When Canada's agriculture and trade ministers --- as everybody expected following the World Trade Organization's latest ruling against U.S. country of origin labeling --- promised to retaliate unless the labeling rules are repealed, virtually all Canadian livestock producer groups and provincial governments who benefit from cross-border cattle and hog trade applauded the federal government's swift... Read More
Category: Livestock
On behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, Members of Parliament Michael Chong and Harold Albrecht today announced an investment of $183, 929 to help ensure the safe transportation of livestock and poultry. "Our Government is proud to support industry-led initiatives that help to ensure the welfare of farm animals in Canada," said Chong. "The transportation... Read More
Update on May 20th: The U.S. House Agriculture Committee, as expected, approved Chair Michael Conoway’s bill to repeal COOL on Wednesday morning by a vote of 38-6. It’s expected the entire House will vote on it in early June. The final ruling from the World Trade Organization against U.S. mandatory country of origin labeling and... Read More
The Western Livestock Price Insurance Program’s (WLPIP) calf coverage deadline is May 28, 2015. WLPIP is a risk management program, allowing producers to pay a premium for forward price coverage. Should market price fall below their coverage level for their time frame, the producer will receive a payment. It all sounds pretty straightforward, but deciding... Read More
The World Trade Organization has once again sided with Canada and Mexico, as the WTO Appellate Body published a fourth and final ruling on U.S. country of origin labeling rules today. The appeal panel decision affirmed earlier rulings saying COOL illegally discriminates against foreign livestock (read the report and findings here). “The United States has... Read More
This week, I had the distinct pleasure of joining a small group of range enthusiasts for a ranch tour in central Alberta. I wasn't sure what to expect, besides a scorching sun and gale-force winds. But the afternoon ended up being so much more than an excuse to step away from my laptop. It was... Read More
In the last couple of weeks, there have been many impassioned pleas from producers asking consumers to avoid McDonald's for no reason other than an alleged change of source for their 100% Canadian beef patties. The pleas suggest the company will be moving to products sourced from South America, not now, but in the near... Read More
Southern Manitoba has the right combination of soybean production and soybean meal demand to support a 2,000 tonne per day soybean crushing facility, according to a new report funded by the Canada and Manitoba governments and soybean industry partners. Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers partnered with Soy 20/20 to organize and co-fund the study, which... Read More
A fourth and final decision from the World Trade Organization on U.S. mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) rules will be announced in the next few days. The WTO has said its decision on the Americans' latest appeal to maintain COOL will be shared with members no later than May 18th. Another ruling in Canada... Read More
Cattle producers will have access to significantly higher borrowing limits under an enhanced Manitoba Livestock Associations Loan Guarantee (MLALG) program, according to Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development minster, Ron Kostyshyn. The borrowing limit for the MLALG program has increased to up to $8 million from $5 million for associations and up to $500,000 from... Read More