Food and Farming Canada » swine

Meeting consumer demands for marbled pork

Lilian — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:46:37 +0000

Consumers are looking for the full flavour of marbled pork and work is now underway to bring such products to the Ontario market.

Ontario Pork has taken the lead in working with farmers, retailers and processors to determine the level of marbling consumers want, evaluate different swine genetics and feeding regimens and assess the quality and consistency [...]

Alberta Pork’s H1N1 challenges, responses

Lilian — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:59:08 +0000

This post is a continuation from yesterday’s H1N1 topic that explored Alberta Pork’s experiences at the centre of the H1N1 media storm earlier this year. The information is based on a presentation I attended by Lee Funke of Torque Communications at the recently held Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation conference in Edmonton.

He outlined some of the challenges [...]

Inside Alberta Pork’s H1N1 war room

Lilian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:51:17 +0000

It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be at the centre of a media firestorm unless you’ve actually experienced it. For the staff at Alberta Pork and the communications professionals working with them, the spring of 2009 provided more first-hand experience than they could have ever wished for.

Lee Funke of Alberta-based Torque Communications shared [...]

Whatever will they think of next?!?

Lilian — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:06:25 +0000

There’s always someone looking to make a buck off someone else’s misfortune. But in this case, I didn’t think it would be the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

One of the agencies at the head of the global response to H1N1 influenza, the CDC is reported to be selling a toy version of the microbe [...]

Swine flu or whine flu? How media covered H1N1

Lilian — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:29:40 +0000

Much has been said about media coverage of the H1N1 outbreak – both by the general public and by those of us in agriculture. And most of what is being said hasn’t been very complimentary.

Certainly from farmers’ perspective, the media is to blame for tagging H1N1 with the nickname swine flu and then repeating [...]

A young farmer’s plea – support us by buying local food

Lilian — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:13:53 +0000

Those of us in the farming community have known for a while now that hog farmers are facing financial difficulties and need help. Thanks to the efforts of many, even mainstream media have picked up on the crisis in the pork sector.

But although many use facts and figures to try to illustrate the point, to me, [...]

An inside look at Egypt’s reaction to pigs and H1N1

Lilian — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:27:49 +0000

A freelance science writer from Egypt speaking at a conference for science journalists helped shed some light on that country’s extraordinary decision to slaughter its entire pig population when H1N1 influenza was first announced earlier this year.

Nadia El-Awady, Program Manager with the Arab Science Journalists Association, spoke about the events that led up to the mass [...]

Ten craziest products inspired by bacon

Lilian — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:01:36 +0000

I love bacon – in fact, I’m a fan of pork in general.

And especially right now, after hog farmers have taken a beating over the unfortunately named “swine flu” which was actually really H1N1 influenza, I’m supportive of any efforts to promote it and develop new market opportunities.

So I was intrigued when I stumbled across the [...]

The grass isn’t always greener

Lilian — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:55:40 +0000

An earlier post by Kelly talked about the changes in Slovak agriculture since the end of Communism almost 20 years ago. While many things have been positive, things don’t seem to be entirely rosy in the world of Slovak agriculture.

Several farmers and farm managers that we’ve met on our journey so far have talked to us [...]

Meeting finicky consumers’ demands

Lilian — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:24:57 +0000

Meeting the needs of a finicky consumer is hard – but essential for success in the evolving global marketplace. And it’s something farmers need to start committing to, according to a popular agricultural economist from Kansas State University.

“We need to understand consumer needs and how ungrateful they are,” said Dr. Vincent Amanour-Boadu as he addressed [...]