Eight major livestock lobby groups in the United States and Canada have decided to pursue legal action against the United States Government for its implementation of the new mandatory country of origin (COOL) legislation. The legal action was released this morning and it pits the producers and packers against the US government in a very… Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Many Canadian cattle people have been urging CCA and the Canadian cattle industry to try and focus more on developing other markets than just the United States. With issues like mandatory COOL in place in the Unites States, other trade partners are needed so that the Canadian beef industry is not just a one trick… Read More
With the recent flooding that’s plagued Alberta, cattle producers understandably have other things on their mind besides new technology. But at some point, when the situation settles down, they’ll find themselves in a delicate position – that is, heading for the front lines of science, promoting irradiation for beef. Irradiation would help kill nasty E-coli… Read More
In a move that’s sure to make manufacturers of organic pesticides very happy, the Manitoba government has announced its plan to introduce legislation that will ban the use of non-organic pesticides for lawns and common areas of the province. Citing health concerns for pets and children, the government plans to begin to ban the sale… Read More
Bill C-52, the Fair Rail Freight Service Act, received Royal Assent on June 26, fulfilling the Government’s commitment to bring forward legislation aimed at improving rail service for industries that rely on it to transport their product, including agriculture. The canola industry, like many other crop types, relies on rail service to move large quantities… Read More
The University of Guelph is on the hunt for a new winter wheat breeder following a major announcement this week. Grain Farmers of Ontario, SeCan and the university have partnered to create a new tenure-track position to focus on the crop, Ontario’s third largest acreage crop after corn and soy. In this interview, Bern Tobin,… Read More
It’s tough being a small fish in a big pond. In this case, Canada’s beef industry is that minnow in the giant ocean that is the U.S. beef industry. Or perhaps that’s not fair — it would seem the big hiccup with the entire mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) fiasco is that, according to… Read More
To say it was a tough winter is perhaps an understatement. High feed costs, cold weather and the dollar at par or better weighed on the cattle market well into the spring. Add the misery of more stringent COOL requirements, and there have been some grumpy faces in the cattle market these days. Brian Perillat,… Read More
Concerns of habitat loss, wildlife diversity, climate change and clean air and water are growing. Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) — originally a pilot project out of Manitoba — is a means of addressing these concerns through a program where private landowners are paid to maintain and improve the ecological goods and services on their… Read More
I’m wondering how federal research scientists and agriculture department personnel feel about Ottawa doing a drum roll to officially open the new $10-million state-of-the-art greenhouse facility at the federal Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre in London, Ontario. In the big picture, I imagine they feel some sense of pride in the facility. The… Read More
As farmers continue to look for ways to capitalize on the local food movement, some new hints were offered up earlier this week from researchers at the University of Florida. In the southeastern U.S., Florida is considered the state with the greatest diversity of what most people would typically call local food, particularly fruit and… Read More
The government of Canada and the government of Saskatchewan have announced a joint funding agreement that earmarks $1.25 million over five years for the creation of a forage research chair at the University of Saskatchewan. The forage research chair will focus on forage breeding with an emphasis on developing new forage varieties with improved yields,… Read More
At the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association AGM this week in Moose Jaw, Ryder Lee provided an update from the Canadian Cattleman’s Association. In this media scrum Ryder discusses the meetings happening this week Brussels regarding access to the EU market and how Canada will retaliate against the US regarding COOL. If you cannot see… Read More
Shaun Haney, founder of RealAgriculture.com, spoke with Willie Van Solkema, president of JBS Canada, at the Saskatchewan Stock Growers’ 100th AGM this week to get an update on JBS’s move into Canada. Up for discussion: JBS Canada’s foray into existing markets for the former-XL Foods products, which markets are still closed to the company and… Read More
The XL Foods beef recall over E. coli contamination and its detection was one of the top ag news stories of 2012. It’s unfortunate that bad news is big news, and even worse that once the dust settles we discover that what happened was preventable even within the existing rules and regulations. An independent panel’s… Read More