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BFO Encouraged by Introduction of Bill C-79

Implementing Legislation for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Guelph, Ontario – The Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) are extremely encouraged by Minister Champagne’s introduction of Bill C-79, the implementing legislation for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which was announced yesterday in the House of Commons.

Implementation of the CPTPP would provide considerable benefits for the Ontario beef industry, particularly for Ontario’s flagship beef brand, Ontario Corn Fed Beef, which has existing high‐value partnerships with several Japanese food service providers. The opportunity for growth for Ontario Corn Fed Beef and for other Ontario beef products in the growing Asia-Pacific region is significant.  

“The potential to increase both the volume and value of Ontario beef products exported to CPTPP member nations is extremely important to our sector,” says BFO President, Joe Hill. “The introduction of the Bill C-79 represents an important step toward the establishment of meaningful access to valuable markets within the global economy. BFO strongly urges all MPs to support a swift ratification process.”

BFO would like to thank Minister Champagne and Minister MacAulay for supporting this historic agreement.


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Leman Swine Conference: Vaccination strategies to reduce PRRS virus recombination

Video: Leman Swine Conference: Vaccination strategies to reduce PRRS virus recombination

Dr. Jay Calvert, Research Director with Zoetis, recently spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at the 2023 Leman Swine Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, about his conference presentation on porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus recombination.

“The number one problem in PRRS these days from a vaccine point of view is the emergence of new strains of PRRS. Since the beginning, we have had new strains and a lot of diversity,” said Dr. Jay Calvert. “We thought we knew it was all about mutation changes in amino acids and the individual strains over time, but they take on new characteristics.”

With the onset of more common whole genome sequencing and recombination analysis, Dr. Calvert says there is another mechanism, and recombination seems to be a key factor.