Behind the Lines - April 2011 Sunday, April 3, 2011 When Better Pork staffer Don Stoneman visited Curtiss Littlejohn's high health status farm to photograph his new biosecurity sign, some distance from his barns, the former chair of Ontario Pork told him that was as close as anyone had ever been allowed without changing footwear.Biosecurity isn't new to the pork industry nor is Stoneman new to biosecurity. Back in 1978, when on a student internship at the now defunct Farm & Country magazine, he visited the farm of Doug Macleod at Embro and then talked about high herd health status with veterinarian Dr. Harry Brightwell in Stratford. Showering in and showering out was a relatively new concept then. It isn't now, but biosecurity means different things to different people. Persistent and costly diseases have been proven to be more easily transmissible than previously thought. That's the justification for developing a national biosecurity standard put forward by the Canadian Swine Health Board.Is there a financial benefit for producers to adopt these standards and be certified? The benefit will be in cost savings. Diseases like Atrophic Rhinitis and Mycoplasma Pneumonia that Brightwell told a young Stoneman about are no longer front and centre in Ontario's pork industry. One can hope that the same can one day be written about the recent and current scourges of circovirus and porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome.I hope you will enjoy a different approach to Second Look this month: a perspective from the younger generation.ROBERT IRWIN Moving towards a national biosecurity standard Finding a pork marketing niche
Western Dairy Challenge 2026 Highlights Monday, March 23, 2026 The 2026 Western Regional Dairy Challenge, hosted at the University of Alberta, concluded on March 7 in Camrose, Alberta, Canada. The event brought together 77 students from 15 schools, along with coaches and volunteers, creating a valuable hands-on learning experience in dairy... Read this article online
FCC Expands Support Amid Fertilizer Cost Surges Monday, March 23, 2026 Rising global tensions in the Middle East are creating concern among farmers and agribusinesses about increasing input costs. In response, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has expanded its Trade Disruption Customer Support Program to provide financial relief and stability to those affected by higher... Read this article online
Fears of Stagflation and Recession on the Rise Monday, March 23, 2026 This week’s with experts Farms.com Risk Management Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino and Commodity Strategist Abhinesh Gopal, Was titled “Higher Crude Oil Futures for Longer = Stagflation?”. The two experts explored major shifts across the commodity sector including rising crude oil... Read this article online
CSBP pushing for domestic production policy Monday, March 23, 2026 The Canadian Sugar Beet Producers (CSBP) wants to see more of its namesake crop grown and processed in Canada. At one point, sugar beets accounted for more than 20 per cent of the Canadian sugar market share. But that’s no longer the case, says Gwen Young, an Alberta sugar beet farmer... Read this article online
New Canadian Swine Research Targets Piglet Disease Monday, March 23, 2026 Swine InnovationPorc(SIP) is investing in new research to address Streptococcus suis, a harmful bacterial disease affecting post-weaned piglets led byDongyanXu Niu at the University of Calgary. This disease can cause serious health problems such as respiratory illness, meningitis, and sudden... Read this article online