Gren Winslow

As we move into the second half of 2011 Canada’s beef industry seems to be at the tipping point on a few fronts. The first one has to do with the national traceability system. A recent report by Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) says the mood coming out of a Beef Traceability Round Table meeting in […] Read more

Before the federal election the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) put out a summary of policy issues important to the cattle industry. It was a crib sheet — something producers could use to grill candidates on issues that influence their bottom lines. Now that the election is over it seems this crib sheet could be used […] Read more

I didn’t think the Federal budget was so bad. Certainly the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) was pretty excited by the budget’s emphasis on agriculture research and innovation. With the money announced for Beef Cluster research and the CCA’s Beef InfoXchange System before the budget, the $50 million for knowledge creation and transfer in the budget […] Read more

The friendly merger between the Beef Information Centre (BIC) and the Canada Beef Export Federation (CBEF) morphed toward a bad divorce at a special meeting in Toronto last month. The meeting was called so the CBEF members could sanction the plan for a merger recommended by the Canada Beef Working Group. Bad blood was in […] Read more

When it comes to traceability the federal government always seems to be putting the cart before the horse. A case in point is the announcement last month of $20 million for the Livestock Auction Traceability Initiative (LATI). The money is to help auction markets, feedlots, backgrounders, buying stations and anyone else who commingles large groups […] Read more

Sometimes change is inevitable. Thus the plan announced on January 7 to merge Canada Beef Export Federation (CBEF) and the Beef Information Centre (BIC) with the Canadian Beef Cattle Research, Market Development and Promotion Agency (more commonly known as the National Checkoff Agency), came as no surprise to anyone. Up to now the checkoff agency […] Read more

The Alberta Beef Producers annual meeting last month was all about money, or more properly, the lack of it. Right when prices are rising across the industry, ABP is tightening its belt in anticipation of what producers will decide to do with their checkoff this month. Producers have until the end of January to apply […] Read more

Alberta Agriculture Minister Jack Hayden is once again in the news as peacemaker. First he engineered an agreement between Alberta Beef Producers and Alberta Cattle Feeders Association to resurrect a mandatory national $1 checkoff in Alberta. This time he’s brought every producer interest group together to hammer out some common-sense principles for implementing beef cattle […] Read more

In his column this month Christoph Weder says for cattle producers to create value they must short the market and produce a differentiated product. Shorting the market sounds like something a dairy or poultry producer would be more comfortable saying. So I called him up just to be sure he meant to say we have […] Read more

hina. Just the name creates a buzz. Especially now that it is opening up once again to Canadian beef. Congratulations are due to all involved in pulling off this major coup. The ripples created when beef was included in a co-operative agreement signed by President Hu Jintao during his visit to Canada for the G20 […] Read more