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By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup

Agriculture Roundup for Monday March 30, 2020

Mar 30, 2020 | 9:44 AM

An Alberta beef packing plant stopped slaughtering cattle on Friday after one of its workers tested positive for COVID-19.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) kept some inspectors from work after Alberta’s health department notified Harmony Beef on Thursday a worker had tested positive.

The company then sent the other workers in the same slaughter area home for 14 days, even though they did not display symptoms.

Federally regulated slaughter plants are not allowed to operate without inspectors present.

The Balzac, Alberta plant can process 750 head of cattle each day, which is much less than bigger plants in the province. While slaughter has halted at Harmony, it is still carrying out other types of processing.

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Alberta produces more beef than any other Canadian province.

The partial closure follows a positive COVID-19 test by a worker at Sanderson Farms, a U.S. chicken company.

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Raven Industries will have full ownership of Dot Technology.

The Beaujot family said, even with the decision to sell the remaining shares to Raven, they still strongly believe in the future of Dot.

Norbert Beaujot, Dot’s founder, said the original sale of a majority interest in Dot to Raven in Nov. 2019 set Dot in a new direction.

“This new path added Raven expertise in controls technology, as well as Smart Ag technology alongside Dot’s home-grown electronic controls solidify Dot as an electronic powerhouse.” Beaujot said in a news release.

Dot is an fully autonomous farming platform.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF