File photo of chicks on a genetic map of a chicken. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Animal health body backs bird flu vaccination to avoid pandemic

Vaccination should focus on free-range birds, WOAH chief says

Paris | Reuters — Governments should consider vaccinating poultry against bird flu, which has killed hundreds of millions of birds and infected mammals worldwide, to prevent the virus from turning into a new pandemic, the head of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) said. The severity of the current outbreak of avian influenza, commonly […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

New report shows poultry sector burdened by expectations

Simpson Centre paper calls for increased research, financial sustainability for sector

Updated, May 17 — The Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy has released a report detailing its findings on challenges now facing Canada’s poultry sector. The report, co-authored by research assistant Shawn Wiskar and centre director Guillaume Lhermie and released Thursday, used a focus group of six stakeholders in the Canadian poultry industry. It […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

U.S. begins testing bird flu vaccines for poultry after record outbreak

Four vaccines to be tested

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. government is testing four potential bird flu vaccines for poultry, officials said on Friday, after more than 58 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have died in the nation’s worst outbreak ever. The trials, conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, are the first step […] Read more

File photo of a migrating flock of snow geese in Canada. (Pchoui/iStock/Getty Images)

Flu experts gather with H5N1 risk on the agenda

Threat to humans from current strain seen as low

London | Reuters — The world’s leading experts on influenza met this week to discuss the threat posed to humans by a strain of H5N1 avian flu that has caused record numbers of bird deaths around the world in recent months. The group of scientists, regulators and vaccine manufacturers meets twice a year to decide […] Read more


(Valerie Loiseleux/iStock/Getty Images)

Vaccine protest jams southern Alberta border crossing

Premier, transportation minister called for blockade to disperse

UPDATED, Jan. 31 — A major supply chain corridor between Alberta and the U.S. remained blockaded through into Sunday evening by vehicles in protest of mandates requiring foreign truckers entering Canada and the U.S. to be vaccinated. The protest on Highway 4 at the Coutts, Alta. border crossing, about 100 km southeast of Lethbridge, began […] Read more


File photo of containers at a seaport in Jakarta. (Leolintang/iStock/Getty Images)

APEC ministers call for curbs on farm, fuel, fishing subsidies

Washington/Wellington | Reuters — Pacific Rim trade and foreign ministers on Tuesday pledged to sustain the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic while pursuing talks to curb subsidies for fisheries and agriculture at a forthcoming World Trade Organization meeting. The ministers from the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries said in a communique issued after […] Read more


Incoming WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala takes part in an online meeting before speaking during an interview with Reuters in Potomac, Maryland on Feb. 15, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala makes history as new head of WTO

Geneva-based body leaderless for six months; Trump paralyzed some of WTO's functions

Geneva/Washington | Reuters — Three months after the Trump administration rejected her, former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala received unanimous backing on Monday to become the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organization. A self-declared “doer” with a track record of taking on seemingly intractable problems, Okonjo-Iweala will have her work […] Read more

(PerformanceLivestockAnalytics.com)

Zoetis buys livestock data management firm

Performance Beef platform to expand drugmaker's 'precision' production offering

The producer of livestock drugs such as Draxxin, Bovatec and Excede is buying space in the “precision livestock farming” market with a deal for a U.S. livestock data management firm. New Jersey-based Zoetis, which makes drugs and vaccines for the beef and dairy cattle, equine, swine, poultry and sheep sectors as well as cats and […] Read more