Alberta Premier Jason Kenney steps up to speak at Jumbo Valley Hutterite Colony on Oct. 3, 2019. (Video screengrab from Alberta.ca via YouTube)

Alberta proposes heavier penalties for on-farm trespassing

Alberta’s government proposes to discourage future on-farm protests — events in the style of an occupation held early last month at an Alberta Hutterite colony’s turkey farm — on pain of new penalties. Speaking Thursday at the Jumbo Valley colony near Fort Macleod, Premier Jason Kenney, Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer and Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen […] Read more

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)

China’s cabinet sees ‘shortcomings’ in bid to contain swine fever

Beijing | Reuters — China has shown shortcomings in some aspects of preventing African swine fever, and the situation remains complicated and severe, the country’s cabinet said Wednesday. The management of transporting live hogs is not strict enough, while there is insufficient capacity in testing for African swine fever virus in hog slaughtering, processing and […] Read more



Keith Gabert, Canola Council of Canada agronomist, uses a simple tub and bleach system to sterilize his work boots and avoid spreading disease from field to field.

Disease-free boots and a testing tool

Spotted in the field: homemade ideas that don't cost a lot, but work

They are two separate topics completely, but here are a couple of good ideas that western Canadian field specialists came up with for sanitizing rubber boots to reduce the risk of spreading clubroot (or any soil borne disease), and a handy homemade sample collection tool for measuring spray volumes when calibrating a field sprayer. Boot […] Read more



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Alberta confirms fourth PED outbreak

Alberta took another punch last week in its fight with porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), having confirmed the province’s fourth on-farm case of the disease. Officials with the provincial ag department and Alberta Pork haven’t said where the fourth case is located, nor how far it is from the three southern Alberta properties where outbreaks in […] Read more


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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

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PED not yet done with Alberta

Just when it appeared Alberta’s on-farm outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) may have been a one-off, the province has confirmed a second case. Officials with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry on Friday announced they’ve confirmed and are investigating a new PED outbreak at a 600-head farrow-to-finish hog operation at an unspecified location. “At this time, […] Read more


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Pigs could soon move off Alberta’s PED-infected farm

The first, and so far only, Alberta hog farm to catch porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) could see animal shipments restart on a supervised basis “in the coming week.” The provincial ag ministry on Thursday said its investigation of the PED case, discovered Jan. 3 at a 400-head farrow-to finish operation, “continues to suggest that the […] Read more