China restricts transport of poultry to Beijing
BEIJING - Animal disease control officials restricted the transport of poultry into Beijing on Wednesday after a woman died from bird flu in the Chinese capital earlier this week, a state news agency said.
It was China's first death from the illness in nearly a year, though the World Health Organization said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.
Arkansas Farm Bureau backs animal cruelty bill
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Arkansas Farm Bureau has announced it will back legislation to make aggravated animal cruelty a felony on first offense, reversing its opposition to past efforts to stiffen the state's animal cruelty penalties.
The group, which represents 227,000 farmers in the state, said its board of directors voted Tuesday to support animal cruelty legislation being backed by Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. The proposal, which McDaniel said he expects to file sometime next week, would make aggravated animal cruelty of horses, dogs and cats a felony on first offense.
ICE Futures Canada prices open lower
WINNIPEG - Prices were lower at the ICE Futures Canada on Wednesday.
China says 19-year-old woman dies from bird flu
BEIJING - A Chinese woman has died from bird flu in a Beijing hospital after contracting the disease last month, the government said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Health said Huang Yanqing, 19, died Monday. The official Xinhua News Agency said Huang became ill after buying and cleaning nine ducks in December at a market in Hebei province, which borders Beijing.
Study underway on groundwater use in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley
HALIFAX, N.S. - Farmers and other users of groundwater in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley are being asked to take part in a study designed to help to improve water use planning.
The federal and provincial governments, as well as the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, are working together to ensure groundwater is used in a sustainable manner.
Agriculture futures rise on Chicago Board of Trade
CHICAGO - Agriculture futures rose Tuesday on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Wheat for March delivery jumped 26.75 cents to US$6.435 a bushel, while March corn popped 16.25 cents to $4.275 a bushel and March oats leaped 12 cents to $2.28 a bushel.
ICE Futures Canada prices closed higher
WINNIPEG - Closing prices:
Canola: Jan. '09 $14.90 higher $437.80; March '09 $11.40 higher $439.30; May '09 $12.10 higher $448.30; July '09 $12.20 higher $456.60; Nov. '09 $11.90 higher $469.00; Jan. '10 $12.00 higher $474.10; March '10 $12.00 higher $478.10; May '10 $12.00 higher $482.10; July '10 $12.00 higher $485.10; Nov. '10 $12.00 higher $485.10; Jan '11 $12.00 higher $485.10.
Aggressive trade on slaughter cattle at the Winnipeg livestock market
WINNIPEG - There was aggressive trade on slaughter cattle at the Winnipeg livestock market on Tuesday. Low cull cow supply added to the demand.
Total head count: 88
Programs pay farmers to help prairie chickens
ST. LOUIS - Farmland owners counties can give prairie chickens a boost while earning income in an unsettling economy.
A new state-federal program will pay farmland owners in 11 Missouri counties to set aside land as habitat and nesting grounds for prairie chickens, which once roamed the state's prairies in the hundreds of thousands.
Agriculture futures trade mostly higher on Chicago Board of Trade
CHICAGO - Agriculture futures mostly rose Monday on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Wheat for March delivery climbed 5.75 cents to US$6.1675 a bushel; March corn shed one cent to $4.1125 a bushel; March oats advanced four cents to $2.16 a bushel; and March soybeans gained 10 cents to $9.87 a bushel.
ICE Futures Canada prices closed higher
WINNIPEG - Closing prices:
Canola: Jan. '09 $11.40 higher $422.90; March '09 $8.90 higher $427.90; May '09 $9.00 higher $436.20; July '09 $9.00 higher $444.40; Nov. '09 $9.20 higher $457.10; Jan. '10 $10.10 higher $462.10; March '10 $10.10 higher $466.10; May '10 $10.10 higher $470.10; July '10 $10.10 higher $473.10; Nov. '10 $10.10 higher $473.10; Jan '11 $10.10 higher $473.10.
ICE Futures Canada prices open higher
WINNIPEG - Prices were higher at the ICE Futures Canada on Monday.
Researchers still don't know what to make of avian influenza strain H5N1
TORONTO - Five years after the avian influenza strain H5N1 started killing poultry and people in Southeast Asia, researchers still don't know what to make of the dangerous and unpredictable virus.
After cutting an ever-widening swath through poultry flocks and infecting - and killing - mounting numbers of people in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the virus seemed to almost take a breather in 2008. The year that just ended saw fewer recorded human cases than any since 2003, when this cycle of H5N1 activity began.
Agriculture futures trade mixed on Chicago Board of Trade
CHICAGO - Agriculture futures were mixed Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Wheat for March delivery inched up 0.25 cent US to $6.11 a bushel; March corn gained 5.25 cents to $4.1225 a bushel; March oats advanced two cents to $2.12 a bushel; and March soybeans lost three cents to $9.77 a bushel.
ICE Futures Canada prices closed mixed
WINNIPEG - Closing prices:
Canola: Jan. '09 $5.40 higher $411.50; March '09 $5.40 higher $419.00; May '09 $5.00 higher $427.20; July '09 $5.50 higher $435.40; Nov. '09 $4.90 higher $447.90; Jan. '10 $4.90 higher $452.00; March '10 $4.90 higher $456.00; May '10 $4.90 higher $460.00; July '10 $4.90 higher $463.00; Nov. '10 $4.90 higher $463.00; Jan '11 $4.90 higher $463.00.
ICE Futures Canada prices open higher
WINNIPEG - Prices were higher at the ICE Futures Canada on Friday.
Canola: Jan. '09 unchanged $406.10; March '09 $3.90 higher $417.50; May '09 $4.30 higher $426.50; July '09 $1.60 higher $431.50; Nov. '09 $2.90 higher $445.90; Jan. '10 $2.80 higher $449.90; March '10 unchanged $451.10; May '10 unchanged $455.10; July '10 unchanged $458.10; Nov. '10 unchanged $458.10; Jan. '11 unchanged $458.10.
Canadian agency warning horse owners about contagious disease imported from US
EDMONTON - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has a warning for horse owners about a contagious disease affecting their steeds.
Agency officials say farms in Ontario and Alberta received tainted semen last spring from one of three horses on a Kentucky farm infected with contagious equine metritus.
Damage estimated in millions after fire at Sask. farm equipment dealership
KINISTINO, Sask. - The chief executive of a large farm equipment dealership in Saskatchewan said Friday that damage is in the millions after a blaze that destroyed the business.
Tex Prete, the chief executive of Farm World in Kinistino, Sask., said he received a call Thursday night that the giant warehouse-style building at the dealership was on fire.
Agriculture futures mostly higher on Chicago Board of Trade
CHICAGO - Agriculture futures traded mostly higher Wednesday on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Wheat for March delivery rose six cents US to $6.1075 a bushel; March corn advanced 10.75 cents to $4.07 a bushel; March oats were flat at $2.10 a bushel; and March soybeans jumped 27 cents to $9.80 a bushel.
ICE Futures Canada prices closed higher
WINNIPEG - Closing prices:
Canola: Jan. '09 $2.60 higher $406.10; March '09 $4.00 higher $413.60; May '09 $4.50 higher $422.20; July '09 $4.10 higher $429.90; Nov. '09 $4.70 higher $443.00; Jan. '10 $4.70 higher $447.10; March '10 $5.70 higher $451.10; May '10 $5.70 higher $455.10; July '10 $5.70 higher $458.10; Nov. '10 $5.70 higher $458.10; Jan '11 $5.70 higher $458.10.