The cash goes to Animal Health Canada, a public-private conglomerate that includes the National Farm Animal Care Council, Canadian Animal Health Surveillance System and Emergency Management.

“Animal Health Canada’s coordination role with partners and stakeholders has been key to Canada’s animal disease prevention, and to ensuring our livestock sector is ready in the event of an outbreak,” said Lawrence MacAulay, the federal minister of agriculture, in a news release.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada contributed nearly $1 million through its African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program to Animal Health Canada’s ongoing coordination role in efforts to prevent and prepare for an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF).

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency contributed nearly $700,000 to support efforts over the next two years to prepare for outbreaks of ASF and foot and mouth disease.

This will include analysis of surveillance data, training, development of a vaccine strategy in the event of a FMD outbreak, and other planning, the news release said.

Pork sector groups have been working with federal and provincial officials for some years to develop a comprehensive plan for if ASF should arrive in Canada. To date, the closest ASF has been detected is in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Last year, the Canadian Cattle Association warned that a FMD outbreak will eventually hit Canada’s shores. CCA president Nathan Finney suggested the federal government needed to take action to protect Canadian producers’ livelihoods.

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Witnesses from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) spoke to MPs’ concerns about livestock diseases at a committee meeting last Wednesday afternoon.

Biosecurity preparedness has been a relevant issue recently, with rising concerns over African swine fever (ASF), foot-and-mouth disease and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which saw 13 outbreaks in Quebec alone in April, and killed over 50 million farm birds in the U.S. in 2022.

Dr. Mary Jane Ireland, executive director of CFIA’s animal health directorate, told the Commons’ standing committee on agriculture and agri-food that the agency has ‘playbooks’ for every disease they are aware of, and that hazard-specific plans are updated as diseases evolve around the world.

Given recent outbreaks, avian influenza has been of particular concern. Ireland said CFIA has plans in place for its quick detection.

“When avian influenza is suspected, a sample is taken, and it is sent to a lab, that can be a provincial lab as (an) initial first step,” Ireland said. “To confirm the disease formally, the sample will be tested at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD) in Winnipeg.”

“We take early action based on early findings of the provincial labs.”

CFIA is also committed to dedicating personnel to HPAI response and containment. VP of operations Philippe Morel said “up to 10 per cent” of the agency was deployed to respond to outbreaks last fall.

Priority would be placed on depopulating infected areas, he said.

Global communication continues to be key to biosecurity preparedness, Ireland said.

“We need to continue to… monitor global events and trends. What are the diseases we’re seeing emerge, where are they? They inform our policy; they inform our regulatory approach. And they inform our import controls,” she said.

CFIA, she said, “has worked extensively with other federal departments and with industry and governments to ready ourselves, to be ready for an incursion, to prevent an incursion of a foreign animal disease.”

CBSA director general Shawn Hoag spoke to the importance of border control to Canada’s biosecurity preparedness.

All importers must provide information about their goods prior to entry, he said. CBSA agents have the authority to inspect shipments and hold them until they are either released or destroyed as necessary.

Options to better gather import data are being explored, he added, such as an increased number of x-rays and detector dogs.

Tom Rosser, assistant deputy minister for AAFC’s market and industry services branch, said the department is planning response simulations to ASF later this week.

— Jonah Grignon reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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Freeland’s 2023 federal budget, released Tuesday, includes $13 million in 2023-24 for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to temporarily increase the interest-free limit for loans under its Advance Payments Program (APP) to $350,000 for the 2023 program year.

The interest-free portion of an APP loan was previously capped at $100,000 but that level was temporarily raised last summer to $250,000 for the 2022 and 2023 program years.

The APP provides farmers with cash advances of up to $1 million, based on up to 50 per cent of the anticipated market value of a farm’s eligible production, whether it’s still to be produced or is already stored.

“Farm production costs have increased in Canada and around the world, including as a result Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and global supply chain disruptions,” Tuesday’s budget documents said. “It is important that Canada’s agricultural producers have access to the cash flow they need to cover these costs until they sell their products.”

On that note, the budget also committed the feds to “consult with provincial and territorial counterparts to explore ways to extend help to small agricultural producers who demonstrate urgent financial need.”

Fertilizer funding

On the matter of input costs, the budget also notes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has resulted in higher prices for nitrogen fertilizers, which has had a notable impact on eastern Canadian farmers who rely heavily on imported fertilizer.”

To that end, the budget proposes a $34.1 million addition to the federal On-Farm Climate Action Fund over three years, specifically “to support adoption of nitrogen management practices by eastern Canadian farmers, that will help optimize the use and reduce the need for fertilizer.”

That $34.1 million figure roughly coincides with a recent estimate of the tariffs collected so far on imports of Russian fertilizer into Eastern Canada. Several grower groups in that region have called for an end to that tariff and for farmers to be directly reimbursed for tariffs already paid.

Dairy development

Among other longer-term investments, the budget proposes $333 million over 10 years to set up what it calls the Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund, starting in 2023-24, to back development of new dairy products based on solids non-fat (SNF), a dairy processing byproduct.

The dairy sector is up against “a growing surplus” of SNF, for which the limited processing capacity in Canada “results in lost opportunities for dairy processors and farmers,” the budget said.

The new fund would support “investments in research and development of new products based on SNF, market development for these products, and processing capacity for SNF-based products more broadly.”

Inoculation inventory

The budget also pledges $57.5 million over five years starting in 2023-24, and $5.6 million ongoing, for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to set up a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine bank for Canada and develop FMD response plans.

Recent outbreaks of FMD in livestock in Asia and Africa “have increased the risk of global spread,” the budget said, and if an FMD outbreak were to occur in Canada it “would cut off exports for all livestock sectors, with major economic implications.”

The impact of a potential FMD outbreak “would be significantly reduced with the early vaccination of livestock,” the budget said. For the vaccine bank, the feds plan to “seek a cost-sharing arrangement with provinces and territories.”

The Canadian Cattle Association on Tuesday hailed the vaccine bank announcement, describing a vaccine bank as a “critical” investment which “helps provide necessary insurance to protect Canada’s export markets.” Several livestock groups have called for such an investment in recent years.

“While we hope this vaccine bank is never needed, we are grateful for today’s investment and its establishment,” CCA president Nathan Phinney said in a separate release. “We appreciate the government listening to our concerns and understanding the critical need to put in place emergency preparedness plans to control the spread of the disease and protect our export markets for Canadian beef.”

Risk management

CCA also hailed a separate budget line item pledging $184 million over three years to boost the Species At Risk Act. That funding goes to the federal environment, parks, fisheries and natural resources departments “to continue monitoring, protecting and promoting the recovery of species at risk to help restore their populations.”

“We will be engaging with the government of Canada to ensure beef producers are at the table as key stewards of lands where species at risk live,” the CCA said.

On that matter, noting cattle producers’ stewardship work on endangered native grasslands, Phinney said the CCA calls on Ottawa “to include support for protecting Canada’s grasslands in the future.”

Liquor and cannabis

Among federal sin taxes, the feds propose to temporarily cap the inflation adjustment for excise duties on beer, spirits and wine at two per cent, for one year only, as of April 1. Alcohol excise duties are usually automatically indexed to total Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation at the beginning of each fiscal year.

The feds also announced plans to allow all licensed Canadian cannabis producers to remit excise duties on a quarterly basis rather than a monthly basis, also starting April 1. That move expands on a measure put in place for “certain smaller” cannabis producers in the 2022 budget.

On that note, the budget said, “while significant progress has been made in eliminating criminal activity in the cannabis market, licensed cannabis producers are currently experiencing financial difficulties as they help to build a stable, legal cannabis industry in Canada.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Travellers arriving in Australia from Indonesia will now be asked to walk across sanitation foot mats at airports, the latest measure to ramp up Australia’s biosecurity measures, the government said.

The mats will contain a citric acid solution designed to dislodge any dirt from the sole of the shoe and cover it in the acid.

The move comes after FMD viral fragments were detected in meat goods that came into Australia recently from Indonesia and China, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said Wednesday at a news conference.

“We have detected foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever viral fragments in a small number of pork products for sale in the Melbourne CBD that were imported from China,” Watt said, adding that these were detected during routine checks.

“In addition to this a passenger travelling from Indonesia has in recent days been intercepted with a beef product that they didn’t declare which tested positive for foot and mouth disease viral fragments,” he added.

These viral fragments are not live and cannot be transmitted, he said.

Watt also said despite these findings Australia remains FMD-free.

More than 317,000 animals have been infected with FMD in 21 Indonesian provinces, largely on the most populated islands of Java and Sumatra, with more than 3,400 animals culled, according to government data.

Countries deemed FMD-free also still include, among others, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Japan, Chile, the U.K. and all European Union countries except Bulgaria. FMD was last reported in Canada in 1952.

Biosecurity New Zealand this week also introduced foot mats with disinfecting chemicals for arrivals from Indonesia to ensure footwear is clear of the virus. A campaign has been launched to educate travellers going to Bali of the issues.

There is an on-the-ground audit happening of the supply chain for animal feed palm kernel, New Zealand officials said, and that government is providing equipment to Indonesia to help contain the virus there.

Government modelling in Australia projects a widespread FMD outbreak in that country would have an estimated direct economic impact of around A$80 billion (C$71 billion).

What is FMD?

FMD is a severe and highly contagious viral disease affecting cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, deer, bison and other cloven-hoofed domestic and wild ruminants, appearing mainly as blister-like sores and lesions on animals’ feet and mouths.

Cases in people usually relate to consuming infected milk or having direct contact with FMD blisters. Cases in people are considered extremely rare, however, and are not to be confused with hand, foot and mouth disease, a separate viral illness in people.

Livestock and animal products such as fresh meat, embryos, semen, milk products, wool, hides and skins from susceptible species from FMD-infected countries are prohibited from entering Canada, unless they’ve been processed in order to destroy the FMD virus.

Only “cooked, commercially prepared, hermetically sealed” meat is allowed into Canada from countries that have FMD. For Canadian customs and food inspection purposes, “FMD-infected” denotes any country that has at least one confirmed FMD case.

Farmers or farm workers who come to Canada after travel to FMD-infected countries are advised to follow CFIA recommendations on cleaning and disinfection of their clothes, shoes and other items — and, if they visit farms while in those countries, should declare that to Canadian border officials upon return. Contact with farm animals is not recommended for at least five days.

— Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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“We are in Ottawa and have just left the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture with … great news: the opening up of the country’s pork and beef market,” Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias tweeted.

Asked for comment, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency told Reuters it “approved the import of raw and cooked poultry meat, pork and pH matured beef from Brazil” last Friday.

Dias, who traveled to Canada to speak with potash companies and other suppliers of fertilizers, said Brazilian farm products companies will now be able to export products to more than 200 markets around the world, which was her goal when she took over the ministry more than three years ago.

Brazilian pork and poultry lobby ABPA welcomed the announcement, but said the clearance for pork only extends to establishments in Santa Catarina, as the southern Brazilian state was the only one recognized as free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination at the time of the initial request.

Santa Catarina accounts for more than 50 per cent of Brazil’s pork exports, ABPA said.

Negotiations between Brazil and Canada continue relating to other areas now recognized as free of the disease by the World Organization for Animal Health.

–– Reporting by Ana Mano, Gabriel Araújo and Peter Frontini.

Update, March 15, 2022 — Article updated by Reuters to reflect Brazil agriculture ministry’s clarification that Brazil’s farm products companies — not just its meatpackers — now can access more than 200 markets, after Canada cleared Brazil’s beef and pork imports.

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Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious viral disease found in animals and is one of the most serious to affect livestock, including cattle, sheep and pigs.

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), which suspended the Andean country’s FMD-free status in August 2018, said on its website that Colombia had fulfilled the requirements to be re-declared free of the disease.

“We have waited months for this news,” Duque told reporters. “Now we want to open markets for Colombian meat… our goal is to double our meat exports in the coming years.”

Colombia, which has had a free trade agreement with Canada since 2011, is now classed by the OIE as a country where vaccination for FMD is practiced.

— Reporting for Reuters by Oliver Griffin.

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The OIE already considered most of Brazil to be free of FMD with vaccination. The declaration, which the government had been expecting since the start of the year, extends certification to the whole country.

Brazil’s access to many top-tier markets had remained limited by concerns over the introduction of the highly contagious disease which causes fever, mouth blisters and foot ruptures in cattle, swine as well as sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed ruminants.

“With this change in status we will have new countries with whom we can trade,” Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi told Reuters in Paris where he was attending the OIE’s general assembly.

He cited China as a major potential market and Japan, which does not buy meat extracts from Brazil due to the risk of the disease, he said.

Maggi said he has launched a program which aims to have the full country free of FMD without vaccination by 2023. Only one state in Brazil, Santa Catarina, has this status so far.

The disease, often fatal to animals, can infect humans, although it is extremely rare.

Separately, the OIE also assigned the following statuses at its general assembly:

• Peru and Surinam were recognized as free from foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease without vaccination and one zone in Chinese Taipei, in addition to Brazil, was officially recognized as FMD-free with vaccination;
• Argentina, Bulgaria and Costa Rica were recognized as being free of classical swine fever (CSF);
• Madagascar, Peru and Uruguay were recognized as being free from peste des petits ruminants (PPR); and
• Nicaragua was recognized as having a “negligible risk” of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

— Reporting for Reuters by Sybille de La Hamaide.

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Officials with hog industry body Ontario Pork reported Monday that senecavirus A, formerly called Seneca Valley virus or SVV, has been confirmed in the province. Neighbouring industry body Manitoba Pork said Tuesday that U.S. authorities have so far rejected at least eight truckloads of Ontario pigs showing signs of the disease.

According to the Canadian Pork Council, senecavirus isn’t considered a production-limiting or federally reportable disease in Canada, but its cases are cause for “increased awareness” because its symptoms resemble other diseases in the Picornaviridae family, such as FMD and swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV).

Clinical signs linked to senecavirus A in pigs include blisters or erosions on a pig’s snout, mouth and/or feet where the hoof meets the skin. Unexplained lameness, “off-feed events” and diarrhea in piglets have also been reported before vesicles or erosions appear in infected groups of pigs.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is now testing all swine at federal processing plants where animals are “symptomatic” for senecavirus, Manitoba Pork said Tuesday. Plants can be shut down up to 72 hours during testing, which “immediately” stops the flow of hogs and shipping of pork products from that facility.

Customers of, and suppliers to, a hog slaughter plant being shut down for testing will be notified of “pending production and product delays/cancellations,” Manitoba Pork said.

If a herd shows any symptoms, Manitoba Pork said, a producer should stop any movements of pigs on and off the farm, contact the herd veterinarian and area CFIA office, and warn his or her hog transporters, packing plants and/or assembly yards if any loads left the farm in the 12- to 24-hour period before symptoms were detected.

Producers are urged to “immediately” report suspected cases to their veterinarians and CFIA, Ontario Pork said, to ensure “rapid rule-out” of the disease’s more “catastrophic” relatives such as FMD.

If cases are suspected, Ontario Pork warned, it’s also important that producers themselves not leave the premises until CFIA officials or veterinary help arrive.

Ontario Pork also called on producers to strengthen on-farm biosecurity protocols and make sure trucks, clothing, equipment, boots and other tools are “thoroughly” cleaned and disinfected before allowed onto farm premises.

Since it was first identified in 2002, senecavirus A has been reported in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Brazil. Its first documented case in Canadian hogs was in 2007, when a Canadian hog with a ruptured vesicle on its snout turned up at a Minnesota packing plant by way of Manitoba.

A pair of pigs from Manitoba also showed up at a U.S. packing plant in October last year with symptoms and tested positive for senecavirus, but testing of all source herds in Manitoba turned up negative.

CFIA, Ontario Pork said Tuesday, is running its foreign animal disease protocols when dealing with senecavirus A and testing animals that are showing symptoms, sending samples to Winnipeg’s National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease for testing. — AGCanada.com Network

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The case involved a type of the disease that animals are inoculated against in South Korea, with all 670 hogs at the infected farm in the city of Gimje, about 200 km southwest of Seoul, to be slaughtered, said an agriculture ministry official.

Another official at the ministry confirmed the new discovery of foot-and-mouth, without giving details.

South Korea struggled to contain foot-and-mouth after it was discovered in the country in July 2014, intensifying fears about food safety as the nation was also grappling with an outbreak of bird flu. But no new cases had been discovered since April last year.

The outbreak stoked pork imports, mainly from the U.S. and Germany, with shipments rising nearly 30 per cent to around 423,000 tonnes between January and November 2015 from a year earlier, according to customs data.

— Reporting for Reuters by Rebecca Jang in Seoul.

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The outbreak was discovered around half a year ago on hog farms, intensifying fears about food safety in a nation already grappling with bird flu.

The agriculture ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the disease had been detected at a cattle farm at Anseong, nearly 100 km south of Seoul.

More than 26,000 hogs, or 0.3 per cent of the country’s total hog population, have been slaughtered as defence against foot-and-mouth, according to ministry data.

All the cases have involved a type of the disease against which animals are inoculated in South Korea, the ministry said.

Worries over livestock disease have helped boost meat imports.

South Korea’s pork imports, mainly from the U.S. and Germany, rose 21 per cent to 328,241 tonnes in the first 11 months of last year from the same period the year before, customs data showed.

The country’s beef imports, mainly from Australia and the U.S., also rose six per cent to over 260,000 tonnes between January and November last year from a year earlier, the data showed.

— Reporting for Reuters by Brian Kim from Seoul.

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