'Pocket pigs' pose problems Sunday, February 6, 2011 "Pocket pigs" got a big boost last year in Britain when celebrity guests, including soccer star David Beckham and his glamorous wife Victoria, went home from the Golden Globe movie awards with miniature pot-bellied pigs in their goodie bags. The pigs, which cost £3,000 to buy, were compliments of the owner of Patty's Royal Dandie Miniature Pet Pig. It was a good publicity stunt. By early December British authorities were warning of dangers involved in buying these pigs as pets for children. The pigs can carry and pass on the skin condition erysipeloid and the bacterium Streptococcus suis, which can lead to illness, including meningitis and deafness in humans. The micro pigs have been bred down to size, only 28 grams at birth. They still weigh as much as 29 kilograms and 35 centimetres in height when fully grown. They can live to be 18 years old. BP Manitoba producers sink under an increasing burden of regulation Worldwide hog production shrinks and Smithfield rocks
Minister MacDonald’s record in the House Tuesday, June 30, 2026 With Parliament on its summer recess, Farms.com is summarizing the involvement of Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald and his counterparts during the first session of the 45th Parliament. For context, this session started on May 26, 2025, and Prime Minister Carney appointed MacDonald as... Read this article online
Rogers Sugar Secures Long-Term Labour Deal at Taber Refinery Until 2032 Monday, June 29, 2026 Rogers Sugar Inc. has announced a significant long-term labour agreement that strengthens stability across Canada’s sugar beet sector, with unionized workers at its Taber, Alberta refinery ratifying an extension of their collective agreement through March 2032. The agreement, reached... Read this article online
CFIA Food Fraud Crackdown Protects Canadian Farmers and Food Integrity Monday, June 29, 2026 The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has released its latest , revealing how enforcement actions that kept more than 150,000 kilograms of misrepresented food out of the marketplace are also playing a critical role in protecting Canada’s agriculture sector. While the report... Read this article online
Strong Demand and Heat Boost Grain Outlook Monday, June 29, 2026 On the weekly titled, “Weather + Acres + Chinese Demand = Fund Short Covering rally in Grains” for the week ending June 26, 2026, Farms.com Risk Management Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino and Commodity Strategist Abhinesh Gopal agreed that grain markets may see a strong... Read this article online
- Derecho climatology (Gaustini/Bosart): a corridor through the northern Plains/upper Midwest carries a >65% annual chance of a derecho-strength MCS, driven by northwest flow on the ridge's periphery. We must watch this region over the next 60 days. More on this below... - Cold North Atlantic: Years with the current North Atlantic cold-tongue pattern favor western troughs + heat pushing into the Midwest. Caveat: rapid warming on the south side of the cold plume means the simple composite likely understates the evolving pattern. Plus the Gulf of Alaska has been warming which could negate these impacts. See this part of the video for a deeper dive. - Modeling caution: During Summer, global models like the ECMWF and GFS are at their weakest due to coarse resolution and their inability to res Monday, June 29, 2026 A dangerous early July heat wave is expected to test U.S. corn and soybean crops -- as if they have not already been tested enough -- as the growing season moves into a critical period for yield development. Nutrien agricultural meteorologist Eric Snodgrass says the next two weeks... Read this article online