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September 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 9

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1 day ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
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Patti 😊

3 days ago

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3 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle...
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4 days ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

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Lake Country packing house sold

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BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
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Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

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5 days ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
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Record high pork stocks

September 25, 2019 byTom Walker

Chinese consumers eat 88 pounds of pork a year, more than anyone else in the world, but a trade war means producers from North America won’t be able to feed that market – and they’ll have to deal with rising inventories of their own in the interim.

China is home to more than half the world’s pigs, explains Anne Wasko, a market analyst with Gateway Livestock Exchange in Eastend, Saskatchewan.

In January 2018, it had 441.6 million hogs. By this April, African swine fever (ASF) had resulted in a 22% drop in sow numbers. That works out to 9.7 million fewer sows in China, or the birth of 150 to 200 million fewer piglets – the equivalent of 12 to 15 million metric tons less pork. The shortfall has chopped 30% of the country’s pork.
“It’s not going to be a fast fix,” says Brian Warr, cattle veterinary services manager with Zoetis. “We can only hope [ASF] stays right there in China. We have a global concern about its spread.”

But the market hasn’t yet seen the effects of China’s pork shortfall, says Wasko. China slaughtered and froze as much pork as it could last year, but those inventories are running out. Pork prices began to rise in August.

“They are starting to import more of all three proteins: pork, chicken and beef,” she says. “Even though beef will never be the leader there, we will see some uptick.”

The reason, Wasko explains, is that Chinese consumers eat about 88 lbs of pork per person a year, more than anywhere else in the world. There is no way the rest of the world can fill the gap created by ASF.

“World-wide exports of pork are only eight million tonnes,” notes Wasko. “So even if it all went to China, it would not make up the shortfall.”

Moreover, tariffs on US meat and a ban on imports from Canada mean China can’t look to North America to supply it.

“Chinese consumers will simply have to eat less pork,” says Wasko.

Meanwhile, a record high pork inventory in the US has begun to push down beef prices because there’s simply too much meat relative to demand.

“It’s a protein story,” says Wasko, noting that much demands on whether or not US producers can find alternative export markets, something producers in Canada also trying to do. “This story has a long tail to it and we will be talking about it next year as well.”

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