JR Consulting

– Government of Canada

The Government of Canada today launched a new program to help Canadian farmers and exporters sell more products to more international customers. This new Trade and Market Development Program is part of the new Growing Forward agricultural framework.

[Read News Release]

– Government of Canada

“The Government of Canada is helping hog farmers by investing in an initiative to combat disease and provide stability for the sector. Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture Pierre Lemieux and MP Gary Schellenberger (Perth-Wellington) today announced a federal investment in the hog industry to develop and implement biosecurity best management” practices, research projects and long-term disease risk management solutions.”

[Read News Release]

– Reuters

Australia’s beef exports are forecast to rise 3.4 percent in 2009 to a new record, boosted by a sharply depreciated Australian dollar and persistent robust demand in some markets, Meat & Livestock Australia’s chief analyst Peter Weeks said on Monday.

“Exports have got off to a pretty good start for the year, helped by the fall in the Australian dollar,” Weeks said in an interview in Sydney as part of the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit.

[Read Article]

– Stock & Land

The United States livestock industry has continued its intramural battle on mandatory versus voluntary animal identification, even as leaders of the House Agriculture Committee applied pressure for a resolution in favour of a mandatory program during a livestock subcommittee hearing last week.
The National Pork Producers Council and the dairy industry, whose production systems make compliance more economical, continued to call for a mandatory system.

[Read Article]

– Lethbridge Herald

Cattle thefts off the wide open ranges in deep southern Alberta have RCMP livestock investigators stumped and local ranchers scratching their heads and screaming for help.
Now, more cattlemen are clamouring for a special insurance program that will pay up to $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of cattle thieves.
Warren Brower of Aden, just east of Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, said more than 300 cattle “have gone missing” in the past five years, and his herd accounts for about one-third of the losses. And nobody knows where they have gone or how they are being used.

[Read Article]

– Meridian Booster

About 1.5 million calves have been age verified as part of last June’s livestock and meat strategy. This represents 83 per cent of the 2008 calf crop, which George Groenevald, Alberta agriculture minister said he’s happy with the progress.

“This is a crucial first step in achieving the successful future for the industry we all want,” he said.

[Read Article]

– Better Farming

“The future of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round negotiations is still uncertain but a strong statement from world leaders at next month’s G20 meeting could put them back on track later this year. That’s the view of Dairy Farmers of Canada spokesman Yves Leduc. But trade consultant Peter Clark of Ottawa doesn’t expect any real discussions in the Doha negotiations to happen before next year.”

[Read Article]

– Canadian Press

“At a time when other provinces are projecting deficits, the Saskatchewan government has tabled a surplus budget with tax cuts and money for roads, hospitals and schools. Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer’s fiscal forecast for 2009-10 includes a decrease in property taxes that will put money in the pockets of homeowners.”

[Read Article]

– Alberta Farmer

“If Canada wants an globally competitive ag industry, it’s not going to get it through public policy focused on farm income support rather than business support, a new report warns.”

[Read Article]

– The Government of Canada

“The Government of Canada is creating new economic opportunities for farmers by investing in research that will expand market possibilities. Member of Parliament Joe Preston (Elgin-Middlesex-London) today announced $8.7 million in funding to develop technologies that will increase the industrial value of the surplus cereal straw that is now left out on the field.”

[Read Article]

– Calgary Herald

“Calgary’s a contrasting landscape–surrounded by pastoral farms and ranches that define the Prairies, the city rises, an urban maze of highways and skyscrapers personifying industry and consumerism.

It may be difficult for some to reconcile Calgary’s two drastically different sides. But not only did Neil Wiens embrace it, he made it his business.

Wiens is one of the founders of Bio-Cycle Nutrient Solutions Ltd., which makes its product from garbage such as drywall and food product leftovers from waste management companies”

[Read Entire Article]

– The Edmonton Journal

“A bankrupt Alberta hog farm left thousands of pigs without feed, creating conditions so dire that some of the animals actually began eating each other. La Crete Pork has pleaded guilty to allowing an animal to be in distress and will be sentenced Dec. 23.”

[Read Entire Article]

– The New York Times
“The Kyoto climate treaty allows companies and countries to trade pollution credits across borders to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets. The idea is that gases reduced anywhere in the world will have the same effect.”
[Read Entire Article]

– Bloomberg.com
“Ukraine and Russia plan to stockpile credits to release greenhouse gases jointly valued at $89 billion, saving them for use by their factories, power plants and home heaters under a new global-warming treaty taking effect in 2013.”
[Read Entire Article]

AP
“Two guys and a four-door sedan. That’s all it took for cattle rustlers to relieve dairy owner Pete Wiersma of three valuable calves. Once the province of outlaws and the bane of hardscrabble ranchers who grazed their cattle on the open range, cattle rustling has never gone away. Like the livestock industry, it’s only gotten more efficient.”
[Read Entire Article]

The Prarie Star
“Livestock producers looking to capture a premium for age- and source-verified feeder calves need to market them as such or consider video auction to receive such a premium, according to a three-state auction study.”
[Read Entire Article]

Bloomberg.com
“Wheat rebounded to a one-week high on speculation that global production of the grain may drop because of adverse weather. Futures in Chicago have more than doubled in the past year after drought in some regions and excessive rain in other countries curbed yields. Some investors are betting weather will hurt crops again, said Larry Young, a senior trader at Infinity Futures Inc. in Chicago.”
[Read Entire Article]

Cattlenetwork.com
“The Texas Department of Agriculture (TAD) said Friday that Mexico has offered a new trade protocol to USDA regarding the import of U.S. cattle following the state ag commissioner’s announcement that certain Canadian cattle breeds would be prohibited from entering Mexico by way of Texas export facilities due to unfair trade practices.”
[Read Entire Article]

Reuters
“To hear some presidential candidates and European leaders talk, you would think hard times lay ahead for advocates of free trade. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are vying in the Democratic primaries to criticize the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, and vowing to renegotiate it to protect American workers.”
[Read Entire Article]

The Sun Times
“Beef farmers pressed the federal government Friday for fast cash to help them survive the growing livestock market crisis caused by high feed costs and Canada’s high dollar. The money wasn’t in the recent federal budget, although two Ontario Conservative MPs say improved federal farm support programs should eventually help.”
[Read Entire Article]