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Feather sector’s on-farm upgrade program underway

Applications now being accepted for funding

The federal free trade compensation program to help Canada’s poultry and egg producers pay for on-farm upgrades, renovations and improvements is now taking applications. The $646.8 million, 10-year Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program (PEFIP) is now formally underway, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday. Each eligible Canadian producer is entitled to an amount proportional […] Read more

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Don’t count chickens before they hatch: Tyson bet on wrong rooster

Meat giant books unexpected decline in hatching

Chicago | Reuters — Tyson Foods is laying off a certain type of rooster from its U.S. chicken business after a surprising discovery that eggs fertilized by the male bird hatch less often, resulting in fewer chickens. The world’s largest meat producer by sales will install a replacement across its breeding program by this fall […] Read more



(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Risk of human spread of H5N8 bird flu deemed low

Seven people infected but asymptomatic, WHO says

Geneva | Reuters — The risk of human-to-human spread of the H5N8 strain of bird flu appears low after it was identified for the first time worldwide in farm workers in Russia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. A separate influenza strain, H1N1, that emerged from pigs and spread rapidly worldwide among humans […] Read more



The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

USDA unveils more COVID-19 aid, mostly for livestock farmers

Funds earmarked for farmers under contract

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday it will pay an additional US$2.3 billion in COVID-19 aid to farmers, directing more money to livestock producers suffering from disruptions in slaughtering and restaurant demand for meat. The aid, which comes from money allocated to USDA from previous pandemic stimulus legislation, follows […] Read more


File photo of uncooked chicken wings. (Mimadeo/iStock/Getty Images)

COVID outbreak shuts Nova Scotia poultry plant

Province closes Eden Valley for at least two weeks

Provincial officials have temporarily shut a chicken and turkey slaughter and processing plant in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, citing recent cases of COVID-19 among employees. Eden Valley Poultry’s processing plant at Berwick will be closed “for at least two weeks,” the provincial health department said in a release Friday. “We know this will be a […] Read more

(Maple Leaf Foods photo via Facebook)

Quebec poultry packer to shut ex-Maple Leaf plant

Giannone to close Drummondville facility

The new owner of an antibiotic-free poultry processing plant in the Centre-du-Quebec region is set to shut the plant next week after a “thorough review” of its condition. Volaille Giannone announced Friday it will close the former Avicomax plant at Drummondville effective Nov. 6, after having bought it from Maple Leaf Foods in July for […] Read more


Free range chickens

Fowl play in the free-range poultry industry

The dire perils of free-range environments, chickens may be happier indoors, warm and among friends

It seems that the general public has a very distorted view of farming practices, which is helped by the inability or reluctance of the North American farming community to deliver the real facts. Many in the urban general public seem to have fond visions of laying hens or broiler chickens tiptoeing through the green, grassy […] Read more

File photo of uncooked chicken wings. (Mimadeo/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario meat processor buys into poultry slaughter

ADP Direct buys Cami International

A growth-minded Toronto poultry and deli meat further-processing company has made a vertical move with a deal for a federally-inspected Niagara-area poultry slaughter plant. ADP Direct Poultry announced Friday it has bought up 100 per cent ownership of Cami International Poultry, a slaughter and processing facility at Welland, Ont., for an undisclosed amount. The deal […] Read more