Agriculture Roundup for Thursday February 2, 2023

Feb 03, 2023

A Quebec company has purchased an Innisfail, Alta. processing plant and major lamb feedlot.

Préval AG is owned by Alexandre Donald, and Fabien Fontaine. Their company has more than $720 million in annual sales.

The deal is good news for lamb producers, as the Innisfail processing plant formerly known as SunGold Speciality Meats is the only federally inspected plant in Western Canada.

Préval AG, headquartered in Saint-Hyacinthe, has more than 1,400 employees, many working for companies it has acquired. Its products include veal, lamb, and beef sold under brands such as Famille Fontaine and Catelli Brothers, as well as market vegetables and grain.

Click here to see more...

Video: ASF Control Lessons - Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith, Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, shares what decades of work have revealed about ASF control. She explains why vaccine development remains difficult, how human activity and food waste drive disease spread, why resistant pig populations are an important research area, and how strict biosecurity with the right disinfectants can help to stop transmission. Listen now on all major platforms!

"It's really a very human-driven disease because people move pigs, decide how they're raised, how they're sold, and good biosecurity can do anything to ensure control."

Meet the guest: Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith / mary-louise-penrith-2b12bb42 is an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. A veterinarian and internationally recognized researcher, she has dedicated decades to African swine fever epidemiology, control, and pig health, supporting FAO and WOAH initiatives while advancing research and education. Listen to Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith on the Swine Health Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.