Mexico clears Canadian poultry meat for import

Duck and other poultry from Canada may again be exported to Mexico, for the first time since 2004. Canada’s Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on Thursday announced Mexico had reopened its border to fresh poultry meat including chicken, turkey and, “most significant in terms of historical trade,” duck. Mexico had […] Read more


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada now avian flu-free

With no new cases in poultry since April and no farms in quarantine since July, Canada has officially declared itself free of avian influenza. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday it has informed the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) that Ontario is free of notifiable avian flu. No new outbreaks of highly pathogenic […] Read more

(PortMetroVancouver.com)

Market access, income supports come with Trans-Pacific pact

Canada’s federal government has pledged a suite of compensation programs for supply-managed dairy, poultry and egg sectors, against what it promises will be a mousehole in Canada’s tariff wall. Federal officials on Monday confirmed negotiations have concluded on the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership, now billed as “the largest, most ambitious free trade initiative in history.” The […] Read more



Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, shown here in February in Brampton, Ont., said farmers and processors would be “compensated” for losses incurred through any increased market access granted under a TPP deal. (Agr.gc.ca)

Canada to pay farmers for any losses under TPP deal, Ritz says

Reuters — Canadian farmers will receive government compensation for any losses resulting from a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, the country’s agriculture minister said Wednesday in a discussion about the nation’s protected farm sectors. The U.S., New Zealand and Australia want Canada to start dismantling a system of supply and import controls over dairy, poultry […] Read more

(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu risk higher with fall migrations

Poultry farmers in Ontario are being warned to keep biosecurity top of mind as wild birds get ready to fly south this fall. “With the fall weather quickly approaching, resulting in colder temperatures and wild bird migrations, the threat of re-emergence of (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is real,” the Feather Board Command Centre, the emergency […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Architect of the Capitol, VisitTheCapitol.gov)

U.S. said considering TPP trade deal without Canada

Washington | Reuters — The United States, frustrated over the lack of progress with Canada over new rules for agriculture trade, is weighing “contingencies” that could include completing a Pacific Rim trade pact that excludes Canada, according to two sources familiar with the issue. One official familiar with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiation said […] Read more


(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Saudi Arabia bans Ont. poultry, egg products

Reuters — Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest importer of chicken broiler meat, has banned imports of poultry meat and egg products from Ontario due to the presence of avian flu on three Ontario farms. The market was worth about $825,000 in 2014, representing 0.4 per cent of Ontario’s poultry exports, said Patrick Girard, spokesman for […] Read more

(Eggs.ca)

Canada blocking poultry, eggs from Minnesota

Discovery of H5N2 avian flu at a commercial turkey operation in central Minnesota has led Canada to curb cross-border imports of poultry and eggs from the state. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Friday announced restrictions blocking any raw poultry or poultry products or byproducts that aren’t fully cooked. Such products — including eggs […] Read more