Maple Leaf Foods solidly profitable

After years of major changes and losses, Maple Leaf Foods appears to be on solid ground and turning profits.

Disclosure: I own some Maple Leaf shares.

 

Its first-quarter report features net earnings of $42.3 million compared with a loss of $2.5 million a year ago. It’s the second quarter of much-improved earnings.

President and chief executive officer Michael McCain says "the first quarter was a milestone for Maple Leaf, as we delivered on our financial target and commitment to shareholders that we would build a sustainably more profitable company.

"Our company and board took the longer-term view of value creation.”

The company sold its Canada Bread division, its Shur Gain and Landmark feed businesses, its hog-packing plants, including the one in Burlington, its Rothsay Concentrates rendering business, its turkey farms, quota and processing plant, its chicken-processing plant in Cambridge and closed almost all of its meat-processing plants, including the huge Schneider Corp. plant in Kitchener.

It built a huge meat-processing plant in Hamilton and a distribution centre near Highway 401 south of Guelph.

McCain said “today I am proud that our transformation, one of the largest in the North American food industry, is delivering the financial goals that we set back in 2010.

“This reflects the perseverance of many thousands of people, who with single-minded purpose executed a complex and far reaching strategy. Our accomplishment is a tribute to them."

Maple Leaf was galvanized into delivery of its plans when an activist shareholder took a huge stake in the company and demanded representation on the board of directors. After a few months, the investor agreed with McCain’s plan.

"Maple Leaf Foods bears little resemblance to the company we were in 2010,' says McCain.

“It is stronger. It is globally competitive. It is at the leading edge of innovation. It is building a sustainable future. And we are committed to making the next chapter as rewarding as the last."

Massive recall of frozen foods

CRF Foods of Pasco, Washington, has announced a massive recall of frozen organic and traditional fruits and vegetables that impacts huge food-processing companies, including McCain Foods of New Brunswick.

The recall is for all frozen products processed at the plant since May 1, 2014, and with best-before dating of April 26 this year and April 26, 2018.

The list of products and companies is many pages long.

The company says it issued a news release “to alert consumers not to eat these products.”

The issue is Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

A list of products and companies is on Dr. Doug Powell’s service: barfblog.com .

Fungicide ban looms

Fruit and vegetable growers are at risk of losing their most effective fungicides almost immediately and soon after that many other significant pesticides.

The federal government’s Pest Management Review Agency is reviewing registrations now and Craig Hunter is urging growers to take the time and trouble to complete a survey organized by the Canadian Horticultural Council.

The deadline is May 15.

 

Hunter is one of Canada’s most knowledgeable farmer advocates on pesticide issues and works for the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.

The government re-evaluation system is based on an accumulation of risk points.

Hunter is drawing particular attention to the 25 points that are automatically assigned for worker exposure to plant surfaces that have been sprayed.

He lists the many common practices that have changed in the 30 years since those automatic 25 points were assigned. 

If farmers can demonstrate that exposures have declined, it could make a significant difference, perhaps lowering the scores to about five, Hunter says in his regular column published in The Grower newspaper for fruit and vegetable growers.

For example, workers no longer go into fields for hand weeding, precision planters means they no longer go in to thin crops, modern irrigation systems mean they don’t go in to move pipes, tractors have cabs with charcoal filters and often only a percentage of harvests are done by hand.

Orchard pruning and grapevine training are done before leaves emerge and spraying begins.

Modern gloves are much more comfortable and protective than 30 years ago. 

“All of these factors are important on every horticultural product we grow,” writes Hunter.

“That is because data may be needed to defend the continued use and reasonable re-entry times for scouting or harvest activities for virtually every pesticide we use.”

Hunter ends his column: “We are at bat and we need a home run. Please. Can you help hit the ball out of the park?”

Europe-U.S. trade talks tough

There is strong farmer opposition in Europe to a free trade deal with the United States, leading to speculation the negotiations will fail.

Farmers say a deal would sell out European restrictions on products such as meat from animals raised using hormones or beta-agonists. 

The EU restrictions have significantly limited the ability of most U.S. meat and poultry producers and processors to sell their products in Europe, while also protecting that industry in Europe, although its costs of production are high relative to global benchmarks.

Canada has negotiated a deal, but Canadian meat packers are finding that challenges remain, including European food-safety protocol approvals for packing plants.

But the European deal is far from the only challenge facing American farmers who want improved access to markets.

All of the leading candidates to become president have declared their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Canadian meat packers and grains industry leaders say Canada should sign on, even if the United States doesn’t, because it would open lucrative markets in countries such as Japan and Viet Nam.

Farmers want to hide information

American beef and pork producer organizations are asking the U.S. government to change its regulations so the public can’t get access to information about checkoff funds.

Legislation enables the beef and pork organizations to collect money on every animal sent to slaughter to support research and promotion.

The farmers argue that it’s their money and the public ought not have the right to information about their activities.

"We support inclusion of language in the Committee report urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to recognize that the research and promotion programs are funded solely with producer dollars, and therefore are not agencies of the federal government or subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)," the groups wrote. ... "By including the report language, please help ensure that producer resources are focused on research and promotion activities."

On the other hand, the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression is rallying today to lobby the Liberal government to more promptly on its election promise to revamp Access to Information legislation to open more information, and more promptly, to public scrutiny.

Canada has national marketing agency legislation that beef farmers have used to establish a national research and promotion agency, The pork industry has been waiting months for a decision from the National Farm Products Council on its application for a similar agency.

Under Canadian Access to Information Act does not apply to these agencies and national supply-management agencies for chickens, eggs, turkeys and hatching eggs. 

Reward posted for mink-farm vandals

The Canadian Mink Breeders Association is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture and prosecution of vandals who cut a hole in a barn so about 500 mink could escape in Brant County over the weekend.

Most have been rounded up since, but the infant kits are unlikely to survive because it’s difficult to match them with their mothers.

The “mink freedom movement” has claimed responsibility. A year ago vandals hit several mink farms in the St. Marys area, also releasing them into the wild and resulting in the death of kits.

“We are shocked that any person or group would commit such a cruel and irresponsible act,” said CMBA president Marianne Patten.

“This is a despicable and irresponsible act,” said Kirk Rankin, an Ontario mink farmer and former president of the CMBA. 

“Several Ontario farms were attacked like this last summer. These criminals don’t think that people have a right to use animals, fine, but these are domesticated animals that have been raised on farms for more than 100 generations. 

“They cannot fend for themselves in the wild, so most will die,” said Rankin.

Those that survive will threaten to kill domesticated ducks or chickens in the region, he said.

“Whoever released these mink showed a complete disregard for the welfare of the animals; they should be charged for animal cruelty,” said Gary Hazlewood, executive director of the CMBA. 

The names of the farm and owners and its precise location in Brant County, which encompasses Paris and Brantford, have not been released.

A new way to clean hog trucks

Researchers in Saskatchewan have developed equipment that can clean hog transport trailers with less time and water.

However, it only works well on floors.

“We believe that the system we are proposing is not an ultimate solution, but it certainly represents a good solution to better handle biosecurity concerns,” said Hubert Landry, research scientist with the Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI).

PAMI has been working in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan’s college of engineering to develop the hydrovac system.

Funding for the project was received in early 2015 through the Swine Innovation Centre and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“Given the PED crisis, the industry wants to move rather quickly on these kinds of studies. We are also making sure to work with as many stakeholders as possible as there are other initiatives ongoing,” said Landry.

The current protocol for cleaning livestock trailers involves removing material, a flood wash, a pressure wash, sanitization and drying.

 Landy says it can take a worker four to 12 hours to do the job.

PAMI has completed the first phase of the project, where it worked with a prototype to clean the floors of a straight, 53-foot, two-level trailer.

“With our trials we did not clean entire trailers, we focused on the floor surfaces, conducted a time trial and extrapolated the results,” said Landry. 

“Within those assumptions, cleaning the floors of that straight trailer requires about 40 minutes. Obviously there is a need to look after the walls and ceiling but we are still looking at significant time savings.”

Landry said the cleaning process for the floor only would require approximately 30 gallons of water compared with 600 to 1,800 gallons for the current protocols.

Researchers believe that coupling this system with the use of baking bays would control the pathogens just as well, if not better than current methods.

“One probable method of destroying pathogens is to heat the surfaces of the trailers to 70 C for 10 minutes. The combination of the wash we have developed with heating the trailer to that temperature for that amount of time would take care of biosecurity concerns,” said Landry.

Landry also notes that the hydrovac system allows the wash water and debris from the trailer to be contained in a reservoir, enabling a more controlled disposal.

Although the project results are only theoretical, Landry says they are very promising.

“It is quite early but there has been some interest so we are encouraged. I think if we can provide industry with a close-to-ready system, I am hopeful that it could get used on a day-to-day basis.” he is quoted by Manitoba Cooperator journalist Jennifer Paige.