A macrophage (immune response) cell in early stages of infection with African swine fever virus, magnified about 1,000x. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

VIDO-InterVac joins swine fever fight

The University of Saskatchewan’s vaccine research and development arm is set to become Canada’s first non-government agency to work with the African swine fever virus. Saskatoon-based Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) will start work with the virus this month at its Containment Level 3-Agriculture (CL3-Ag) facility, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said […] Read more

File photo of a hog farmer with piglets in Poland. (Zuberka/iStock/Getty Images)

African swine fever spreads near German border

Paris | Reuters — Poland recorded 55 outbreaks of African swine fever in wild boar near the German border last month, the world animal health body said on Thursday, in a sign the deadly virus is spreading near one of the European Union’s biggest pork exporters. A report posted on the World Organization for Animal […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Amended CUSMA pact includes anti-COOL clause

The new Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), a free trade deal set to replace NAFTA, includes language meant to block any future bids at a trade-disrupting country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law. The new clause would, in theory, checkmate a move made last summer by some Democrat members of the U.S. House of Representatives to have a new North […] Read more



Dittmer: China back on the plus side

Dittmer: China back on the plus side

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

In the last couple of columns I had referred to speculations that China lifting its ban on Canadian beef and pork might be tied to Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s preliminary hearings in September or extradition hearings in January. After all, the alleged discovery of ractopamine residues in a shipment of alleged Canadian pork accompanied by […] Read more

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 11, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Farmers hit by trade disputes should be helped faster, Trudeau says

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s agriculture department should move more quickly to help farmers harmed by protectionist measures imposed by other nations, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday. Canadian farmers are caught up in a trade and diplomatic dispute between Ottawa and Beijing. In a formal letter of instruction to Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, Trudeau […] Read more


(Shadowinternet/E+/Getty Images)

Strong foreign demand boosts North American hog markets

MarketsFarm — While the volume of hogs at North American slaughter markets have kept packing plants near capacity in recent weeks, strong foreign export demand has kept pork values high. “We expect pork values to move higher, due to the shortness of production in China,” said Brad Marceniuk, a Saskatchewan provincial livestock economist in Saskatoon. […] Read more