Second Exceldor worker dies of COVID-19

A second worker has died of COVID-19 after an outbreak at the Exceldor poultry processing plant at Blumenort, Man.

There have been 50 workers there who have tested positive.

The plant was formerly known as Granny’s Poultry.

Feds announce $387,000 for fruits and veggies

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced support for three projects totalling $387,000 when she spoke during a national virtual conference for the industry.

The three are:

Canadian Horticultural Council - $123,269 to research and conduct a risk assessment of the Ontario horticulture sector to support the future development of a whole-farm producer-paid top-up insurance product for horticulture producers through the creation of a Diversity Index..

 

·         Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) - $225,000 to develop a risk management financial product for disease and insect infestations for greenhouses, which will be done on the basis of data modeling, frequency events and by consulting insurers.

 

·         Association des producteurs maraichers du Québec (APMQ) - $38,660 to develop a tool for growers to assess their vulnerability and take the necessary actions to increase their resilience to climate change.

Temporary worker help extended

The federal government is extending its support for temporary foreign workers to Nov. 30.

Under the $50-million program, the federal government will provide a maximum support of $1,500 for each temporary foreign worker, to employers who are required to isolate workers under the Quarantine Act. 

“The funding is conditional on employers not being found in violation of the mandatory 14-day isolation protocols or any other public health order,” the announcement from federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said.

                         

 

 

CFIA reduces meat import inspections

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is reducing import inspections for meat from Australia and New Zealand.

It will be randomly picking out samples from 10 per cent of imports for inspection.

And those companies who already have been identified as “not requiring inspection,” the CFIA will allow their meat to move directly to importer’s warehouses or final destination.

Trump lied about Wisconsin dairy, newspaper says

The Washington Post says United States President Donald Trump lied when he claimed dairy exports to Canada increased by 100 per cent due to the new trade agreement among Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Trump made the claim during a campaign rally in Wisconsin.

to voters during a recent campaign rally in Wisconsin.

Reporter Melina Mara also reported that Trump falsely claimed the state’s dairy farms were “decimated” under the Obama/Biden administration but “now … are doing very well.” 

“Dairy and agricultural market experts told us changes in the industry, including in milk prices, overproduction and consolidation, under both administrations largely have been due to market forces,’ Mara wrote.

Andrew M. Novaković, a professor emeritus of agricultural economics at Cornell University, said that cyclical milk prices, which hit a peak in 2014 and then declined, “occur almost entirely due to market forces. Presidents Obama and Trump deserve little if any credit or blame for these oscillations.”

A consolidation trend — of fewer but bigger dairy farms — has been happening “for quite some time now,” Chad Hart, a professor of economics and crop markets specialist at Iowa State University, told told Mara.

A decline in the number of producers continued under the Trump administration, he said.

                           

 

Smithfield suing insurance company over claim for manure odours

Smithfield Foods has been denied coverage for lawsuits filed by neighbours over odours from hog-farming manure lagoons and manure spreading on fields. 

Now it is in court over those insurance claims.

Old Republic Insurance Co. of Pennsylvania is arguing that the company knew manure odours were a problem and it was responsible to deal with it.

This insurance case relates to the first of 26 lawsuits brought against Smithfield. Juries in five of those cases have awarded neighbours $550 million in compensation and punitive damages.

In its filing, Old Republic argues that the current stack of litigation, as well as several prior similar lawsuits against Smithfield, show that the company has known of the consequences of its lagoon-and-spray field methods, but intentionally has continued to use them anyway. 

Old Republic said the policies it provided to Smithfield account for such claims as “bodily harm,” “personal harm” and “property damage.” However, the plaintiffs in this case aren’t making those claims, and even if they were, the policies exclude coverage for those damages that are “expected” or “intended,” as the insurer argues they are.

                           

 

Turkey producer numbers again in decline

The number of turkey marketing board members in Ontario increased from 162 in 1984 to 192 in 2009, but since then declined to 157 last year.

When the increase was happening, the turkey board said a number of small-scale Mennonite farmers were buying quota.

The Ontario increase was unique in Canada where the national numbers have steadily declined from 603 in 1984 to 522 last year.

Production has increased from 40,824,000 kilograms in Ontario in 1974 to 60,284,000 for 2019-20 in Ontario and from 93,469,000 nationally to 146,606,000 .

Peak production was in 2015-16 when Ontario’s allocation was 62,341,000 kilograms and the national allocation was 156,601,000.

This year there has been a trend to smaller-sized turkeys for celebrations such as Thanksgiving, probably because group get-togethers are limited by COVID-19 protocols.