Smithfield hit by higher hog prices Thursday, June 10, 2010 Smithfield Food Inc, and the analysts who keep an eye on it, have been caught off guard by the recent leap in hog prices. Meatingplace.com notes that Smithfield was warning investors before regular meetings that its fourth quarter numbers will be weaker than expected, in spite of changes in the way the company is doing business.A BMO Capital Markets analyst noted that Smithfield had still made the right decisions by restructuring its hog business and reducing the amount of debt carried on its balance sheet. The world's largest hog producer is expected to do much better in 2011.Higher raw material costs, meaning hogs, are affecting Smithfield's fresh pork business, while the unexpected run-up in futures has hurt the value of those assets, according to "mark to market" accounting, a system of assigning current market value to financial instruments. BP Bacon a must for foster children? Canada's share of world pork trade predicted to decline
B.C. livestock ID program unreliable Thursday, November 20, 2025 A program designed to protect B.C.’s livestock and poultry sectors isn’t doing so, a new report found. A look into the BC Premises Identification program discovered the Ministry of Agriculture and Food hadn’t implemented the program properly, B.C. Auditor General Sheila Dodds said in a... Read this article online
Canadian Farmers Seek Fair Succession Tax Reform Wednesday, November 19, 2025 Family farmers across Canada are urging the federal government to update tax rules that they say no longer reflect the reality of modern farming families. Current laws under the Income Tax Act allow farmers to transfer their farms to their own children without immediate tax... Read this article online
Workers at Maple Leaf pork plant in Manitoba support strike mandate Wednesday, November 19, 2025 Workers at a pork product production facility in Winnipeg, Man., may be going on strike. UFCW Local 832, which represents 1,880 workers at Maple Leaf’s facility at 870 Lagimodiere Blvd., received 98 per cent of support for a strike mandate, the union announced on Nov. 15. This means... Read this article online
Battle River Railway and CN collaborate on Alberta wheat movement Wednesday, November 19, 2025 A rail shipment of wheat in Alberta marked a significant milestone. Battle River Railway (BRR), a farmer-owned shortline railway, and CN, worked together to bring five cars of wheat to Westlock Terminals – its first ever wheat shipment by rail – from Battle River’s elevator in... Read this article online
Alberta ag minister included in Operation Total Recall Tuesday, November 18, 2025 A community group is targeting MLAs – like Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson – and his colleagues who voted in support of using a controversial part of the Charter. Operation Total Recall tracks campaigns against 44 “MLAs who voted to use the Notwithstanding Clause against... Read this article online