Four U.S. senators are pushing, once again, for some form of mandatory country-of-origin labelling (mCOOL) of beef. Earlier this week, on September 8, two Republican and two Democrat senators announced a bill entitled the American Beef Labeling Act, which would require the U.S. Trade Representative to develop World Trade Organization-compliant mCOOL within a year of the bill… Read More
As of August 20, 2021, Singapore has approved the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) certificate for the export of all beef, including beef offal, with no age restrictions. The change makes Singapore the first country to remove remaining Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) trade restrictions, following the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognizing Canada as… Read More
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) executive vice president Dennis Laycraft’s recent trip to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) convention in Nashville was a busy week. To start, Laycraft met with new leaders of organizations that frequent the convention, who were really appreciative that CCA made the effort to get down there. On Laycraft’s agenda of… Read More
The Government of Alberta is making $136 million available under the AgriRecovery program, a joint program between the governments of Alberta and Canada, and has asked the federal government to provide an additional $204 million for a total relief package of $340 million. Earlier in the day, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie Claude Bibeau… Read More
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) has released a document to help beef producers and neighbouring crop farmers develop grazing agreements. Due to drought and wildfires, feed supplies are scarce, and the CCA wants to encourage beef producers and grain farming neighbours to work together to find creative solutions. Stubble grazing, or grazing crops that are… Read More
The Alberta government is partnering with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Alberta Beef Producers, and Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association to undertake a competitiveness study that will provide strategic insights and data for the beef cattle industry. Announced July 14, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Devin Dreeshen says that collaborating with industry is vital to growing and… Read More
An important step forward was taken May 27 for the Canadian beef industry, as the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognized Canada as negligible risk for Bovine Spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). “The recommendation by the OIE’s Scientific Commission to grant Canada negligible risk status for BSE is a historic closing of the BSE era for… Read More
A series of three meetings were jointly held last week led by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). The purpose of the meetings was to discuss grazing livestock and their role in building a sustainable food supply system. The meetings and consultations were held in preparation for the United Nations… Read More
Today’s RealAg LIVE! episode is exciting, as we bring to you a budget special. It’s our first federal budget in two years, so co-hosts Shaun Haney and Kelvin Heppner figured we were overdue for a special. The budget is 739 pages long, and as Haney notes, it looked like a Ken Follet novel as it… Read More
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) will continue its species at risk stewardship activities with a $1.27 million contribution from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCA). The Species At Risk Partnership on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) initiative will be delivered in partnership with MULTISAR, Cows and Fish, Alberta Beef Producers, and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. The additional… Read More
Not only is Tom Vilsack set to return as U.S. secretary of agriculture, he’s also open to bringing back U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) for beef and pork; but only if it doesn’t lead to retaliation from trading partners, such as Canada, under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Vilsack, who was ag secretary when the Obama… Read More
Several farm industry groups are voicing their displeasure of the government’s announcement last week to ramp up the carbon tax over the next 10 years. The Grain Farmers of Ontario say they are “infuriated” by the plan and call it a “continued campaign to tax food production for Canadians.” Previously, the federal government had denied… Read More
While provincial agriculture minsters are reviewing Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s business risk management proposal, the Canadian beef industry sees potential in the offer. The beef industry has been pushing for removal of the reference margin, changes to the trigger/compensation percentages, and raising the payment cap limit. The proposed deal includes some — but not all… Read More
The national youth initiative of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), has announced its 16 finalists for the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) 2020-2021 program. Finalists were announced after a virtual, judged, roundtable discussion that took place during the Canadian Beef Industry Conference, with 24 semi-finalists in the competition. Smaller roundtable judging sessions were judged by representatives… Read More
From working through the backlog of fat cattle, to the set aside program, and on to market demand, Bob Lowe, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), is cautiously optimistic about the cattle value chain recovery from the lows of April and May. Looking back to spring and early summer, there was a backlog of… Read More