Despite having rejected a contract offer from XL Foods and having been locked out for the foreseeable future, unionized workers at the company’s Moose Jaw, Sask. beef plant plan to keep negotiating. The workers, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada) Local 1400, voted down XL’s offer at a meeting Sunday night […] Read more
XL Foods, locked-out Sask. workers keep talking
Ranchers wary of B.C.’s new powers over water
New legislation that’s meant to protect fish in British Columbia’s waterways, and has already been used to turn off some ranchers’ pumps, has others concerned for their water rights. The province last month brought amendments into force for its Fish Protection Act “in anticipation of a need to protect fish populations in times of drought.” […] Read more
XL Beef staff locked out at Moose Jaw
Employees hoping to return from a five-month layoff at XL Foods’ Moose Jaw, Sask. beef packing plant have now been locked out, according to their union. Citing a shortage of available slaughter cattle, XL had announced April 24 that it would shut down the Moose Jaw facility and lay off its 200 employees for up […] Read more
Deregistered Canadian GM flax pops up in Europe
A Saskatchewan-bred, deregistered and never-commercialized flax variety that became both the first and last genetically modified linseed is reported to have turned up at a German food processing plant. And anti-GM campaigners suggest the finding may lead to some embarrassing questions for Canada’s flax industry at a time when market prices for the crop are […] Read more
CN urged not to rip up producer-car sidings
Several farmer organizations are urging Canadian National Railway (CN) to reconsider its plans to stop service to 53 producer car loading sites across the Prairies. A 60-day notice period, required under Transport Canada regulations, ended Sunday with no known offers from farmers to lease the rail sidings where the railway would previously pick up producer […] Read more
Survey finds food bills up, farmers’ share down
Don’t look to your rising grocery bill to gauge how Canadian farmers’ wares are faring in the marketplace, a new study from a Manitoba farmers’ group suggests. Shopping trips for the same basket of foods on May 10, 2008 and June 2, 2009 find the grocery bill for a Winnipeg family up 3.2 per cent […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Store-brand foods beat national brands
A blind taste-test study by experienced food tasters has found 23 of 29 “store-brand” foods that taste as good as, if not better than, their national-brand competitors, according to the new issue of Consumer Reports. The Yonkers, N.Y.-based consumer watchdog magazine’s study found store-brand foods have moved beyond their generic, no-frills and often inferior predecessors, […] Read more
Alta. crop groups look to stem checkoff “slippage”
A new campaign laying out the benefits Alberta farmers get for their checkoff dollars aims to encourage farmer support — but also to ensure grain buyers deduct the checkoff in the first place. The Alberta Barley Commission, Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission and Alberta Pulse Growers Commission are partnering in a promotion campaign they say […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Organics yield no nutritive gain in study
An independent British review of organic foods compared to conventionally-grown foods has found “no important differences” in the nutritive content, or in any additional health benefits, for organics. The “data mining” study, carried out by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and commissioned by the British government’s Food Standards Agency […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Lower “food miles” may not be greener
The notion that the food traveling the shorter distance from gate to plate is the most environmentally friendly is being challenged in a new British study and in a Canadian policy paper. Cranfield University, based in Bedfordshire in the east of England, recently released a new comparative life-cycle assessment of food commodities, a £161,000, two-year […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
