Family members of longtime JBS USA meat packing plant employee Saul Sanchez gather April 10, 2020 at his Greeley, Colorado home after his death from COVID-19. (Photo: Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

‘Elbow to elbow:’ North America’s meat plant workers fall ill, walk off jobs

Supply chains struggling to keep pace with surging demand

Chicago/Winnipeg | Reuters — At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 U.S. cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a meat inspector. In Colorado, nearly a third of the workers at a JBS USA beef plant stayed […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cargill halts second shift at High River beef plant

'Additional safety measures' also in place, company says

Cargill is temporarily idling its second shift at one of Canada’s biggest beef packing plants to “minimize the impact” of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The company announced Monday it would reduce shifts at its High River, Alta. beef plant, about 40 km south of Calgary, effective that day and until further notice. “Our goal is to […] Read more


CME June 2020 live cattle with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Futures slide as COVID-19 worries roil market

Concerns over meat processing pace drag on cattle, hogs

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. livestock futures slumped again on Thursday, volatility roiling the market as it faced resistance over surging stocks and growing concerns that meat packers will close plants in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Lean hog future prices slipped for a second session on concerns about the domestic glut of hog supplies and […] Read more

A man walks with his pet dog as he talks to a vendor who sells dog meat at a market during the local dog meat festival at Yulin in China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region on June 21, 2018. (File photo: Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

China reclassifies dogs as pets, not livestock

New guidelines drafted in post-virus regulatory push

Shanghai | Reuters — China has drawn up new guidelines to reclassify dogs as pets rather than livestock, the agriculture ministry said, part of a response to the coronavirus outbreak that the Humane Society called a potential “game changer” in animal welfare. Though dog meat remains a delicacy in many regions, the ministry of agriculture […] Read more


CBOT May 2020 corn with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn slumps as ethanol production hits decade low

Improved U.S. wheat crop ratings raise expectations of bumper supplies

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn futures slumped on Wednesday, giving up part of the previous session’s gains, as the U.S. government reported the U.S. ethanol industry saw a near-decade low in weekly production amid massive stocks. Wheat futures followed in mid-day trading, as investors squared up their positions ahead of Thursday’s world agriculture supply […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Maple Leaf poultry plant shuts for ‘deep cleaning’

COVID-19 found in three workers at Brampton facility

One of two Maple Leaf Foods plants at Brampton, Ont. has gone into shutdown mode for “deep cleaning” in the wake of three cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus among its workers. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Wednesday that operations at the company’s Kennedy Road poultry slaughter and packing plant in Brampton are suspended “while we complete […] Read more


Universities can adapt to COVID-19, UCVM dean says

As administrators and faculty modify the system, dean calls for renewed public focus on food production and distribution

As COVID-19 pushes universities to change the way they teach, carry out research and conduct clinical work, the dean of veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary is confident that they can adapt. The academic system “from coast to coast is very intact,” Dr. Baljit Singh said. “We will continue to develop new technologies. We […] Read more

Migrant workers clean fields in California’s Salinas Valley on March 30, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Canadian, U.S. farms face crop losses on foreign worker delays

Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labour is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more


The big question facing the beef industry and the economy as a whole is how quickly they will recover after the coronavirus threat has passed.

The cruelty of the coronavirus

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

The start of the new decade held much promise, whether it was for the global economy or prospects of an even bigger trade with China for North American livestock producers. Much of that promise has been cruelly shattered, at least temporarily, by a new coronavirus (COVID-19) that emerged in central China and made its way […] Read more

Farmer Anil Salunkhe feeds strawberries to a cow during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the Satara district in India’s Maharashtra state on April 1, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Rajendra Jadhav)

How COVID-19 is upending global food supply chains

Cows fed strawberries in India, watermelons rot in U.S., okra not reaching Canada

Satara/Singapore/London | Reuters — In the fertile Satara district in western India, farmers are putting their cattle on an unorthodox diet: Some feed iceberg lettuce to buffalo. Others feed strawberries to cows. It’s not a treat. They can either feed their crops to animals or let them spoil. And other farmers are doing just that […] Read more