CVO Honured

The Canadian Pork Council was pleased to learn that Dr. Betty Althouse, Chief Veterinary Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture was one of the six recipients of the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Public Service announced by the government of Saskatchewan recently.

“Dr. Althouse has always been a strong advocate for animal health and is a tremendous resource for veterinarians and farmers alike,” said John Ross, Executive Director with the Canadian Pork Council. “The province of Saskatchewan is very lucky to be able to count on her incredible experience and knowledge,” he adds. •

Delta II Breaks Ground in Manitoba

Topigs Norsvin is investing CAD $15 million in a new testing facility in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The new testing facility, Delta II, will test boars of the Z line (dam line) and Tempo (sire line). The new station in Canada has twice the capacity as the original Delta test station in Norway, where Norsvin Landrace and Norsvin Duroc are tested. Just like the station in Norway, Delta II is equipped with a CT scanner. The facility will become operational in summer 2018.

Delta II will be the central point of a new breeding structure in Canada. Each year, seven existing SPF nucleus farms will deliver young boars aged 4-6 weeks old to special isolation nurseries. Their health will be checked and they will be genotyped. The top 50% of animals (those with the highest genetic breeding values) will go on to further testing at Delta II, which is located about 30 km away from the nurseries. The new testing facility is equipped with IFIR stations to monitor individual feed intake of all boars during the test. The boars will be CT scanned.

Both the test station and the nurseries are constructed in areas with low pig density. Together with high biosecurity protocols on the farms, strict transportation rules, and high levels of health monitoring the highest health status is ensured, making it possible to export genetics (semen and boars) to almost every country in the world.

‘This new test station will substantially increase the genetic progress in our Z line and Tempo. It is part of our strategy to double genetic progress in the next years. Besides improving the accuracy of our testing it will allow us to improve faster because we can shorten the generation interval,’ explains Chief Technical Officer Hans Olijslagers. ‘It also means that we can deliver the best genetics to our clients sooner, as we can now export the very best boars and semen faster and more easily to their production units.’ •

RaboResearch Expands Team

Rabobank recenlty announced the expansion of its RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness team with the addition of Christine McCracken as Executive Director, Animal Protein. McCracken will cover the North American poultry and hog sector. Before joining the RaboResearch team, McCracken spent 18 years as a sell-side Food & Agribusiness analyst.

She was a founding partner at Cleveland Research, a Cleveland-based equity research firm. Earlier in her career, she held similar positions at several institutions including FTN Midwest Research, Vector Securities and BioScience Securities. McCracken had previously been named Best on the Street Food Analyst by the Wall Street Journal and the top Food Analyst by Forbes. •

CAFTA Back on the Hill

Amid a busy month of NAFTA negotiations, events at Parliament, and a committee appearance, CAFTA (Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance) also held its annual general meeting. As the board of directors met for the meeting, they also took this time to meet with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay. CAFTA members discussed the importance of exports and free trade agreements with the minister. In particular, discussions highlighted the importance of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), TPP-11, and a free trade agreement with the People’s Republic of China.

CAFTA: The Voice of Canada’s Agriculture and Agri-Food Exporters. Complete updates and details can be read on line at www.cafta.org. •