File photo of a farmed mink. (Konstantin Sokolov/iStock/Getty Images)

Coronavirus kills 15,000 U.S. mink

Affected states aren't planning to cull

Chicago | Reuters — More than 15,000 mink in the United States have died of the coronavirus since August, and authorities are keeping about a dozen farms under quarantine while they investigate the cases, state agriculture officials said. Global health officials are eying the animals as a potential risk for people after Denmark last week […] Read more

Trent Wotherspoon, shown here speaking in Regina in 2012, is the provincial NDP’s new critic for agriculture and Saskatchewan Crop Insurance. (TrentWotherspoon.com)

Saskatchewan gets new ag critic, returning ag minister

David Marit, Trent Wotherspoon to handle farm file

Saskatchewan’s New Democrats will have a new critic to debate the incumbent minister over the agriculture file. Provincial opposition leader Ryan Meili on Tuesday announced Trent Wotherspoon, the MLA for Regina Rosemont since 2007, as the NDP’s critic for agriculture as well as finance, SaskTel, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC) and the province’s Crown Investments […] Read more


File photo of a farmed mink. (Konstantin Sokolov/iStock/Getty Images)

Denmark tightens lockdown as mink cull devastates industry

WHO and ECDC experts support Denmark's strategy

Copenhagen | Reuters — Denmark announced strict new lockdown rules on Thursday in the north of the country after authorities discovered a mutated coronavirus strain in minks bred in the region, prompting a nationwide cull that will devastate the large pelt industry. The government said on Wednesday that it would cull all minks — up […] Read more

File photo of a farmed mink. (Konstantin Sokolov/iStock/Getty Images)

Denmark to cull entire farmed mink population

Coronavirus mutation spreads to people

Copenhagen | Reuters — Denmark will cull its mink population of up to 17 million after a mutation of the coronavirus found in the animals spread to humans, the prime minister said on Wednesday. Health authorities found virus strains in humans and in mink which showed decreased sensitivity against antibodies, potentially lowering the efficacy of […] Read more


(Maple Leaf Foods photo via Facebook)

Quebec poultry packer to shut ex-Maple Leaf plant

Giannone to close Drummondville facility

The new owner of an antibiotic-free poultry processing plant in the Centre-du-Quebec region is set to shut the plant next week after a “thorough review” of its condition. Volaille Giannone announced Friday it will close the former Avicomax plant at Drummondville effective Nov. 6, after having bought it from Maple Leaf Foods in July for […] Read more

File photo of gray wolves howling in British Columbia. (Pac9012/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. lifts federal protections for gray wolf

Reuters — The Trump administration in the U.S. said Thursday said it will lift Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf, arguing the species had been brought back successfully from the brink of extinction. The move gives states in the continuous United States the authority to manage their local wolf populations, including by allowing […] Read more


(Lightguard/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan agriculture minister cruises to election win

NDP's ag critic trailing, with mail-in votes still to come

Another incumbent agriculture minister easily held his seat as Saskatchewan’s governing Saskatchewan Party scored another decisive majority in Monday’s provincial election. David Marit, MLA for the southwestern riding of Wood River since 2016, held his seat by a spread of 5,177 votes over the New Democrats’ challenger, teacher Roger Morgan, with 459 mail-in ballots remaining […] Read more

Free range chickens

Fowl play in the free-range poultry industry

The dire perils of free-range environments, chickens may be happier indoors, warm and among friends

It seems that the general public has a very distorted view of farming practices, which is helped by the inability or reluctance of the North American farming community to deliver the real facts. Many in the urban general public seem to have fond visions of laying hens or broiler chickens tiptoeing through the green, grassy […] Read more


The United Nations’ General Assembly Hall in Manhattan. (BWZenith/iStock/Getty Images)

World Food Program seeking billions within six months to avert famine

Pandemic may double hunger worldwide, agency says

London | Reuters — The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will need to raise US$6.8 billion over the next six months to avert famine amid the COVID-19 crisis, the agency said on Tuesday. The WFP, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as […] Read more

New Brunswick’s new agriculture minister, Margaret Johnson. (Facebook)

Rookie MLA named New Brunswick ag minister

Blaine Higgs' Tories sworn in as majority government

A politically-active retired New Brunswick schoolteacher is the province’s new minister for agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries. Premier Blaine Higgs, whose new Progressive Conservative cabinet was sworn in Tuesday in Fredericton, appointed Margaret Johnson, the newly elected MLA for the northwestern electoral district of Carleton-Victoria, to handle the ag and fisheries files. In last month’s provincial […] Read more