U.S. livestock: Hog futures set two-week peak on pork price hopes

U.S. livestock: Hog futures set two-week peak on pork price hopes

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures jumped to two-week highs on Tuesday amid hopes for increased pork prices, which have been under pressure from large supplies and weakened demand from China. Wholesale pork prices, known as the cutout, rose by $1.01 on Monday to $62.93/cwt for carcasses, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture […] Read more




(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

One Alberta PED case deemed ‘false positive’

The third of four reported on-farm outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea in Alberta so far this year can now be marked as a negative. The provincial government and hog producer agency Alberta Pork on Monday announced the first of two cases reported Friday was in fact a “false positive.” Specifically, Alberta Pork said Monday, the […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC offers up new Starter Loans

“Preferential” loan rates are available to young farmers or agribusinesspeople planning start-ups through a new Farm Credit Canada lending program. Lawrence MacAulay, addressing the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s annual meeting Wednesday in Ottawa when he was still federal minister of agriculture, unveiled the federal ag lending agency’s new Starter Loan Program. The program, according to […] Read more

Mary Robinson. (Foodintegrity.ca)

CFA elects new chief

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture has elected its first-ever female president in a changing of the guard at its latest annual meeting. Mary Robinson, past-president of the Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture, was elected president Wednesday at the CFA’s AGM in Ottawa. She replaces Ron Bonnett, the organization’s president since 2010. Keith Currie, president […] Read more



(Shadowinternet/E+/Getty Images)

Alberta confirms third and fourth PED cases

Update, March 4, 2019: The third PED case to which this article refers was announced Monday to be a “false positive.” Click here for details. Alberta, which until January was one of the remaining hog-producing provinces clear of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), is now up to four cases in three months. The provincial agriculture department […] Read more


Marie-Claude Bibeau (centre), shown here Feb. 11 announcing federal funding for a Smucker’s Foods dairy plant at Sherbrooke, Que., is Canada’s new agriculture minister. (MCBibeau.Liberal.ca)

Mini-shuffle includes new federal agriculture minister

Vancouver MP Jody Wilson-Raybould’s exit from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet has led to a mini-shuffle and a new federal minister for agriculture and agri-food. Marie-Claude Bibeau, MP for the Quebec riding of Compton-Stanstead since 2015, replaced Lawrence MacAulay as agriculture minister on Friday, becoming the first woman to handle the ag portfolio. MacAulay, the […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Cattle end mixed, June sets new high

U.S. livestock: Cattle end mixed, June sets new high

Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. live cattle futures finished mixed after touching a new contract high on Thursday, as concerns about cold weather tightening supplies underpinned prices. Forecasts for more cold, snowy weather in the middle of the country kept traders on edge after recent storms slowed transportation and weight gain in herds. Cattle typically […] Read more