Utter the words “supply management” and those involved in the agriculture industry are likely to have strong opinions for and against. The same can be said for the U.S., where an expired Farm Bill and recent run-ups in feed costs have converged to make a whole lot of farmers and industry folk nervous about the… Read More
Yesterday’s re-election of Barack Obama was the big news story, but tucked in amongst all the election fan fair and references to Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” was news of several bills being passed or defeated. Of particular note to agriculture was Prop 37, a Californian bill that would require labeling of products that… Read More
I’ll be the first to admit that the U.S. political system with its two houses, governors and senators and congressmen sets my head spinning. I also find it fascinating, as wrangling rules and regulations for so many people just seems like an overly daunting task. It would appear that our friends to the south also… Read More
Cattle producers and industry members from the U.S., Canada and beyond gathered at NCBA 2012 to talk about the state of the industry, the triumphs and the challenges. As we look further ahead into 2012, the challenges for the margin operator don’t seem to get any easier. In fact, you could say that it looks… Read More
With the recent ruling by the World Trade Organization declaring elements of the U.S. Country Of Origin Labelling program to be unfair, Canadian livestock producers feel that the first steps have been made in restoring exports lost when the program began. While Canadian producers applaud the move, there is an underlying skepticism that this decision… Read More
The American market is very important to the Canadian cattle industry. Domestic policies in the United States can greatly impact the Canadian industry. Just think about Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) and the discussion in Canada in terms of mitigating its impact. There are some proposed changes to GIPSA potentially coming and questions and several… 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
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
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
There was a time when agriculture and food were sacred topics to the public. People were either on the farm or one generation removed which instilled a connection to the source of the food that we eat. In the past five years that has definitely changed as many food activists have begun attacking the large… Read More
The US dairy industry is really struggling to survive. Milk prices are depreciated which is causing significant financial hardship. In Canada, this seems to a bit of a foreign concept considering that Canadian dairies are supply managed. The current situation will definitely provide argument from the US to file to WTO and will entice Canadian… Read More
I had a subscription to TIME magazine and I will be cancelling it based on the unfounded rhetoric the magazine has recently published. Writer Brian Walsh penned the cover story entitled, “The Real Cost of Cheap Food.” To say that this one sided article has raised the ire of the agricultural industry would be an… Read More
The following article was originally from SiemensSays.com. I think it is a very insightful analysis into the recent announcements in the pork industry. Loan guarantees will help some producers. But, what is the criteria for a viable hog operation? The Canadian industry is currently losing $30 million a week. The situation is deteriorating daily. The… Read More
At the International Livestock Congress, I spoke to Dennis Laycraft, Executive Vice President with the Canadian Cattlemans Association about the future realities of MCOOL. Many livestock producers on both sides of the border are very curious at to what will be the impact of this legislation. I have heard several Americans call MCOOL not food… Read More