U.S. seed and ag chem firm Monsanto will take its first steps into wheat breeding by buying Montana wheat germplasm company WestBred for US$45 million. But the St. Louis-based buyer, clearly mindful of the furore over the plans for genetically-modified wheat that it scrapped in 2004, stresses that its immediate goals don’t involve applying its […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Monsanto invests in U.S. wheat
CCA, Sask. minister question traceability cost, timing
A pledge by most of Canada’s ag ministers last week for a mandatory, nationwide livestock traceability system by 2011 has left too much unanswered for Canada’s cattle producers or the Saskatchewan government to support. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association on Monday rolled out a statement of disappointment, saying not much else other than the 2011 deadline […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: H1N1 crossover suspected in Argentina
Argentina believes it’s home to the second suspected case of humans passing the pandemic H1N1 flu virus to hogs, according to the Reuters news agency. Reuters’ Helen Popper on Wednesday quoted an Argentine government spokesman as saying workers at a hog farm in Buenos Aires province are suspected to have passed the virus to the […] Read more
Farm advocate, writer Paul Beingessner, 55
UPDATED, June 29 — Paul Beingessner, a well-known writer and advocate on Prairie farming issues, died Thursday afternoon in an apparent machinery entanglement on his southern Saskatchewan farm. Beingessner, 55, had been making repairs to a haybine on his farm at Truax, about 80 km southwest of Regina, and was pulled into the equipment and […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Smithfield to stall on stall-free sows
A major U.S. hog and pork company’s influential decision to phase out the use of gestation stalls at its sow farms has run up against the hog industry’s current cash crunch. Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest producer and processor of pork, announced in its 2009 annual report Wednesday that it no longer expects to complete […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Monsanto, Dole team on veg breeding
Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and spinach breeding will soon include a new player as U.S. seed and ag chem firm Monsanto hooks up with Dole Fresh Vegetables for a five-year collaboration deal. Plant breeding will be used to improve the “nutrition, flavour, colour, texture, taste and aroma of these vegetables,” the two companies said in a […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Views mixed on U.S. sow cull
A proposal by a U.S. hog producers’ group to pool funds for a voluntary cull of breeding sows is meeting with mixed reactions. U.S. hog farmers have begun facing losses over about the last year and a half, following almost three and a half years of profitability. A proposal unveiled at the recent World Pork […] Read more
New OIE standard on beef seen favouring Canada
Canada stands to gain from a reported World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) resolution that discards the 30-month age limit from the global body’s BSE-related safety standards for international beef trade. A report Saturday from Japan’s Kyodo news agency, via the Associated Press news service, said the OIE adopted the resolution last week, which may […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Automaker offers goat with purchase
Mitsubishi Motors’ New Zealand operations plan to “support primary productivity” in that country by offering a free goat with every Triton utility vehicle it sells before August. “At MMNZ, we are aware that three years of drought (have) severely depleted sheep and beef populations, so what better time to ‘float the goat’?” MMNZ general sales […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Study eyes “sustainable” hen housing
A U.S. coalition of animal welfare researchers, non-government organizations and egg suppliers plans a major study of the “sustainability impacts” of different housing methods for laying hens. The research is to be led by Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of California at Davis (UC Davis). Fast food chain McDonald’s plans to use eggs […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
