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By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup

Agriculture Roundup for Thursday April 30, 2020

Apr 30, 2020 | 9:45 AM

A High River, Alta beef packing plant will reopen on Monday.

The plant was closed for two weeks because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Cargill said operations will resume with one shift and additional safety measures will be taken.

This includes limiting access to the plant to no more than two people per car, with one sitting in the front and one in the back.

Buses with protective barriers are also being provided to reduce the need for carpooling to work.

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The company also said barriers have been added in bathrooms and lockers have been reassigned to allow for enough spacing.

As of Tuesday, there were 759 cases of COVID-19 at the plant and one worker has died.

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Alberta’s NDP Labour Critic said the reopening of the Cargill plant does not have the support of workers.

Christina Gray said this is proof companies and the UCP government still refuse to take worker safety seriously and they value the companies and their profits over people.

She said this was avoidable if the government and companies had listened to the workers who first raised concerns about cramped working spaces and a lack of Personal Protective Equipment in early April.

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Dairy Farmers of Canada and the Dairy Processors Association of Canada said they were misled on the date of implementation of Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

The dairy sector had secured the support of parliamentarians to have the CUSMA come into force in conjunction with the beginning of the dairy year on Aug. 1.

The trade deal is set to come into force on July 1, with all three countries having ratified it domestically. There will be 31 days from July 1 to Aug. 1 that will count as “year one” under the new deal, accelerating the onset of “year two” concessions made by the Canadian government, including higher import access and tighter restrictions on Canadian dairy exports.

Conservative Senator Don Plett accused the Liberal government of breaking a promise to delay the implementation of the new North American trade deal until after Aug. 1, a move he said will cost the Canadian dairy industry $100 million.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF