A long ride is less stressful Wednesday, August 10, 2011 Shorter truck trips are more stressful to market hogs than longer truck rides, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Animal Science.The reason? Pigs need time to recover from the stress of loading before they get stressed again when they disembark, says Prof. Michael Ellis, at the University of Illinois's Urbana-Champaign campus.Another stress factor is floor space. Overcrowding is stressful, but pigs that have too much space are thrown around as the livestock truck moves. University researchers found that U.S. market pigs on average require five square feet each.Co-author of the study with Ellis was Bradley Wolter, chief operating officer of the Maschhoffs packing company in Carlyle, Ill. Wolter says working with Ellis allowed the company to reduce pig losses due to transportation and handling by more than one percentage point in a system that was already well managed and where less than half a per cent of pigs died because of movement and handling. BP Another sign of bacon's popularity: clogged drains 'Welfarists' pressure supermarkets
Canadians pay $224 per year for supply management, a new report says Wednesday, June 24, 2026 Canadian think tank MEI looked at supply management and identified how much the system costs Canadians each year. “Overall, supply management results in an additional cost to the average Canadian of $224 per year,” the organization said in a June 18 report. MEI came to this figure by... Read this article online
Fertilizer Canada supports Mercosur trade deal Wednesday, June 24, 2026 A segment of Canada’s ag industry wants the federal government to finalize a trade agreement with South American countries. Fertilizer Canada is unwavering in its support for a Mercosur trade deal. “For Canada’s fertilizer industry, this is not a theoretical opportunity,” Michael... Read this article online
NOAA Declares El Nino, Raising Key Weather Risks for Agriculture Wednesday, June 24, 2026 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has officially declared the onset of El Niño, confirming that ocean temperatures in the central Pacific have risen high enough to trigger one of the world’s most influential climate patterns. The declaration follows sustained... Read this article online
Anti-Dumping Probe Targets Wheat Gluten Imports in Canada Wednesday, June 24, 2026 The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has opened an anti-dumping investigation into certain wheat gluten imports entering the Canadian market from Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The inquiry will examine whether these products are being sold in Canada at unfairly low prices,... Read this article online
Fertilizer Sees Relief, but Grain Markets Stay Weak Wednesday, June 24, 2026 On the latest episode of Ag Commodity Corner+ Podcast titled, “A Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is Bearish Long Team Diesel/Fertilizer!” Farms.com Risk Management Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino and Commodity Strategist Abhinesh Gopal agreed that global markets saw major changes... Read this article online