Conservative's Call For Rapid Testing Pilot For Agriculture

Jan 12, 2021

There's a renewed push on Ottawa to do more when it comes to streamlining the process for international farm workers when it comes to COVID.

The Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Lianne Rood feels more needs to be done to reduce the isolation times for workers when they arrive.

"Something I've been asking the Federal Health Minister for, and also Provincial Health Ministers, is a rapid testing pilot project for instance for workers. Particularly in fruit and vegetables who are coming into greenhouses and starting the season in January."

Rood says we can't have a repeat of last year when a farmer lost his entire crop of cucumbers because the entire group of workers he had there had to isolate for two weeks and no one was allowed into the green houses.

She notes international farm workers designated to help in greenhouses are starting to arrive now.

The Liberals have issued a blanket requirement for all international travellers, including farm workers, to test negative for COVID before boarding a flight to Canada, but she says they've done nothing to reduce the isolation times for workers when they arrive.

Click here to see more...

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.