(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Dairy farmers worry Trans-Pacific trade deal could hurt

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s powerful dairy industry on Friday expressed concern it could suffer if talks to create a Pacific trade treaty open up heavily protected Canadian markets to more foreign competition. Some of the 12 nations taking part in negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) want Canada to start dismantling a system known […] Read more



(AllflexUSA.com)

Premises ID now online for Sask. livestock producers

Saskatchewan’s premises ID (PID) system for livestock producers has officially gone online, the provincial and federal ag ministries announced Monday. While the province’s livestock commodity groups and provincial ag ministry have so far helped about 1,400 producers register their operations, the new system will allow producers to sign up, log in and make changes to […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

CFIA declares B.C. avian flu-free

With three months’ distance from the cleanup at the last of the province’s infected poultry barns, the federal government has declared British Columbia free of highly pathogenic avian flu. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Monday it had notified the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) that B.C. is considered free of notifiable avian influenza, […] Read more



Quebec Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis. (MAPAQ.gouv.qc.ca)

Quebec plans new legal status for animals

Quebec’s agriculture minister has tabled a new provincial government bill to raise the legal status of domestic and farmed animals in the province beyond that of “furniture.” Pierre Paradis on Friday introduced Bill 54 in the provincial assembly, with the stated goal of enshrining animals in Quebec’s Civil Code as sentient beings — that is, feeling and […] Read more



(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Supply-managed sectors bolster defenses against TPP

Reuters — Canadian farmers are stepping up their campaign against a nearly complete Pacific trade pact they fear will destroy protections for local dairy, egg and chicken producers and endanger jobs. Farmers in Quebec, which produces 40 per cent of Canada’s dairy products, ran full-page newspaper advertisements on Tuesday warning Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations threaten […] Read more



(Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Interprovincial salmonella outbreak tied to chicks

Federal and Alberta provincial health and veterinary officials are probing almost three dozen cases of salmonella poisoning across three provinces, tied to handling of live baby chickens. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said Monday it’s so far investigating 17 cases of illness in people in Alberta, 13 in British Columbia and four in […] Read more