Better Pork

Sodexo Canada's first-ever Sustainable Food Barometer, conducted in collaboration with Leger, presents insightful data on Canadians' sustainable food habits and intentions. The survey, involving over 1,500 Canadians, provides a comprehensive picture of the current state and aspirations of Canadians in terms of sustainable eating. A notable finding is that a vast majority of Canadians (87%) recognize the urgency of adopting more sustainable eating habits. This awareness is reflected across all age groups and income levels, particularly among young adults aged 18-24. Interestingly, Canadians are already making strides in this direction, with 75% reducing household food waste, 68% eating seasonal produce, and 56% opting for local produce. However, the survey also highlights a gap between intentions and actions. Financial considerations and entrenched eating habits pose significant barriers to making more profound changes. Price remains the most crucial factor for Canadians when shopping for groceries, followed by taste and nutritional value. Despite these challenges, there is a willingness among Canadians to reduce their consumption of animal proteins and dairy products, aligning with global trends. The primary motivations for sustainable eating are health benefits and financial savings, with a significant number of Canadians also valuing food autonomy and setting an example for future generations. Sodexo Canada, recognizing its influential role, is committed to offering more sustainable food choices and reducing its environmental impact. The company's efforts include sustainable sourcing, offering plant-based recipes, optimizing energy use, and expanding the WasteWatch program to reduce food waste.

Olymel is laying off 100 workers from its Red Deer, Alta. pork processing facility. “At this time, 30 temporary layoff notices were delivered last week, and another 30 temporary layoffs are planned for this week,” spokesperson Audrey Giboulet told the Red Deer Advocate on Monday. Managers at the plant also announced the facility was overstaffed by about 200 people, the Red Deer Advocate reported. To support employees, the company is implementing an early retirement incentive program. Workers over 60 years old with at least 10 years of service as of Jan. 30 would be eligible for this program. Four people have already signed up. Any further layoffs will depend on the success of the early retirement program. And affected employees could be called back to work. Production and processing challenges are cited as reasons for the layoffs. In May 2023, for example, Olymel announced reductions at five production facilities in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. This reduced the company’s sow herd by almost 30 per cent.

As reported by Farm Credit Canada, Economics, the Canadian agricultural sector in 2024 is witnessing significant shifts in protein consumption patterns. With a projected -1.2% decline in pork production due to global oversupply and margin pressures, Canadian producers are navigating a challenging landscape. This comes at a time when domestic demand for pork is increasing, driven by consumers opting for more affordable protein sources. Canadian pork production will be under pressure again in 2024 The changing food preferences have broader implications for Canadian agriculture, both domestically and in export markets. As the demand for diverse and high-quality proteins rises, the landscape of consumption is evolving. Notably, Canadian beef consumption is on a long-term decline, yet demand remains robust, influenced by factors like price and income. Plant-based proteins are gaining traction, with the market in Canada growing annually by 4.8% in 2017 and expected to rise by 5.6% by 2022. Field pea proteins are showing remarkable growth, expected to reach a market value of US$359.4 million in 2022. This trend presents new opportunities for Canadian pulse growers, with the domestic market projected to hit US$31.6 million by 2022. Consumer preferences play a crucial role in this shift. Studies from the University of Saskatchewan and a joint study by Wageningen University, Michigan State, and Purdue indicate a preference for beef burgers over plant-based alternatives when prices are identical, with plant-based burgers holding a 15-20% market share. Quality also matters, as evidenced by the growing price spread between AAA and AA beef cutout values. The relative prices between animal and plant-based proteins will continue to shape consumer purchases, suggesting a future with a diverse protein supply. Looking at global trends, especially in emerging markets like Asia, meat consumption is set to grow, albeit at a slower rate than before. The OECD Agricultural Outlook projects a global annual growth rate of 1.10% for meat consumption over the next decade, with emerging countries leading the pace. This opens opportunities for Canadian exports, especially to countries in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), like Vietnam and Malaysia.

As reported by Farm Credit Canada, Economics, the Canadian agricultural sector in 2024 is witnessing significant shifts in protein consumption patterns. With a projected -1.2% decline in pork production due to global oversupply and margin pressures, Canadian producers are navigating a challenging landscape. This comes at a time when domestic demand for pork is increasing, driven by consumers opting for more affordable protein sources. Canadian pork production will be under pressure again in 2024 The changing food preferences have broader implications for Canadian agriculture, both domestically and in export markets. As the demand for diverse and high-quality proteins rises, the landscape of consumption is evolving. Notably, Canadian beef consumption is on a long-term decline, yet demand remains robust, influenced by factors like price and income. Plant-based proteins are gaining traction, with the market in Canada growing annually by 4.8% in 2017 and expected to rise by 5.6% by 2022. Field pea proteins are showing remarkable growth, expected to reach a market value of US$359.4 million in 2022. This trend presents new opportunities for Canadian pulse growers, with the domestic market projected to hit US$31.6 million by 2022. Consumer preferences play a crucial role in this shift. Studies from the University of Saskatchewan and a joint study by Wageningen University, Michigan State, and Purdue indicate a preference for beef burgers over plant-based alternatives when prices are identical, with plant-based burgers holding a 15-20% market share. Quality also matters, as evidenced by the growing price spread between AAA and AA beef cutout values. The relative prices between animal and plant-based proteins will continue to shape consumer purchases, suggesting a future with a diverse protein supply. Looking at global trends, especially in emerging markets like Asia, meat consumption is set to grow, albeit at a slower rate than before. The OECD Agricultural Outlook projects a global annual growth rate of 1.10% for meat consumption over the next decade, with emerging countries leading the pace. This opens opportunities for Canadian exports, especially to countries in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreemen

In 2024, Canadian agriculture faces a unique economic landscape marked by consumption slowdowns and inflationary pressures. According to Farm Credit Canada, Economics, the year will show a second consecutive year of modest growth due to the ripple effects of previous interest rate hikes. This is evident in sectors like consumption spending and debt servicing, crucial for nearly 60% of the GDP. Canadian consumers under pressure The agricultural sector, however, shows resilience and adaptability. In crops, a notable achievement is the record-breaking canola crushing in the first quarter of the 2023/24 marketing year. Despite challenges like rising construction costs and tight supplies, the sector's capacity expansion indicates a potential shift in crop cultivation preferences, influenced by the global soybean-corn futures ratio. Canola crush in first quarter of marketing year (Aug-Sep-Oct) The livestock domain presents a mixed picture. The North American beef herd is expected to shrink due to past droughts and economic pressures, necessitating a multiyear rebuilding process. On the other hand, the dairy sector seems poised for a rebound with lower feed costs, promising improved profitability compared to previous years. North American heifer and cow slaughter near decade high

The City of Hamilton is signing onto an initiative designed to help first responders locate farm and rural properties without municipal addresses. On Jan. 8, Hamilton announced its involvement in Farm 911, also known as The Emily Project. The initiative, which launched in 2017, is named after Emily Trudeau, a seven-year-old girl who passed away in 2014 after an accident on her family’s farm in Tweed. Emily’s mother had to flag down the first responders because they couldn’t find the entrance to the farm. The program provides civic addresses to rural properties. These addresses include a civic number, a full street name and the municipality, multiple municipal websites say. Work on bringing this project to Hamilton has been years in the making. “The local federation of agriculture has been advocating for this for a few years,” Drew Spoelstra, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and farmer from Binbrook, Ont., told Farms.com. “We’re glad the City has brought this on board and trying to address the concerns about access to emergency services.” Local

An ag mental health organization in Alberta is asking farmers to participate in an online survey. AgKnow wants producers to take the survey for three reasons: The responses ensure mental health programs align with the realities of Alberta farms, The responses help create resources that resonate with daily challenges, and The survey helps foster a supportive mental health environment across agriculture. “As mental health programs begin to roll out across Canada, your voice becomes crucial in shaping these initiatives,” the organization’s website says. The survey consists of nine questions. They include identifying if someone in an individual household has participated in mental health counselling, how important an individual feels it is to have access to counsellors who understand agriculture and identifying barriers to receiving mental health support. Participants can also choose to print a copy of their answers after the survey.

ino and Abhinesh Gopal; Photo by: Jodie Aldred North American hog producers live and die by the gyrations in hog futures. The year 2023 was not the kindest to hog futures and to hog producer margins. Futures reacted sharply to the developments in the US hog/pork sector. The trend in 2023 had been that of a shrinking breeding herd. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been reporting on a shrinking US hog breeding herd that could break below the industry’s comfort level of six million head for the first time in a long time. Canada’s hog herd as a whole is expected to shrink in 2024 on account of reduced Canadian packing capacity that shrank in 2023 due to plant closures and continued labour availability issues. Their issues are likely to continue in 2024. US domestic hog and pork demand was a sore spot in 2023, and that too is contributing to the Canadian and US hog herd shrinkage. Domestic demand continued to be the missing link in 2023 when exports did a lot of the heavy lifting, especially with Mexico buying record amounts, as domestic consumers preferred spending more on beef despite record-high prices. We spoke previously about the surprise in the September USDA ‘Hogs & Pigs’ report update in terms of higher-than-expected US hog inventory. This was on account of increased productivity, especially due to better mitigation of diseases from the hog herd. With a much healthier herd, as the big integrators reduce old sows from production, you have a recipe for more supplies at lower prices that result in losses for hog producers despite lower feed prices. The very big hog integrators control two-thirds of the total sows in the US. So, when they lose on the hog production side, they make it up on the packer side. That is causing losses to continue as they are reducing less productive sows and replacing them with more productive ones. Better health has surely been a key driver. The increase in productivity gains (pigs saved per litter), feed efficiencies, and less disease offset the continuous labour challenges of 2021 and 2022. This put US producers back on their long-term growth trend for litter size, and that trend should continue in 2024. The average US pig litter size from September 2007 to September 2023 grew at an annual growth rate of over 1.5 percent. Also, the continuous increase of the US pig crop despite farrowing remaining stable over the last 28 years reflects the productivity increases in the industry. The quarterly USDA ‘Hogs and Pigs’ reports always garner keen market attention, but since the latter half of 2023, it has been watched more closely for more surprises. Given the losses producers faced over the last two years and are likely to face in 2024, resurgent producers are likely to be forced to trim the breeding herd again in 2024. According to estimates by the Iowa State University economics department, a normal farrow-to-finish US hog producer would have faced losses in 10 months during the 12 months from November 2022 to October 2023, with the hefty losses averaging US$21 per hog per month. Hog farmers are likely to have been forced to liquidate sows in the winter, which is expected to cause lower hog and pork supplies in 2024. But this has been talked about repeatedly, and it’ll need to be monitored closely to see how it impacts the m

A forage breeder with more than 40 years of experience is headed to the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame. Bruce Coulman, whose time in ag includes head of the plant sciences department at the University of Saskatchewan and as a research scientist with AAFC, will be enshrined during a ceremony in Saskatoon this April with five other inductees. The inductees were revealed during the Western Canadian Crop Production Show. “I was quite surprised and very humbled,” Coulman told Farms.com. “I know a number of folks who have been inducted, so to be included among them is a great honour.” His interest in breeding and crop varieties started in high school when he worked with a crop science program. In his professional career, he developed 24 novel forage varieties in nine different species. In some cases, they were the first of their kind. A hybrid grass stands out as a key accomplishment, Coulman said. “Smooth bromegrass has been around a long time and is quite a good hay species, but it doesn’t regrow very well after first cut,” he said. “Meadow brome is a little different that it doesn’t yield as much but it regrows really well. We made crosses between these two types of bromegrasses to combine the characteristics of the grasses and that’s been very popular among beef produce

Two Sask. ag organizations will unite later in 2024. On Jan. 10, SaskCanola and SaskFlax announced the two organizations will officially amalgamate in August 2024 after successful votes at their respective annual general meetings. Farmers voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of joining forces. “The collaborative efforts are expected to streamline operations, enhance research initiatives, and provide a more cohesive voice for oilseed growers in the province,” Tracy Broughton, executive director, said in a statement. The next step for the two organizations is to consult with the Agri-Food Council. The independent council supervises and monitors ag agencies in the province. Part of its duties include approving agency orders and assisting groups in establishing new agencies. Boards and staff from each organization will remain in place until the amalgamation takes effect.

As we start the new year amid elevated inflation and major headwinds facing the economy, Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) Economics team presents the top economic charts to monitor in 2024 to help make sense of the economic environment for farm operations, agribusinesses and food processors. The blog post titled,Top economic charts to monitor in 2024, now is available for publication, in whole or in part, without permission. We just ask that you credit the source, Farm Credit Canada, Economics. The web link to be used for the written press can be:www.fcc.ca/economics(see the blog of January 9, 2024). These insights can also be used to supplement your print or broadcast agriculture and food coverage with attribution to Farm Credit Canada.

Neonatal diarrhea (ND) is a common occurrence on Canadian pig farms. The cause of neonatal diarrhea in piglets is often multifactorial; many infectious pathogens can contribute to diarrhea. This includes E. coli, Clostridium perfringens type A and C (CpA & CpC), Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile), Rotavirus, and Porcine Epidemic Virus (PED)1 . However, the prevalence of C. difficile and CpA on Canadian pig farms has not been recently investigated. C. difficile causes diarrhea in piglets less than 7 days of age, with high morbidity and variable mortality2. CpA is a normal inhabitant of the pig’s intestinal microbiota and has also been implicated as a cause of diarrhea in neonatal piglets3. Understanding the prevalence of C. difficile and CpA would allow for better control of ND on Canadian farms.

The reverberations of California’s Prop 12, a 2018 animal welfare law, are creating ripples in the North American hog market, leaving Manitoba Pork and other stakeholders facing uncertainty. The law, effective from January 1, 2024, mandates that meat and eggs sold in California comply with the state’s stringent welfare regulations, impacting space allotments for sows. Although Prop 12’s full enforcement began on New Year’s Day, its effects have been unfolding since July, prompting concerns among Canadian pork producers. General Manager Cam Dahl notes that the impact is evident in indicators such as price trends for piglets, a significant market for Manitoba, which annually exports millions of piglets to the U.S. Dahl emphasizes his worry about the potential fragmentation of the North American marketplace, foreseeing adverse effects on both farmers and consumers. The concern stems from the law’s potential to yield lower returns for farmers and higher prices for consumers. The implications of Prop 12 challenge the integrity of the trade agreement between Canada and the U.S., emphasizing the importance of consistent sanitary and phytosanitary conditions. In the U.S., opposition to Prop 12 is not uniform. The National Pork Producers Council mounted a legal challenge that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately upheld the law in May of the previous year. A Washington State think tank, the Washington Policy Center Initiative on Agriculture (WPCIA), predicts that compliance costs could lead to a reduction in the U.S. national hog herd and industry consolidation. The WPCIA estimates retrofitting facilities to Prop 12-compliant standards would cost approximately $3,500 per sow, posing a significant financial burden on smaller farms. This financial strain may force some to sell to larger farms, a trend that has long been a concern within the meat production industry. The impact on pork prices remains uncertain, with the WPCIA suggesting that consumers will bear the brunt as supply constricts and compliance costs become apparent. Manitoba’s pork industry finds itself in a holding pattern, with stakeholders awaiting further developments and economic signals. Bill Alford, President of Headingly-based H@Ms Marketing Services, emphasizes the challenges posed by uncertainty, noting the industry’s efforts to rebalance supply with demand alongside the unpredictability introduced by Prop 12. The overarching concern is the lack of a scientific foundation for regulations like Prop 12, which creates an environment of uncertainty for producers. Dahl highlights the impracticality of investing significant funds in barn refurbishments only to face shifting regulatory goalposts in the future. As Manitoba’s pork industry navigates these uncertain times, the key challenge lies in balancing compliance with regulatory demands while ensuring economic viability for producers in the long term.

Research conducted by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine shows the opportunity to engage in play enhances the physiological and psychological robustness of grow-finish pigs and boosts their ability to recover from disease. Research conducted through the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare Research Program, which explored the potential of using play to increase psychological and physiological robustness in pigs was examined yesterday as part of a forum held in conjunction with the 2024 Banff Pork Seminar. Karolina Steinerova, a PhD student with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, says the performance of grow-finish pigs provided opportunities for play was compared to the performance of a control group. Quote-Karolina Steinerova-Western College of Veterinary Medicine: First of all, we successfully promoted play in grow-finish pigs.Our results also suggest that play is a positive experience for the pigs because we saw indications in their behavior.They find it rewarding and they are anticipating it in a positive way. The third thing is that we actually saw a different response in the group with play opportunities when the pigs were challenged with porcine reproductive and respiratory virus PRRS.We saw different immune response which is very interesting. Our play group during, the infection period, gained more weight, had higher average daily gain.Also, there was less aggression in the play pigs.They experienced less severe respiratory distress which is a usual clinical symptom of the PRRS virus and we also saw some modified immune response between the control and play pigs. We saw that play pigs had lower white blood cells and also lower monocytes which is one of the target cells of PRRS.We can see some modified immune response in the play pigs and possibly also enhanced disease resilience. Full details on this work can be accessed swinewelfare.com.

Researchers with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine are using serotyping to categorise the virulence of Streptococcus suis.Researchers with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine have been investigating the implications of multiple Streptococcus suis serotype infections. Dr. Matheus Costa, an Assistant Professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and an Adjunct Professor at Utrecht University, explains dealing with Streptococcus suis associated disease is especially challenging because the bacteria is commonly found in the microbiome of the pig, however only certain serotypes will cause disease. Quote-Dr. Matheus Costa-Western College of Veterinary Medicine: Serotypes are a way of grouping bacteria.Bacteria, if you think about it, they are a very diverse population.Just like humans, every single bacteria is different from each other but not every Strep suis causes disease so, grouping them may make it easier for us to identify groups that are more aggressive and cause disease versus those groups that are not so aggressive and can not be ignored but they do not require a quick response. The way we establish serotypes is by looking at their capsule.Many Streptococcus suis will produce a capsule that protects the cell from any damage, including from an immune response.We can determine what capsule types by using a physical test. We would expose this Streptococcus isolate to an antibody and that antibody may or may not react but that is a very costly and time-consuming test so now laboratories have PCRs or even whole genome sequencing.So that all can be used to establish what serotype is present in the clinical sample. Again, that helps us say this may be a problematic strain or this may just be a normal strain that is not going to cause a lot of disease so we don't need to address it immediately, let's look for another pathogen. Dr. Costa says, so far, 25 different serotypes have been identified and they seem to be very diverse but there is also a lot of similarities. He says by establishing serotyping, the goal is to determine if there is a difference in virulence between the serotypes.

The CEO of Farm Health Guardian says data gathered by GPS tracking devices installed on swine transport vehicles can help pork producers proactively improve their transport biosecurity.In an effort to improve transport biosecurity Guelph based Farm Health Guardian in cooperation with the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board and the Canadian Agri-food Automation and Intelligence Network conducted a pilot project under which the performance of various GPS tracking devices was assessed under real world conditions in rural Saskatchewan. Farm Health Guardian CEO Rob Hannam says tracking devices were installed in trucks that regularly move pigs to and from the farms. Quote-Rob Hannam-Farm Health Guardian: We worked with about a dozen farm properties and about 20 trucks that are working in the swine business in Saskatchewan.We had feed mills and we had other feed companies and livestock trucks and a range of farms across the province were involved so we got a good test on it.All the data for the pilot project was kept confidential because it was just a test. Each owner of the truck or owner of the farm can see their own information and that's helpful to them to be able to check their biosecurity protocols or, if there was a disease outbreak, they could do that traceback that a veterinarian would want to do they can do that instantly.We used mapping technology and the maps that we generated, they were useful both to be proactive and also in a disease response. We went into the project thinking, this is great if there's a disease investigation.If we have a disease outbreak the vets can respond much quicker with digital data that's combined into a platform they can use.But what we learned is it can be used proactively as well and actually alert people if the biosecurity protocols aren't followed, even if there isn't an outbreak, just making sure they're following the rules they've set for themselves.We've actually developed breech alerts based on some of the findings from this project. Hannam notes the full report is accessible as a fee download through his company's web site at farmhealthhguardian.com.

An animal care specialist with J Woods Livestock Services says one of the most difficult concepts to for people to get their heads around when moving pigs is "the fewer you move, the faster it will get done."The topic "Why Pigs Do What They Do, Not What We Want Them To Do" was among the topics discussed as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2023 in Saskatoon.Jennifer Woods of J Woods Livestock Services says its all about understanding what motivates the pig. Quote-Jennifer Woods-J Woods Livestock Services: I spend a lot of focussing on animal behavior and trying to understand how animals think and why they react the way they do, so understanding what they like and don't like.One of the big things I really focus on is group size.That's a really hard one for people to get their head around is the less pigs you move the faster you get it done. Overcrowding is another issue.I'm trying to get people to back off, give them room to go and letting them think it's their idea to move.Their motivation is to move away from pressure, so it's to feel safe. That's why when you approach them and apply that visual pressure the intent is to get the pig to move away from you without actually fleeing out of fear. That's one of the biggest challenges with using the motivation of the fear response, is not to invoke full fear in them but more get them to move as a cautionary movement of them. It's just like, you know what, she's a little too close to me so I'm going to turn and I'm going move away.It'll just make me feel safer.They don't like being crowded, they don't like being moved in big groups, they don't like you right in their face, they don't like being forced or pushed. They really want to believe it's their idea so, give them an area to go, open it up let them see that there is a way for them to escape and move forward and make them feel safer. Woods says usually the animals are doing exactly what we are telling them to do according to where we are standing, to our body language, to how we're reacting to them and it can be very frustrating for handlers if they don't understand that.

The Coordinator of Squeal on Pigs Manitoba says baiting and trapping appears to be the most effective way of capturing wild pigs and eliminating them from the landscape.Wild pigs contaminate water sources, damage natural habitats and farm crops, and can spread different diseases to commercial and small-scale livestock. Squeal on Pigs Manitoba Coordinator Dr. Wayne Lees says wild pigs tend to be nocturnal and fairly elusive so the signs that most people would see would be crop damage. Quote-Dr. Wayne Lees-Squeal on Pigs Manitoba: Squeal on Pigs is a project to eliminate wild pigs from the landscape in Manitoba.These are an invasive species that don't belong here and they've caused a lot of damage, not just to crops but also to the environment and they also pose a risk for potential disease should we be inundated with a disease such as a foreign animal disease. We've adopted a number of different strategies in order to, first of all, find out where the pigs are and then, once we find out where the pigs are, we go through a process of trying to set up cell cameras, a baiting station and then finally a trap.The trapping strategy seems to be the most effective for us. It seems like if we set up the trap in an area where the pigs are and can attract them with bait, that seems to work the best. Anyone who sees evidence of wild pigs is encouraged to call 1-833-SPOT-PIG or to file a report through the Squeal on Pigs Manitoba website at squealonpigsmb.org.

In a proactive move to strengthen animal biosecurity, Canada's House of Commons agriculture committee recently released a series of important recommendations. These recommendations are aimed at bolstering Canada's defenses against significant animal health threats, such as African swine fever (ASF) and avian influenza (AI). The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food has identified seven key recommendations to enhance Canada's preparedness for biosecurity risks. First and foremost, the committee emphasizes the need to work closely with international partners to share best practices and coordinate efforts in enhancing biosecurity measures. This cooperation is crucial in a globalized world where diseases can easily cross borders. Additionally, there's a push for increased funding for the development and implementation of innovative biosecurity technologies and practices, including sensor technologies and automated disinfection systems. Regular reviews of biosecurity protocols are also encouraged to ensure their effectiveness. The committee suggests developing a national awareness campaign to educate both industry stakeholders and the public about the importance of biosecurity measures. This initiative aims to highlight the link between high animal welfare standards and the prevention of disease spread. Improving Canada’s ability to respond to animal disease outbreaks is another focus area. This includes engaging in public-private partnerships for the development of new vaccines and treatments, and the standardization of requirements for animal medications. The government's proposal to develop vaccine banks, as outlined in the 2023 budget for diseases like foot-and-mouth disease, is a step in this direction. Prioritizing protocol agreements with trading partners for diseases like ASF is critical to maintaining healthy trade relationships. Additionally, reviewing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s compensation policy to include all costs associated with the destruction of animals is suggested. The committee also highlights the importance of ensuring Canadian border and inspection services are well-equipped to handle biosecurity threats. This includes adequate training in agricultural matters, enforcing penalties for non-compliance with import requirements, and ensuring reciprocity of standards between countries. Lastly, the committee recommends a review of regulatory requirements for the disposal of specified risk material. This is to enable Canadian beef producers to compete more effectively in international markets without compromising biosecurity or Canada’s status regarding bovine spongifor

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has recently announced an innovative Sustainability Incentive Program aimed at supporting Canadian crop producers who implement the 4R Nutrient Stewardship program, as part of their commitment to sustainable agriculture. This program, introduced at the Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon, is designed to assist producers in adopting environmentally friendly practices without compromising their competitive edge. The program's launch is timely, giving producers the opportunity to participate as early as the 2024 crop year. Justine Hendricks, FCC President and CEO, expressed enthusiasm about the program's potential to merge innovation, science, and expertise in a way that supports sustainable and profitable food production. To be eligible, FCC customers with active lending must have a 4R Nutrient Stewardship plan in place, record their production activities in AgExpert Field, and have their practices verified by a 4R designated agronomist within AgExpert Field by the end of the growing season. Curtis Grainger, FCC Director of Sustainability Programs, detailed the process, stating that producers will work with a 4R designated agronomist to plan their crop year, follow the 4R Nutrient Stewardship program, and have their practices verified through AgExpert. This integration aims to facilitate a streamlined approach to implementing climate-smart agricultural practices. The 4R Nutrient Stewardship is a framework developed by Fertilizer Canada, focusing on using the right source of fertilizer at the right rate, right time, and right place. These practices aim to increase production and profitability for farmers while enhancing environmental protection. Karen Proud, President and CEO of Fertilizer Canada, highlighted the importance of fertilizer in food security and maximizing crop yields. She commended the integration of 4Rs into AgExpert and the inclusion in FCC's incentive program, encouraging producers to adopt sustainable best management practices. This initiative by FCC reinforces the importance of digital agriculture tools and innovative sustainable solutions in strengthening Canada's food production capabilities. It represents a collaborative effort to advance the Canadian agriculture and food industry. Producers interested in the 4R Sustainability Incentive Program are encouraged to connect with a 4R agronomist and prepare for the program's official launch in May 2024. Farm Credit Canada is Canada's leading agriculture and food lender, committed to supporting the industry wit