At the recent Canada Grains council meeting a listened to a full day of discussions around Canada’s market access issues across all the main crop types. The recent market access issues with canola are well documented and continue to challenge the countries trade attempts. With 85-95% of Canada’s canola crop getting exported, trade is very… Read More
Category: Ag Policy
What does it mean to farm? Why do it? For many, it is a question of passion. Passion for the lifestyle €“ the satisfaction of working the land; the freedom to be your own boss in a world that€™s not constricted by office walls and collared shirts; the day-to-day enjoyment of hard work and fresh… Read More
While in London Ontario for the Innovative Farmers of Ontario meeting I listened to a keynote speech given by Dennis DesRosiers. Dennis is a highly respected automobile industry analyst and he gave a breakdown of what has put the auto sector behind the financial eight ball. The purpose was for farmers in attendance to draw… Read More
In early January, I was fortunate to be invited to be involved in a panel discussion on AgVisonTV hosted by Kevin Stewart. The topic was farm debt and was it was a great experience. I was joined on the panel by Dr. George Brinkman, a retired agricultural economist at Guelph University and Dina Cover, an Economist at… Read More
When I knew that I had a chance to interview Mayo Schmidt I knew right a way a question that I needed to ask him. “What do you say to the people that think they have seen this story before?” The rise and fall of Sask Pool is well documented. From fish farms to… Read More
By most accounts the 2010 NCBA convention in San Antonio was a huge success. This was my first NCBA meeting so it is fitting that we talked to Anne Dunford a wily veteran of the NCBA festivities. Anne wrapped up the week and talked about what she thought were the major things to be pulled… Read More
Canada and Mexico have taken the issue of country of origin labelling (COOL) to the World Trade Organization (WTO). We are basically one year into the implementation of COOL and the financial impact is severe. The impact on the Canada and Mexico livestock markets has been very hurtful. The interesting thing that I found at… Read More
Being someone that has served on boards for a couple different agricultural associations, I respect people that commit the time necessary to make a difference. Whatever your beef politics are it is important to understand the work that happens behind the scenes. Trying to run your own business and also commit the time to cattle… Read More
With the losses that have been suffered in the feeding industry in 2010 it is no surprise that there is a very keen interest in what the analysts are saying about the cattle market in 2010. Before I attended the NCBA convention many people told me that the highlight of the show is the Cattlefax… Read More
One of the great things about attending the NCBA convention is that you get a chance to hear what some of the NCBA analysts an staff have to say about the industry. I was very fortunate to get a chance to talk with Gregg Doud. Gregg Doud is the Chief Economist at the National Cattlemans… Read More
This is my first trip the NCBA convention and I have been amazed at the scope of the convention. The first person that I had a chance to interview was Sara Brown, Livestock & Production Editor, Beef Today. I asked Sara what a couple of the main issues were in the beef business in the… Read More
I am finding more and more ranchers and feeders are struggling to find the answers to their short term profitability issues. I just hope that if ALMA has success there is enough people in the industry still to benefit from the hard work. At the Tiffin conference I really detected frustration from producers on how… Read More
Photo is courtesy of BugMan50 Dennis McKnight, The Innovators, spoke at Tiffin Conference 2010 about the ability of the Canadian beef industry to compete globally. Dennis has clients around the world who he assists in developing markets for their products. Dennis believes that Canadian beef can compete but we may need to rethink how we… Read More
I talked to Dustin Gosnell, Director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Policy, Canadian Wheat Board about GM wheat and the CWB’s position on the latest WTO issues. Agricultural trade issues are really sensitive and controversial issues right now. Never mind the trade issues that North America has with China and the other BRIC countries but the… Read More
John Phipps is the Host of the US Farm report and also farms for a living. He also blogs and writes for Farm Journal. I had the chance to sit down with John before his keynote speech at CropWeek and asked him about some of the things in the past that have affected farmers and… Read More