Currently, the European Chemicals Agency is set to release its own assessment of the product’s safety. The member countries of the EU have been at odds over the role that glyphosate should play in the region’s agriculture industry, with German policymakers calling particular attention to the alleged dangers of the herbicide. General Mills Partners with Organic Valley ...
Jeremy Coller, founder of private equity secondaries house Coller Capital, and his Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) initiative have led the group, which is lobbying 10 publicly-traded companies to make changes to their meat and poultry supply chains. The group of 54 investors, which includes Aviva Investors, Natixis Asset Management, ACTIAM, Mirova, Coller...
A couple is running what they believe is the northernmost farm in Ontario. Jeremy and Liana Millar, with their business partner Hans Orav, operate Jack Pine Acres, a 200-acre property located in about 15 minutes away from Pickle Lake, Ontario – or about 530km away from Thunder Bay. Pickle Lake is considered the province’s most northern community with year-round roa...
It’s no secret that the swine industry has become increasingly competitive and that monitoring performance trends is essential to setting your operation up for success. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), sometimes known as Key Production or Productivity Indicators, have become increasingly valuable in pinpointing strengths and recognizing opportunities. But, which one...
A Bradford chicken farmer was represented in a Barrie courtroom Oct. 24, for charges of mislabelling conventional chicken as “certified organic.” An investigation led by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) resulted in eight charges against both Anthony and Amedeo Cericola, senior officials for Cericola Farms Inc. Charges included varying violations under the Fo...
As the cattle industry registered record calf prices in 2014, many feedlot operators were seeing something else climb -- death losses. Despite better products to treat bovine respiratory disease (BRD), it was not uncommon to hear of percentages of calves lost to the illness doubling. Nebraska's Craig Uden reported on the trend in 2014 when he spoke at the Bovine Respi...
The virtual field trips, conducted via Google Hangouts, give students a live video tour and let them chat with one of several pig farmers who have opened their operations to the program. Hosts include farrow-to-wean farms and finishing farms. All a classroom needs to participate is a Gmail address, a webcam, and a good internet connection. Farmers connect with tablets...
I have a 22-month-old beef heifer that, to my knowledge, has never been in heat. I left her with a friend's bull for over 60 days, still no pregnancy. In a case like this, would estrus synchronization drugs help? Answer: When I first got out of school, I said fertility may not be heritable, but infertility is. I had only my experience growing up around cattle to ba...
The U.S. cattle industry continues to raise the bar on breed quality, thanks in part to the increasing affordability and accuracy of genetic tests. Neogen GeneSeek has announced a new genotyping tool for seedstock producers, bringing those costs down even more. The new GeneSeek Genomic Profiler (GGP) Ultra-Low Density (uLD) test is expected to be popular for genotypin...
Legislative opposition to USDA's new livestock marketing rules could be a part of the upcoming budget debate ahead of a Dec. 9 deadline to keep the federal government running, although Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday he doesn't think that will happen. The rules under the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, or GIPSA, have been sent to t...
Today's younger generation of cattle producers may be nonchalant about reports of parasitic screwworms in deer in Florida. But Phil Kaufman, professor with the University of Florida's entomology and nematology department, underscores how dangerous the situation could become if the flies continue to spread. Larvae from the parasitic screwworm fly (Cochliomiya hominivor...
Walker or one of his ranch hands tags newborn calves with visual ear tags and enters information on the calves in the computer at headquarters. The first time a calf goes through the handling chute, it receives an electronic identification (EID) tag corresponding to this information. From that point forward, all of the animal's information is stored in the computer syste...
Authorities recently removed the Florida manatee from the endangered species list. Farm businesses like Trenton-based Alliance Dairies may have played a small but important part in this success story because of its mission to control its water usage and nutrient runoff. The United States Fish and Wildlife Department says that preservation of habitat is largely responsib...
Within the context of heightened media attention and consumer awareness about the issue of antibiotic resistance, and the U.S. government taking action to change the way in which antibiotics are used in livestock as described in the 2015 “National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria,” the entire industry is adjusting to new regulations in this regard....
In 2015, the United States exported $25.4 million in beef and beef products to Peru. Since the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) entered into force in 2009, U.S. beef and beef products have grown substantially but have been hampered due to burdensome certification requirements installed by Peru in 2003. This agreement, reached today during Secretary Vilsack’s tr...
