are holding on to wheat and corn.
Some of those holdings are in commercial storage, but awaiting deferred pricing and sales.
“CoBank’s data reveals that farmers have been patient sellers of corn and wheat,” said Tanner Ehmke, lead grains and oilseeds economist with CoBank.
“Any material increase in corn and wheat prices will likely be met with heavier selling pressure compared to soybeans, which already experienced a higher level of farmer selling last fall.
“The increase in on-farm storage for corn implies there is more corn in the countryside also waiting to be priced, which will pressure both flat price and basis,”he said.
McWilliam’s term extended
Cameron McWilliam of Dutton has been appointed to a two-year term as vice-president of the Farm Products Marketing Commission.
McWilliam has served as a commission member since 2019, is an active turkey, beef cattle, and cash crop producer and former reeve of Elgin County.
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Cheap farmland rents near Toronto
In York Region, for example, rental rates in 2024 were only $75 an acre compared with $360 an acre in Huron County, even though sale prices in York averaged $55,000 an acre and in Huron County $25,000 in 2024.
Rental rates averaged $100 an acre in Peel Region while sale prices averaged $75,000 an acre, the highest in the province.
PED in Huron finisher barn
Swine Health Ontario has reported an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in a finisher barn in Huron County.
Tyson pays $48 million for pork price-fixing
Tyson Foods will pay $48 million to settle a price-fixing class-action lawsuit filed by indirect buyers of its pork.
The Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs said the proposed deal with Tyson Foods Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods Inc. and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. included cash payments and cooperation terms as the case neared trial.
Plaintiffs said Tyson also agreed to help authenticate Tyson documents for use at trial and to provide the settling plaintiffs the same access to potential trial witnesses that Tyson provided to non-settling defendants.
The pork cases alleged major pork producers conspired to constrain supply and fix prices beginning in 2009, including by exchanging competitively sensitive information through Agri Stats benchmarking reports. Plaintiffs said they and other class members paid artificially inflated prices for pork during the class period
The settlement would cover entities that indirectly purchased uncooked pork bacon or raw pork cuts including loins, shoulder, ribs, hams or pork chops for use in commercial food preparation from June 28, 2014, through June 30, 2018.
Heavy snow collapses barn rooves
At least two dozen broiler and turkey houses in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley were damaged or entirely collapsed in the aftermath of the weekend storm that dumped an unusually heavy snowfall topped by a thick glazing of ice, the Virginia Poultry Federation said.
CFIA secures convictions
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has secured convictions against Roger Snow and company 299614 Alberta Ltd.
The first offence was for the obstruction or hindering of a CFIA inspector by failing to provide requested information.
The second conviction was for advertising hemp hearts in a manner that suggested it was Health Canada-licenced which was false.
China already bought 10 boatloads of canola
Chinese importers have already bought at least 10 boatloads of Canadian canola cargoes following Prime Minister Mark Carney recent visit to China where he announced China’s tariffs on Canadian canola, oil and meal will end March 1 and that Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese electrical vehicles into Canada at about six per cent tariff instead of the 100 per cent tariff that went into place after the U.S. placed a similar tariff on Chinese
Each boat will carry about 65,000 tonnes of canola.
“It is easy to get Canadian canola into the Chinese market. Crushers have gone ahead and booked these cargoes,” said one of the sources at an international agricultural company told Reuters news agency.
CFIA cuts imperil food safety
The Canadian Agriculture Union said cutting 1,371 jobs at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency imperils food safety.
The union represents 4,500 of the approximately 6,400 CFIA employees.
“More people will get sick from preventable food-borne illnesses, more poultry and livestock will die from avian flu and other diseases, and our food production industry will suffer,” said union president Milton Dyck.
The union said staffing at CFIA has declined by three per cent in the last decade compared to the a 30 per cent increase in the federal public service.
United States president Donald Trump’s administration also made big cuts to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Dyck said that puts the quality of imported food in doubt.
Dyck said food recalls rose by 150 per cent in the last decade. Many of the recalls are the result of CFIA testing for food-poisoning bacteria and undeclared allergens.
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
PED up in Ontario, down in Manitoba
While Ontario is experiencing new outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus weekly, Manitoba has cut its outbreaks to only four last year after challenges in 2017, 2019 and 2021-22.
The Manitoba pork producers’ association credits a sustained focus on biocontainment and practical biosecurity.
Biosecurity is measures taken to keep diseases out of barns. Biocontainment is measures taken to prevent disease spreading inside barns.
According to Jenelle Hamblin, director of swine health fo® Manitoba Pork, the improvement reflects the success of the province’s PED elimination plan, particularly its prevention pillar.
Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach, farms worked closely with veterinarians to identify site-specific improvements, with particular emphasis on entry and exit protocols—how people, equipment, and materials move onto and off the farm.
A key priority, Hamblin explains, was ensuring biosecurity protocols were sustainable and practical, allowing staff to follow them consistently without adding unnecessary complexity to daily operations.
One of the most impactful shifts has been a stronger emphasis on biocontainment.
By practicing biocontainment measures every day—regardless of whether a disease is present—farms are better positioned to respond immediately if an infection does occur. Hamblin said that having biocontainment protocols already in place before disease detection significantly reduces the risk of inadvertently spreading infection within or between sites.
This proactive approach helps limit disease movement during the most critical early stages, when risks are often highest.
Hamblin said the measurable reduction in PED cases has reinforced confidence across the sector and motivated producers and staff to continue strengthening biosecurity and biocontainment practices.
The experience in Manitoba highlights how consistent, practical biosecurity—supported by industry coordination and veterinary collaboration—can deliver long-term disease control results, even for pathogens that have historically caused recurring challenges, said Manitoba Pork.
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