The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published a proposed rule with new regulatory requirements that will change which meat, poultry, and egg products may carry a voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the US” label. While voluntary, the change could potentially revive Canada and Mexico’s trade dispute with the U.S. over country-of-orgin labeling…. Read More

Dennis Laycraft, executive vice president of Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), is on location at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) annual convention happening now at Houston, Texas. Laycraft is part of the Canadian contingent and is taking part in several meetings with his U.S. and Mexican counterparts, discussing country of origin labeling, sustainability, processing capacity, and… Read More

In November, John Barlow, MP for Foothills, was re-named to the position as the Conservatives’ shadow minister for agriculture. Among Barlow’s current priorities is the attention — or lack thereof — that country-of-origin labelling (COOL) is currently getting in Ottawa. As the conversations grow in strength with a bipartisan bill in the U.S. senate surrounding… Read More

Four U.S. senators are attempting to answer the call to fix “broken” cattle markets in the country, with new legislation to restore mandatory country of origin labelling. Greg Henderson of Drover’s says he’s not entirely sure how it’s going to work, as mCOOL, as it is called, was eliminated after a lengthy World Trade Organization… Read More

Four U.S. senators are pushing, once again, for some form of mandatory country-of-origin labelling (mCOOL) of beef. Earlier this week, on September 8, two Republican and two Democrat senators announced a bill entitled the American Beef Labeling Act, which would require the U.S. Trade Representative to develop World Trade Organization-compliant mCOOL within a year of the bill… Read More

Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) executive vice president Dennis Laycraft’s recent trip to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) convention in Nashville was a busy week. To start, Laycraft met with new leaders of organizations that frequent the convention, who were really appreciative that CCA made the effort to get down there. On Laycraft’s agenda of… Read More

Beef industry leaders from Canada, United States, and Mexico are meeting in San Antonio, Texas this week at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Cattle Industry Convention. Representatives from all three countries discussed the progress on ratifying the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. With Mexico and the U.S. ratifying the deal, Canada is the lone country left… Read More

As farmers anticipate the ratification of the new NAFTA deal, USMCA, Democrats in the U.S. are seeking changes to the new pact text. Jon Tester (D-MT) has gone back in time to suggest a change that would greatly impact the beef industry in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.  Tester is asking for the Republican-led… Read More

A U.S. lobby group that is closely aligned with the Trump administration on trade policy is trying to bring mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) back into the spotlight through the NAFTA negotiations. The Coalition for a Prosperous America, whose board includes R-CALF USA director Bill Bullard, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on… Read More

Agriculture ministers from across the country were hosted by B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham in Vancouver on Thursday and Friday. The topics discussed at the annual ministerial get-together included trade, business risk management, labour, and the legalization of cannabis. Here’s a summary of what was discussed at the meeting: Trade The ministers received an update… Read More

Italy’s government signed a decree on Thursday requiring packages of pasta sold in the country include country of origin labels. Italy is one of the largest markets for Canadian durum, importing around 1.2 million tonnes in 2015-16, according to Canadian Grain Commission figures. “We are putting Italy in the vanguard of Europe when it comes… Read More

Montana-based cattle membership organization R-CALF has launched a multi-pronged attack to convince President Trump to reinstate mandatory country of origin labelling (MCOOL) in the upcoming renegotiation of NAFTA. On Agritalk on Thursday, R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard argued for MCOOL on the basis it supports President Trump’s “America first” policy, food safety, and America’s sovereignty, since the… Read More

 

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