Canadian hog production and pork processing firm HyLife has moved to expand its reach in North American pork packing as well as Manitoba hog farming. La Broquerie, Man.-based HyLife announced last week it has bought a 75 per cent stake in Taylor Corp.’s Prime Pork, a packing and processing operation at Windom, Minnesota, about 200 […] Read more
HyLife buys pork packing, hog production capacity
Firm buys stake in U.S. packer, Manitoba hog farming business
Plant protein processor backed for expansion
Lenders arrange up to $85 million for Merit Functional Foods
The money has been lined up to fund a major expansion for a Winnipeg pea and canola protein processing plant that’s still being built. Merit Functional Foods Corp. announced May 4 it has secured a debt financing package of up to $85 million from “a syndicate of lenders” including Export Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada […] Read more
Rite Way proposes to buy Morris Industries
Regina farm equipment maker draws up letter of intent
Cash-crunched seeding equipment maker Morris Industries has been handed a letter of intent to purchase, from a Saskatchewan suitor with a farm equipment company of its own. Calgary consultancy Alvarez and Marsal said in a report Tuesday it received a letter of intent for a “proposed sale transaction” from Superior Farms Solutions Ltd. (SFSL), the […] Read more
Legalization lifts Canada’s net farm income in 2019
Livestock receipts up, unsmokeable crop receipts lower
A significant year-over-year increase Canada booked last year in realized net farm income rests mainly on 2019’s status as the country’s first full year in the recreational cannabis market. Statistics Canada on Tuesday released full-year data on farm income, pegging Canada’s realized net farm income for 2019 at $4.9 billion — a 10.4 per cent […] Read more
Outdoor Farm Show relocating to cyberspace for 2020
In-person event cancelled due to COVID-19
Another major event on Eastern Canada’s fall farming calendar has halted its up-close-and-in-person plans for 2020 but expects to follow its western sister event into virtual space. Glacier FarmMedia, the owner/operator of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and of this website, announced Monday it will cancel its event scheduled for Sept. 15-17 at Canada’s Outdoor Park […] Read more
New Brunswick to lift ban on temporary foreign workers
Damage 'already been done' for farmers, NFU-NB says
New Brunswick plans to end its ban on the entry of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) next week as the province moves to the “yellow” level in its COVID-19 pandemic recovery plan. The ban, announced April 28, will end effective May 29, Premier Blaine Higgs said Friday in an announcement some farmers say comes too late […] Read more
Union warns of fuel supply disruption in ‘Dear Farmers’ notice
Farmers 'should not be worried,' FCL says
The union representing locked-out workers at Regina’s Co-op Refinery Complex is warning Prairie farmers that a disruption of fuel supplies during seeding could be the “only option” it has in its labour dispute with Federated Co-operatives (FCL). Unifor 594, whose 730-odd members at the CRC were locked out Dec. 5 after serving 48 hours’ strike […] Read more
JBS resumes second shift at Alberta beef plant
Out of 650 COVID cases at plant, 11 are 'active'
Meat giant JBS’s Alberta beef packing plant has resumed two daily shifts as of Thursday, as fewer than a dozen of its 2,600-plus employees are now sidelined by COVID-19. The JBS plant at Brooks, about 170 km east of Calgary, is “slowly returning to two shifts as of today,” the company said Thursday in a […] Read more
President’s cattle call finds expected marks in U.S.
Trump suggests killing trade pacts with unnamed cattle-exporting nations
U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks Tuesday about imports of live cattle into the United States resonated predictably among that country’s various cattle producer groups. At a White House event Tuesday, flanked by U.S. farm and ranch leaders and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for a multi-billion-dollar COVID-19-related farm aid announcement, Trump said he “read yesterday where […] Read more
CEBA expanded to farms, other ‘owner-operated’ businesses
Program offers zero-interest, partly-forgivable loans
Farms and other “owner-operated” businesses with little or no payroll may soon be able to get in on a federal program offering zero-interest loans to businesses up against pandemic-related drops in revenue. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday announced an expansion of eligibility under the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) to also include “sole proprietors […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
