(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada now avian flu-free

With no new cases in poultry since April and no farms in quarantine since July, Canada has officially declared itself free of avian influenza. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday it has informed the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) that Ontario is free of notifiable avian flu. No new outbreaks of highly pathogenic […] Read more



(Eggs.ca)

VanRaes: TPP deal seen shrinking supply-managed markets

CORRECTION, Oct. 7: Canada’s supply managed sectors can expect to lose $4.3 billion to foreign interests in the 15 years following the implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. After years of negotiations, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam reached an agreement Monday morning, which includes granting access […] Read more



Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, shown here in February in Brampton, Ont., said farmers and processors would be “compensated” for losses incurred through any increased market access granted under a TPP deal. (Agr.gc.ca)

Canada to pay farmers for any losses under TPP deal, Ritz says

Reuters — Canadian farmers will receive government compensation for any losses resulting from a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, the country’s agriculture minister said Wednesday in a discussion about the nation’s protected farm sectors. The U.S., New Zealand and Australia want Canada to start dismantling a system of supply and import controls over dairy, poultry […] Read more



(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

COOL saga winding down, but not over yet

CNS Canada –– The seven-year saga of U.S. country of origin labelling (COOL) rules and their adverse impact on Canada’s livestock sector may be nearing its final chapter, but the conclusion still needs to be written. After numerous complaints and appeals with the World Trade Organization, the COOL regulations in place since 2008 have been […] Read more

(Regis Lefebure photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

duBreton to boost output of crate-free pigs

Reuters — Private Canadian pork producer duBreton said Thursday it plans to raise 300,000 additional pigs during the next three years without housing them in crates, as it seeks premium prices from food stores and restaurants for meat raised humanely. Larger Canadian rivals Olymel and Maple Leaf Foods are already converting all of their own […] Read more


(UoGuelph.ca/Alfred)

Guelph animal science department rebrands

The Ontario Agricultural College’s department of animal and poultry science has hatched a new name meant to better take in the scope of its work. The new name, the Department of Animal Biosciences, “helps describe the department’s evolution from a livestock husbandry department in the 1870s to the highly dynamic and integrated department it is […] Read more