Egyptian officials over the weekend denied there had been any disagreement regarding what level of the fungus ergot they would permit in wheat imports. Egypt's supply and agriculture ministry’s held a joint press conference Sunday. Officials were assuring exporters that they would accept all shipments with less than 0.05 percent of the fungus. However, after recent contradictory statements as well as rejections of wheat shipments due to the presence of ergot, traders are hesitant to believe the statements. Wheat traders boycotted a tender by Egypt to purchase wheat last week for fear of rejections due to ergot contamination.

Egg Farmers of Canada, a grower group representing more than 1,000 Canadian egg farms, announced a transition from what it calls conventional egg production towards other production methods. Chairman Peter Clarke, said he was “pleased that the entire industry has agreed to an orderly transition plan” that will do away with conventional housing. Currently, about 90 percent of Canadian egg production is in conventional housing. They expect the conversion to be 50 percent complete in eight years to production practices including enriched housing, free-run or free-range.

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