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
When your financial margins are under pressure people tend to pay more attention to the nuts and bolts of their operations. Many consultants would say that you have to be doing this all the time not in just stressful times. At the NCBA tradeshow it was very clear that cattlemen are moving closer to the… 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
To me there is no better eating experience than eating beef. Dave Zino is the Executive Chef with the NCBA and is responsible for spreading the word about cooking beef. Dave travels North America educating and making sure that people understand the true beef eating experience. The NCBA and the Beef Information Center both strive… 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
Larry Hicks is the founder of CattleHedging.com and specializes in helping clients manage risk in Canada and the United States. The cattle market has been just as viscous as any other market in agricultural commodities. Larry has always been a proponent for making sure that customers protect their equity and assets and reduce the amount… Read More
In the United States the NCBA does a lot of work to make sure the consumer really understands the cooking process of beef. The NCBA booth was full of cookbooks and other how to’s to make sure everyone enjoys the beef eating experience. I talked to Steve Leigh, a technician with the NCBA about how… Read More
After being in San Antonio for a couple days I have seen many shapes and sizes of cowboy hats. I’ve been wondering why some people buy one and not another. I asked several people on the tradeshow floor and most said that stetson is the hat leader. I went to the Stetson booth to talk… 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
Troy Hadrick is a great model for agriculture producers. Troy is not only a rancher in South Dakota but he also firmly understands the need for producers to tell the story of agriculture. Agriculture has never received the attention it is getting now from the mainstream media. Never before has agriculture had defend itself so… Read More