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Newcastle disease identified in British Columbia

Movement controls placed around two commercial pigeon operations

Newcastle disease has been detected on two commercial pigeon operations in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a June 19 notice to industry it’s the first time the virus has been detected in a commercial operation in Canada since 1973.




cow and trespass sign

No hearing schedule yet to address Trespass Act changes

Agriculture sector hopeful act won’t be weakened by clarification on regulations

Although the Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act was upheld after a recent constitutional challenge, legal skirmishes to clarify some regulation subsection language have yet to begin. Animal activists challenged the act’s constitutionality in Ontario’s Superior Court, but Judge Markus Koehnen’s April 2 decision upheld it. However, he called into question specific subsection […] Read more


Farm Health Guardian now integrated with Motive GPS system

Farm Health Guardian now integrated with Motive GPS system

Farm Health Guardian has added to its growing list of fleet management system integrations.  Motive is the latest leading GPS system that Farm Health Guardian’s biosecurity software now links with to give customers easy access to real-time data that will help strengthen biosecurity, the company said in a release. “This latest addition of Motive to our GPS […] Read more

An executive director with the CFIA says the bill in its current wording poses legal risks.

Biosecurity bill’s jurisdiction questioned

It’s a provincial, not federal issue says law professor

Glacier FarmMedia – A constitutional lawyer said a private member’s bill that would penalize those who illegally enter livestock barns is outside federal legislative jurisdiction. Jodi Lazare, associate professor at Dalhousie University’s law school, said the bill that purports to protect biosecurity is actually a trespass bill, and trespass is dealt with by provincial laws. […] Read more

Farm Health Guardian’s Protocol facial recognition controlled barn entry system being shown to attendees at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.

Ontario company launches facial recognition for barns

The system will prevent entry by workers or suppliers who shouldn’t be in the barn

An award-winning Canadian tech start-up that enables livestock producers to protect against entry by disease-risky vehicles has launched a new service to do the same for human visitors. Protocol is billed by Guelph-based Farm Health Guardian as a “system us(ing) facial recognition technology to proactively control livestock and poultry barn entry points, enabling farm managers […] Read more


Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow speaks Nov. 24, 2021 in the House of Commons. (Screengrab from supplied video)

Anti-activist bill back before Commons committee

Bill adds protections for biosecurity, farmers' mental health, Barlow says

A bill to create harsher penalties for unlawful entry onto farms and biosecure zones is back before the House of Commons after a previous iteration died on the order table in 2021. Conservative MP John Barlow brought forward Bill C-275, “an Act to amend the Health of Animals Act (biosecurity on farms),” as a private […] Read more

pigs on the farm

New cost-share offering for biosecurity enhancement

Canada and Ontario committing up to $7.5 million to support biosecurity measures to enhance food safety

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $7.5 million through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (SCAP) to help eligible agri-food businesses and contributors enhance their biosecurity measures to support animal and plant health, and food safety. The Biosecurity Enhancement Initiative (BEI) is a new, cost-share offering that will help farmers, food processors, and […] Read more