Uncollectible loans and unsustainable agriculture Sunday, April 3, 2011 The Nova Scotia government wrote off $16.2 million in bad loans from 2008. The loans included more than $1 million in uncollectible student loans, and smaller amounts for pharmacare premiums and unpaid fees. But by far the majority of the uncollectible loans had been made by the Nova Scotia agriculture department. "This unusually high amount is due to defaulted hog loan accounts under the Farm Loan Board," said a ministry of finance press release."For many years, hog farming in Nova Scotia was heavily subsidized by government," the release went on. "When government support was discontinued in 2007-08, many hog farmers were unable to sustain their business due to low pork prices and rising production costs."The Canadian Pork Council's public relations manager, Gary Stordy, says the Nova Scotia industry has collapsed. There are six pig farms left, compared to more than 80 four years ago.Many provinces offer loans to producers of various commodities, Stordy says. Another pork example is Big Sky Farms Inc. in Saskatchewan. The province now has a stake in the embattled company. BP Inconsistent reports on red meat The 'bacon bubble' that didn't burst
Spain mobilises military against swine fever, says contaminated sandwich could be cause Monday, December 1, 2025 Spain's military was deployed on Monday to contain an African swine fever outbreak near Barcelona which officials suspect may have been triggered by a wild boar eating contaminated food such as a sandwich, sparking a chain of events now disrupting the country's multibillion-euro pork export... Read this article online
How a pig disease posed a hidden biosecurity trap for beef exports Monday, December 1, 2025 It may come as a confronting surprise for cattle producers to learn that a pig disease could have cost them access to a key export beef market, had it made the relatively short hop from Timor Leste since gaining a foothold there in 2019. At LIVEXchange 2025, former chief veterinary... Read this article online
South Korea raises African Swine Fever alert after outbreak at pig farm Monday, December 1, 2025 South Korea said on Tuesday there had been an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) at a pig farm in the country's largest pig-breeding region, prompting authorities to raise the national alert level to "serious". Some 1,423 pigs were culled due to the outbreak at a farm in Dangjin, South... Read this article online
New research at University of Saskatchewan identifies cause of pig ear necrosis Monday, December 1, 2025 Pig ear necrosis was first described in the 1960s, but since then it’s been nearly impossible to identify the cause of the painful animal affliction. Until now, that is. New research at the University of Saskatchewan has identified the bacteria that causes pig ear necrosis – a fairly... Read this article online
Common gut bacteria identified as cause of pig ear necrosis Monday, December 1, 2025 It's a problem that's made its way through pig farms around the world for decades, with no clear cause or solution. But new research from the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has identified the cause of pig ear necrosis, a painful and troublesome affliction that causes the ear tissue of pigs... Read this article online