Veterinary officials in Alberta are now investigating the province’s first-ever outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in hogs. Alberta Pork, the province’s hog producer commission, and the provincial government on Tuesday announced an outbreak of the viral disease at what was described as a “400-head hog operation.” Javier Bahamon, quality assurance and production manager for […] Read more

PEDv arrives in Alberta hogs

Assure herbicide’s active ingredient under new ownership
Now being put to work in Enlist corn, the active ingredient in Assure II herbicide has a new owner. California-based American Vanguard Corp., the owner of ag chemical producer Amvac Chemical, announced Thursday it has bought the quizalofop-p-ethyl (QPE) product line of herbicides from DowDuPont’s ag division, Corteva Agriscience, for an undisclosed sum. A Group […] Read more

CP, CN overshoot annual grain revenue caps
Both of Canada’s big two railways were found to have made more revenue from hauling Prairie grain in 2017-18 than their federally mandated limits allow. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Monday announced Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway overtopped their maximum revenue entitlements (MREs) for the crop year by $1,500,513 and $1,047,285 respectively. CN’s […] Read more

Viterra closes deal for Gardiner Dam Terminal
Central Saskatchewan’s Gardiner Dam Terminal is expected to go full Viterra within months, now that the Regina grain firm has completed its deal for full control of the facility. Shareholders in GDT voted Dec. 13 in favour of the deal announced last month in which Viterra buys the half of GDT it doesn’t already own […] Read more

Bovine TB probe expands to Saskatchewan
Updated, Dec. 24 — Some cattle in Saskatchewan are now under federally imposed movement controls as testing for bovine tuberculosis expands to 14 domestic herds in three provinces. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced Friday the tracing of a single case of bovine TB in a beef cow from a farm in British Columbia’s southern […] Read more

Six more cattle herds to be tested in TB probe
Updated, Dec. 20 — Cattle from four more herds in British Columbia and two in Alberta are now being tested for bovine tuberculosis as officials probe the country’s latest domestic case of the disease. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Monday reported the six herds are now under “movement controls” while TB testing is underway. […] Read more

GrainsConnect hops aboard P+H port terminal project
Updated Jan. 4, 2019 — Winnipeg grain firm Parrish and Heimbecker’s plans for a new West Coast port terminal again have a joint venture partner. Calgary-based GrainsConnect Canada, itself a joint Prairie grain handling venture between Australia’s GrainCorp and Japan’s Zen-Noh Grain, announced Wednesday it now has a formal 50-50 partnership agreement with P+H to […] Read more

G3 plans new Edmonton-area grain elevator
Grain handler G3 Canada has announced its third move into Alberta, with plans for an elevator near Morinville, about 25 km north of Edmonton. The Winnipeg company said Thursday it will start construction “shortly” at its chosen site just west of town, connecting to Canadian National Railway (CN) track on the north side of Highway […] Read more

Canola Council resets course for ‘efficiencies’
Facing new limits on available funding, Canada’s canola value chain organization plans to refocus its work on its “core strengths” and collaborate with other players. The Canola Council of Canada on Wednesday announced a revised work plan, coming out of a “priorities review” undertaken after one of Canada’s biggest grain companies called a halt to […] Read more

Alberta cattle producers vote to keep refundable checkoff
Preliminary results in Alberta beef producers’ service charge plebiscite put a slim majority in favour of keeping their checkoff refundable. Out of 1,874 votes cast, 962 votes, or 51.3 per cent, fell in favour of a refundable service charge model, with 908 for a non-refundable model and four ballots spoiled, according to the preliminary figures […] Read more