Bringing Canadian bacon to China

Jun 21, 2018

Two Ontario businesses to sign a $2.5-million deal with Chinese producer

By Kaitlynn Anderson
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The Canadian pork industry celebrated a milestone achievement at the Ontario Pork Congress today.

Shortly before noon, Mr. Yan, president of the Inner Mongolia Dahaoheshaw Agriculture and Husbandry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. in China, signed a contract to purchase 1,000 nucleus purebred pigs and 1,000 doses of frozen swine semen from Ontario-based companies.

Alliance Genetics Canada (AGC), a swine genetics company headquartered in St. Thomas, Ont., will provide the genetics for this deal. Donaldson International Inc., a family-owned business in Tavistock, Ont. that has exported pigs to more than 50 countries, will supply the live animals and semen.

In addition, the Canadian companies will offer swine management training to staff at Inner Mongolia.

The deal is valued over $2.5 million.

During their visit in Canada this week, “the buyers will select the boars they want the semen from,” Jim Donaldson, owner of Donaldson International Inc., told Farms.com last week.

The representatives will also select the live animals they want to purchase, he said.

AgMedia photo

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.