COVID-19 Archives - Page 39 of 49

Workers in the JBS beef plant at Brooks, Alta. appear in a screen shot from a 2018 corporate video. (JBS Canada video screengrab via YouTube)

As meat plant infections rise, Canada lets packers choose when to close

Beef plants at heart of Alberta's largest COVID-19 community outbreaks

By Rod Nickel, GFM Network News May 1, 2020

Winnipeg | Reuters — In Cargill’s High River, Alta. plant, supplier of more than one-third of Canada’s beef, 391 workers were sick with COVID-19 when the company suspended operations, according to provincial health officials. But Maple Leaf Foods decided to idle a poultry plant for eight days, in Brampton, Ont., after just three workers were […] Read more

File photo of a New Brunswick blueberry field in autumn. (EdCorey/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops

New Brunswick ag groups rip province’s ban on foreign workers

Risk during pandemic 'simply too great,' premier says

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News May 1, 2020

New Brunswick farmers who employ temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are calling for the provincial government to reverse its new COVID-19-related ban on entry of TFWs who haven’t yet arrived. The provincial government on Tuesday updated a mandatory order under its pandemic state of emergency to restrict TFWs from entering the province. The new restriction doesn’t […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Crops, Markets, Weather

Grains, oilseeds, pulses hold their own amid pandemic

By GFM Network News May 1, 2020

MarketsFarm — Prices for grains, oilseeds and pulses are not as bad off as livestock values are due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Neil Townsend, chief market analyst for FarmLink Solutions in Winnipeg. FarmLink hosted a webinar Wednesday to provide its outlook for the coming crop year. One thing Townsend stressed was there is […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Reuters

COVID-19 surges at reopened JBS Colorado beef plant, union says

A sixth worker has died, UFCW local chief says

By Reuters, GFM Network News April 30, 2020

Chicago | Reuters — COVID-19 cases at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado have more than doubled “in a number of days” and a sixth employee died of the virus, a union official said on Thursday, underscoring the risks of U.S. meat plants reopening. The beef plant at Greeley, about 65 km north of Denver, […] Read more

(Video screengrab from Conestoga Meats via YouTube)

Hogs, Livestock, Markets

Major Ontario pork packer expects to re-open Monday

Conestoga Meats went offline April 27

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News April 30, 2020

The hog slaughter and processing plant billed as Ontario’s second-biggest pork producer expects to be back in business Monday after a week-long COVID-19-related shutdown. Conestoga Meats, based at Breslau, just east of Kitchener, notified hog farmers and shippers on Friday that it would suspend “most operations” during the week of April 27 to May 1, […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Reuters

Cargill to restart High River beef plant Monday

Over 750 workers confirmed with COVID-19

By Reuters, GFM Network News April 30, 2020

Ottawa | Reuters — Cargill said Wednesday it will start to reopen its beef processing plant at High River, Alta. on Monday after the plant was forced to close down because hundreds of workers had become infected with the coronavirus. In a statement, Cargill said it would resume operations after a 14-day temporary shutdown, with […] Read more

CBOT July 2020 soybeans with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

Crops, Markets, Reuters

U.S. grains: Soy rises on stronger Brazilian currency

Wheat pressured by rain relief across Europe, export lull

By GFM Network News April 30, 2020

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures rose on Wednesday as plans to ease lockdown measures and a move by U.S. President Donald Trump to keep meat factories open tempered fears about demand destruction caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Wheat futures slid, hitting a one-month low as rains in Europe and the Black […] Read more

CME June 2020 lean hogs with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

Livestock, Markets, Reuters

U.S. livestock: Hogs mostly lower as packing-plant woes persist

Backlog concerns drag on cattle

By GFM Network News April 30, 2020

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures closed mostly lower on Wednesday, setting back from a one-month high set a day earlier in the benchmark June contract as traders mulled the implications of a presidential order for U.S. meat packing plants to remain open, traders said. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered meat-processing plants […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

JBS reopens Minnesota pork plant to cull pigs

By Reuters, GFM Network News April 29, 2020

Chicago | Reuters — Meat producer JBS said Wednesday it was reopening a Minnesota pork plant shuttered by the pandemic to euthanize up to 13,000 pigs a day for farmers, not to produce meat for consumers. U.S. farmers have been forced to cull livestock as they run short of space to house animals after some […] Read more

Crops, Lentils, Markets, Pulses

Demand may encourage more red lentil acres: AGT

By MarketsFarm Team, GFM Network News April 29, 2020

MarketsFarm — Improving lentil prices over the past month may encourage more acres of the pulse crop in Western Canada this spring, according to an industry official, as seeding is set to start within the next few weeks. “With the recent March demand surge, mostly due to COVID-19, pulse prices have increased sending a signal […] Read more

U.S. grains: Corn sags as bumper US crop harvest advances, soybeans retreat

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures rally, hogs rise

Fund traders flip to net short in canola futures

GFM Network News