Farmscape News

U.S. Efforts to Restore M-COOL Cause for Concern

Cam Dahl - Manitoba Pork — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 22, 2026

The General Manager of Manitoba Pork is expressing concern over US efforts to restore Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling.
A bill passed by the US Senate Agriculture Committee calls for the development of a World Trade Organization-compliant labeling system that will require retailers to identify where cattle were born, raised and slaughtered.
An article posted to Manitoba Pork's website and circulated through community newspapers looks at U.S. actions to transition back to Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling.
Manitoba Pork General Manager Cam Dahl says this is something we've seen in the past and that Canada and Mexico successfully challenged at the WTO.

Quote-Cam Dahl-Manitoba Pork:
What the requirement was is that all the packages, all the retail packages of meat in the U.S. needed to indicate where the animal was born, raised, processed and packaged and that all needed to be included on the label.
What that did was significantly increase the cost of putting meat on the shelf in the United States because this required segregating pigs that might have been born in Canada but raised and processed in Iowa.
Those would have to be segregated from other products. That significantly increased the cost of food and it also discriminated against Canadian and Mexican industries.
It really curtailed, in Manitoba's case, our ability to export live animals into the U.S. when Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling came into effect.
If you think of today, Manitoba exports three million live animals a year into the United States for finishing and processing.
So, that was a significant hit to the industry and it was a significant cost to farmers in this province and a significant hit to the jobs that depend on their industry.
So, it had a very significant negative impact.

Dahl suggests if Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling is introduced for beef, pork will be close behind.
He believes government and industry need to come up with creative solutions that satisfy the concerns of consumers while not interrupting our North American integrated market.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

First-hand Interactions Among Farmers and Consumers Deepens Understanding of How Food is Produced

Clinton Monchuk - Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 21, 2026

The Executive Director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan says providing opportunities for consumers to see first-hand how farmers produce their food fosters a deeper understanding and helps build trust in food production.
A report circulated as part of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan's September update looks at the response to Saskatchewan Open Farm Days, held last month, from the perspective of both the hosts and the participants.
Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan Executive Director Clinton Monchuk says 97 percent of participants who responded to a voluntary survey conducted following the event indicated their understanding and positive perception of agriculture increased.

Quote-Clinton Monchuk-Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan:
Saskatchewan Open Farm Days is the second weekend of August and this is the third year that we've done this.
The big reason and the push behind this is to kind of open up farmers' doors, gates, if you will, to the general public and allow interaction between those who want to know more about how their food is produced and those farmers and ranchers that want to talk to consumers about what they do.
A lot of our research has gone into the fact that when farmers talk openly to consumers about what they do, it increases the public's trust in agriculture.
As we keep on going through generations and generations that are being removed from primary agriculture, people don't fully understand what farmers and ranchers do in an effort to produce food.
So, giving an opportunity for consumers and mainly urban consumers to come out to farms and ranches and just see what goes on on a typical farm or ranch, it just increases their level of knowledge and understanding of how their food is really being produced outside the cities.

Monchuk suggests when have open transparent conversations with consumers about agriculture their understanding of agriculture increases and this leads to better food literacy in general.
Information on Saskatchewan Open Farm Days can be found at skopenfarmdays.ca.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Rain Stalls Saskatchewan Harvest and Downgrades Crops

Augustine Osei - Saskatchewan Agriculture — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 18, 2026

Saskatchewan Agriculture reports rainfall over the past week has stalled the harvest and is resulting in downgrading of crops.
Saskatchewan Agriculture released its crop report Thursday for the period from September 8th to September 14th.
Augustine Osei, a Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says this year's harvest is running well behind the five- and ten-year averages.

Quote-Augustine Osei-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
This past week is there was widespread rainfall and that stalled harvest operations.
Currently harvest is 32 percent complete which is just a five percent increase from the last report and this remains well behind the five-year average of 71 percent and 10-year average of 63 percent.
Mostly winter cereals and pulse crops and some of the early seeded cereal crops account for most of the crops that have been harvested.
And some of the winter cereals have been completed in some regions but then mostly they are nearing completion but they're is still a bit on the field yet and with the spring ones we still have long ways to go.
So, this moisture is impacting harvest in terms of slowing it down and also impacting grain quality.
With the grain quality we had in the report here, we compare that to the 10-year average and it looks like the quality is a bit downgraded compared to the 10-year average

Osei says, with all of the moisture, crops still in the field are lodging and beginning to germinate and that is not good for crop grades.
He says farmers are hoping for a stretch of heat to get the fields dried up and allow the harvest to resume.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

University of Minnesota Research Examines Disease Risk Posed by Dead Animal Structures and Mitigation Strategies

Dr. Megan Niederwerder - Swine Health Information Center — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 17, 2026

Research conducted by the University of Minnesota has identified the disease risks posed by dead animal structures and strategies to address those risks.
Research conducted by the University of Minnesota, with funding provided through the Swine Health Information Center's Wean to Harvest Biosecurity Research Program, in partnership with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and the Pork Checkoff, has examined the role of dead animal structures in the spread of four key pathogens including PRRS, PED, Porcine Delta Coronavirus and Transmissible gastroenteritis.
SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says the objectives were to assess environmental contamination surrounding dead animal handling structures, determine pathogen spread using Glo Germ, assess the impacts of mitigation strategies such as the use of whitewash and determine farm practices that either increase or decrease environmental contamination, comparing rendering and composting.

Quote-Dr. Megan Niederwerder-Swine Health Information Center:
One of the key findings was that environmental contamination was more frequently detected in farms that use rendering compared to composting.
Approximately 5.4 times more likely to detect pathogen contamination at sites that utilized rendering compared to composting.
There was also some component of precipitation, so when was the last rainfall?
It was found that there was some association with enhanced contamination if it rained recently close to the site.
There was also significance with regards to Glo Germ and understanding how a contamination proxy could be moved around when the contamination was close to the dead box or rendering pick-up site.
As we think about that, there can be inadvertent movement of pathogens due to vehicles or even personnel that may be encountering the dead animal handling structures and then going on and doing additional duties.
There is significance there with regards to the risk and also comparing the rendering and composting environmental contamination rates.

The final report and full details of the work can be accessed at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Scattered Showers Further Delay Manitoba Harvest

Anne Kirk - Manitoba Agriculture — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 17, 2026

Manitoba Agriculture reports rainfall early last week slowed the harvest before work resumed later in the week.
Manitoba Agriculture released its weekly crop report Tuesday.
Anne Kirk, a Cereal Crop Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says this year's harvest is running behind the five-year average of 50 percent complete, mostly due to wet harvesting conditions and staging of crops due to spring moisture.

Quote-Anne Kirk-Manitoba Agriculture:
We did have scattered rainfall across the province last week.
We did have kind of variable precipitation accumulations across the province so it was wetter at the beginning of last week with the rainfall, but we did have harvest resuming late last week and over the weekend last week.
So, we have seen an increase in harvested acres, but not as many as we would like just due to those slow harvest conditions due to the moisture.
Right now, across the province, we're estimating about 40 percent of harvest has been completed.
That's a rough estimate but for the central, eastern and Interlake region we're looking at the majority of spring cereals being harvested so ranging from about 85 percent to 98 percent harvested for those crop types.
The southwest and northwest, we still do have a significant amount of spring cereals to come off.
Overall, spring cereals across the province are about 65 percent to 75 percent harvested.
We do estimate that the majority of peas have been harvested, just waiting for some peas in the northwest to be finished.
And then for canola, kind of variable across the province depending on the region.
In the southwest, we're about 20 percent, northwest five percent, central and eastern 60 percent to 75 percent and then the Interlake about 35 percent harvested.
And then we are seeing dry bean harvest has just started in the central region as well.

Kirk says the moisture is delaying harvest and causing some quality concerns especially with the spring cereals where downgrading due to sprouting and weathering are a factor.
She notes fields are still wet so the expectation is that progress will be slowed over the next week.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Survey Results Show Overwhelmingly Positive Response to Saskatchewan Open Farm Days

Clinton Monchuk - Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 16, 2026

The Executive Director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan says survey responses from those who took part in last month's Saskatchewan Open Farm Days were overwhelmingly positive.
Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan's third annual Saskatchewan Open Farm Days, held last month at 37 venues across the province, attracted a record number of visitors, in excess of five thousand.
Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan Executive Director Clinton Monchuk says the big push behind this is to open the gates of farms to the general public and allow interaction between those who want to know more about how their food is produced and those farmers and ranchers that want to talk to consumers about what they do.

Quote-Clinton Monchuk-Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan:
As we keep on going through generations and generations that are being removed from primary agriculture, people don't fully understand what farmers and ranchers do in an effort to produce food.
So, giving an opportunity for consumers and mainly urban consumers to come out to farms and ranches and just see what goes on on a typical farm or ranch, it just increases their level of knowledge and understanding of how their food is really being produced outside the cities.
So, I'm big on statistics and we do survey those who go out to the different farms.
There's a voluntarily done survey.
If you go out, you get a feedback form and we use this to make the open farm days better every year.
This last year, 97 percent of those who were surveyed or did the survey indicated that they increased their understanding and positive perception of agriculture and that just highlights to the agriculture industry, the more we talk about agriculture to consumers and make sure we have open, transparent conversations with them, the better the understanding is and this leads to better food literacy and a better understanding of agriculture in general.

Monchuk says providing opportunities for consumers to see how farmers are growing food fosters a deeper understanding of food production and organizers are looking forward to continuing this program into the future.
To learn more about Saskatchewan Open Farm Days check out skopenfarmdays.ca.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

International Research Collaboration Pursues Improved African Swine Fever Detection

Dr. Megan Niederwerder - Swine Health Information Center — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 15, 2026

Two research projects being conducted in Canada through a Swine Health Information Center partnership with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research are exploring novel methods for identifying and diagnosing African Swine Fever and for rapidly detecting recombinant strains.
Six 12-month projects funded through a Swine Health Information Center co-funding partnership with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research are underway, including two related to African Swine Fever that are being conducted in Canada.
SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says all six projects address research priorities identified through SHIC's plan of work process and are intended to protect and enhance the health of the U.S. swine herd by minimizing the impact of emerging disease threats.

Quote-Dr. Megan Niederwerder-Swine Health Information Center:
These six projects are going to be done by six different principal investigators at three different institutions including the University of Minnesota, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's National Center for Foreign Animal Diseases and the Ohio State University.
These investigators are advancing these areas of emerging disease detection and mitigation right now.
I think one of the important characteristics of these six projects are that two are being conducted in Canada at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's National Center for Foreign Animal Disease with two different investigators and I think that's really an advantage when considering North American swine industry prevention, preparedness.
Oftentimes the priorities across the U.S. and Canadian swine sectors are very similar.
These two projects are actually looking at novel diagnostic tools for ASF recombinant strains but also using a novel sample type, tongue tips for ASF.
As we think about North American prevention and preparedness for African Swine Fever virus, certainly the colleagues and collaboration for the laboratory in Canada provides a significant advantage for both countries.

Details on this work can be found at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Research Conducted by VIDO Sheds Light on Potential for H5N1 to Infect the Mammary Tissues of Swine

Dr. Lisa Becton - Swine Health Information Center — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 14, 2026

Research conducted by the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization shows porcine mammary cells can support attachment and growth of the H5N1 influenza virus.
Findings from an H5N1 swine risk project conducted by the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan funded by the Swine Health Information Center, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and the Pork Checkoff that examined the growth of Influenza A virus in porcine mammary tissues, non-mammary tissues and derived cells have been published in the Journal of Virology.
Swine Health Information Center Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says understanding how the virus attaches and binds to specific porcine cells provides insight into how it affects swine and will further the development of measures to protect, mitigate and respond to potential infection.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:
This study was intended to provide insights into whether porcine mammary tissue and other non-mammary tissue could serve as a site for viral replication and assess if bovine H5N1 viruses could survive in the porcine respiratory tract.
This is very important to be able to understand transmission dynamics of this virus to develop both surveillance and response strategies.
The findings show that porcine cells can support attachment and growth and this provides insight into sites for viral replication in swine.
This is important because it helps to determine what potential surveillance strategies should be used, what are potential risks, and how to perform risk assessment and improve our preparedness against potential infection in swine.
However, it is important that the researchers noted that work in the lab on these cells does not necessarily represent what has been seen in live swine infection studies because those studies show a different clinical picture than what was seen in the cell studies alone.

The direct link to the Journal of Virology article and additional information can be accessed through SHIC's August eNewsletter at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Widespread Rainfall Stalls Saskatchewan Harvest

Samantha Marcino - Saskatchewan Agriculture — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 11, 2026

Saskatchewan Agriculture reports farmers made progress earlier this week in the harvest before widespread rainfall stalled field operations across much of the province.
Saskatchewan Agriculture released its crop report Thursday for the period from September 1st to September 7th.
Samantha Marcino, a Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says currently 27 percent of the crop is in the bin, up nine percent from the week prior but still behind the five-year average of 58 percent harvested and the 10-year average of 50 percent.

Quote-Samantha Marcino-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
Large amounts of precipitation were recorded throughout the province.
Almost the entire province recorded some amount of rainfall.
There were actually eight RMs that recorded over 100 mm of rain, so some areas receiving some significant amounts.
The largest amount of rain that was reported fell in the RM of Longlaketon with 138 mm of rain.
The RM of Eyebrow had 132 mm of rain and the RM of Sarnia recorded 127 mm of rain.
So, fields are generally saturated in some of these regions that receive that much rain but producers are hoping for some warm dry weather going forward to get back into the fields.
Producers reported this week that there are concerns from the heavy rain and wind, there's a lot of lodging now.
That, on top of the moisture, there are really a lot of concerns on what quality is going to be out there, whether that's bleaching or sprouting or things like that.
I think we won't really know the full extent of that until we see what the weather does here for the next couple weeks.
If it dries up and producers are able to get into their fields and get harvested, I think there's still a really good chance that lots of this grain will come off in pretty decent condition.

Marcino says some producers have expressed concern over the potential for frost this upcoming week but the hope is that doesn't come to fruition and that our nighttime lows stay above the zero mark.
She says a couple of days of warm, dry weather will allow producers to get back out into the fields, especially in the regions that didn't receive that excessive rainfall and with the equipment these days they can cover a lot of acres in a short period of time so even though they're behind the five-and-10-year averages, they can make up that difference in a big hurry if the weather cooperates.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Rain Delays Manitoba Harvest

Sonia Wilson - Manitoba Agriculture — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 10, 2026

Manitoba Agriculture reports intense across much of the province delayed the harvest this past week.
Manitoba Agriculture released its weekly crop report Wednesday.
Sonia Wilson, an oilseed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says there are some variations but harvest progress at this point is looking similar to our five and ten-year average.

Quote-Sonia Wilson-Manitoba Agriculture:
This past week we had some very heavy rains come through most of the regions so we saw especially severe storms, heavy rains in the central and Interlake regions with Portage la Prairie receiving over 80 millimeters in just one hour.
As well, areas such as Stonewall, Selkirk, etcetera received quite a bit of rainfall as well.
We had high winds and so there was definitely some pausing for harvest operations with this amount of rainfall.
But we did have some warmer days as well which helped dry out some areas so that harvest could progress but definitely had a lot of rainfall.
All the winter crops are pretty much finished other than some in the northwest. Spring wheat, we are pretty much finished in the eastern and central regions.
The southwest and northwest are behind as well.
Barley as well made quite a bit of progress and oats in central and eastern, but we just had a little bit of barley come off the northwest.
Field peas are pretty much done other than in the northwest.
And so, I would say most producers are currently harvesting their spring cereals and also turning to canola at this point as well.

Wilson says growers are reporting average winter cereal crop yields, average to above average spring cereal yields in most regions with good quality, average pea yields and good quality and there haven't been a lot of reports on canola.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project Helps Prepare for, Identify and Respond to Emerging Disease Threats

Dr. Lisa Becton - Swine Health Information Center — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 9, 2026

The Associate Director of the Swine Health Information Center says, in addition to tracking swine disease across the U.S. the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project is helping prepare for, identify and respond to emerging disease threats.
The SHIC funded Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project, operated through the University of Minnesota, has submitted its 2025 annual report for swine disease monitoring and project enhancements.
Swine Health Information Center Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says, by supporting effective monitoring tools, the project provides a mechanism for tracking swine disease and converting the data into actionable information.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:
The MSHMP program is designed to gather information on the health of the U.S. swine herd and it represents more than 30 different production systems which participate voluntarily but it also analyzes data to track disease trends and monitors for emerging pathogen activity.
Some of the diseases of focus include Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus, PED, Seneca A virus, and others.
Information like epidemiology, including spatial and temporal transmission patterns, identification of production risk factors and characterization of virus evolution are all included within the MSHMP program.
The MSHMP program provides a mechanism for tracking and conversion of swine health data into actionable information that does support preparedness efforts.
Some of the key things that can be taken into account and utilized for information when assessing swine health, including the addition of information to characterize incoming or imported swine health into the U.S., again, informing the picture of virus circulation.
Another area is the assessment of the impact of air filtration and being able to correlate that to potential virus health status.
Lastly, the program continues to look at the characterization of mortality management in breeding herds and the impact those different strategies have also on virus transmission and herd detection rates.

The Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project annual report can be accessed through SHIC's August eNewsletter at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Manitoba Pork Expresses Concern Over U.S. Efforts to Reestablish Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling

Cam Dahl - Manitoba Pork — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for September 8, 2026

The General Manager of Manitoba Pork is expressing concern over the latest U.S. efforts to restore Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling.
Mandatory U.S. Country of Origin Labeling, which required the segregation of Canadian and American origin cattle and pigs at processing, came into effect in 2009 and ended in 2015 following a successful World Trade Organization challenge by Canada and Mexico and was ultimately replaced by a voluntary program.
An article posted to Manitoba Pork's website and circulated through community newspapers looks at recent U.S. action to transition back to Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling.
Manitoba Pork General Manager Can Dahl observes the voluntary program reestablishes segregation.

Quote-Can Dahl-Manitoba Pork:
What this has done is require any animal or any product that carries the product of the USA label on the grocery shelf now has to come from an animal that was born, raised, processed in the United States.
That's a significant shift.
Again, it's introducing the cost of segregation into the system.
Ultimately, when we get those increased in processing costs, that's something that will eventually be seen on the grocery shelf.
But we're also seeing pressure to shift that voluntary Country of Origin Labeling at this point because you don't have to use the product of the USA label to shift that back to the Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling.
We saw that recently.
There was a bill passed in the Agriculture Committee of the U.S. Senate that would reintroduce Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling for beef.
But from where I sit, it would be naive to think that if Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling is introduced for beef that pork isn't coming close behind.
This is something that we're following very closely and we're very concerned about.

Dahl believes government and industry need to come up with creative solutions such as a product of Canada and the U.S. label or a product of North America label that satisfies the concerns of consumers to know where their food is coming from, while not interrupting our North American integrated market.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers