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No matter where you turn, there’s been a lot of talk about global recession, not just in the United States and Canada, but also in other G7 countries are facing some really hard economic times ahead.

As interest rates have gone up, you’d expect protein demand to drop. This is not the case, as the demand has stayed quite strong. It has left many scratching their heads and wondering, what on earth is going on?

Not only have interest rates risen, but the average income around the world has escalated, too. This, says Don Close, chief research and analytics officer with Terrain, is likely the reason for increased demand.

“We have an untold number of examples of when somebody starts to earn more money, the first thing they want to do is eat better,” Close explains. “Even with the recessionary pressures — they are there today, I don’t want to talk around them — we are still seeing a lot of income globally. We’re seeing incredibly low unemployment rates, which even with the inflationary pressures, if somebody has a job, [they] can make more money next week.”

Looking ahead, there are certain pressures we need to be watching out for that would give an indication for cause for concern. The two biggest concerns, says Close, is the escalating COVID-19 crisis in China, and the Russia/Ukraine war — especially with questions surround whether it will expand to include additional countries.

Another concern with the situation in Russia and Ukraine, says Close, is the long-term repercussions economically, too.

“If you look at the economic damage that is occurring to Russia, because of the sanctions, and you look at just the physical structural damage that has been occurring in Ukraine. The time period for rebuilt — it’s not going to be over with as soon as the fighting stops. This thing’s going to take a long time to unravel.”

Check out the full conversation between Close and RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney, on the long-term implications of changing demographics in China, a commodity outlook for 2023, what is going on with the hog industry, and more:

Even though mandatory country of origin labeling (mCOOL) by the U.S. has been deemed non-compliant with America’s trade obligations at the World Trade Organization, there is a faction that still wants to see the rule brought back.

Similar to the Canadian system, when a congressional session ends, bills that have not yet passed “die.” Now, in a new congress, bills must be introduced again, often with only slight changes to former versions.

As Kent Bacus, executive director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) explains, the current American Beef Labelling Act is just such a bill. This new bill is a repackaging of a similar bill introduced last year that would see mCOOL re-introduced.

Specifically, the bill requires that the U.S. trade representative and U.S. department of agriculture find a trade-compliant way to introduce mCOOL within six months of the bill’s passing. Failure to do so results in the requirement becoming law anyway; language, Bacus says, that just sets it up for failure.

Bacus adds that this bill is not supported by the beef industry, and instead is seen as a messaging piece. There is the potential for the mCOOL language to end up in another bill, as is sometimes a tactic to move less popular legislation through. It could spell real trouble if the language were added to must-pass legislation, i.e the Farm Bill or a spending bill.

While trade-compliance can be brushed off by some, Bacus says that any labeling rules must be United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA)-compliant. From NCBA’s perspective, differentiation isn’t a bad thing, however product should be produced through verified programs, for example.

“We can’t afford to have yesterday’s fight with today’s market,” Bacus says.

Check out the full conversation between Bacus and RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney, at NCBA, held at New Orleans, Louisiana:

Check out more coverage of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention here!

Sustainability is about three things: economics, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. But how do you make that system better, rather than pitting ourselves against each other?

That’s the message Dr. Sara Place, of Colorado State University (CSU), covered at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association conference being held this week at New Orleans, Louisiana.

When looking at achieving sustainability, it’s not always a matter of switching things up on your operation, it can be more about putting a word to something you are already focused on, explains Place, such as the legacy of the business and trying to pass that on to the next generation while taking care of things in the community and on the land.

There is a certain level of innovation that is required in order to continue down the sustainability road, though. CSU is working on some exciting research in that realm, especially when it comes to methane emissions.

“Methane emissions from cattle seem to be heritable themselves. And we know things like feed efficiency are heritable. So that’s one of those exciting opportunities of, can we use genetic selection to potentially shift the entire cattle herd to 10 to 15 per cent lower emitting animals? That work though, and to actually get to a point where we could have it in an EPD index, that takes a lot of research,” Place explains, noting that it would take 1000 plus animals in a data set to get them to a point of confidence in what the research is telling them.

Read more: Lactanet announces addition of methane efficiency trait to dairy cattle selection

Currently, there’s not a lot of research that has looked at breed differences and enteric methane, but it’s something that will be determined as this continues. As Place explains, the genetic variation is going to be huge — so identifying those animals that are more efficient than expected could be tricky.

Tying into the three pillars of sustainability, Place says this research isn’t just about environmental stewardship either.

“We talk about it from a climate perspective, but it’s a loss of feed energy, right? So typically, these animals that are more efficient and less methane emitting, we expect them to be more feed efficient as well.”

Check out the full conversation between Sara Place, and RealAgriculture founder Shaun Haney, for more on some of the research in sustainability from CSU:

Related:

Focus on carbon insets keeps recognition of environmental good within the cattle industry

“We can’t cut production as a solution”: Looking at sustainability in the livestock sector

Although insecticide products containing lambda-cyhalothrin, such as Matador and Silencer, are registered and will be available for sale in Ontario for the 2023 growing season, some producer groups are cautioning against use of the products due to possible end-use trouble.

The updated label for April 2023 removes feed crops as an approved application, but as there is currently no process in place to divert harvested crops from livestock feed end-users, Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Ontario Agri Business Association, Ontario Bean Growers, and Ontario Canola Growers Association are not recommending use of the product on dry edible beans, grains, or oilseeds.

Syngenta Canada, the registrant of lambda-cy, has appealed Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) ruling on removing feed from the label, however a decision either way will is unlikely prior to the 2023 growing season, the company says.

Read more: The potential wasteful consequences of a lambda-cy label change

As a result of the regulatory review by the PMRA, applications of this pesticide on crops destined for livestock feed are not permitted. The label restriction also means that any byproducts from a crop destined for food, or a crop that is grown for food but does not make food grade, would not be eligible to be used as feed.

Alternative pesticide options may be available, and the grower groups encourage all farmers to consult with their agronomist, retailer, or provincial specialists for an appropriate alternative product. Also, farmers should contact their local retailer on options to return any unused product.

Related: 

Labeling change to keep Matador and Silencer out of Western Canada in 2023