Updated March 11 Depending on your political persuasion, you likely watched President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January with relief, worry or some mix of the two. Will we see a more protectionist U.S. government? Will Biden restore capacity at the World Trade Organization (WTO)? What will the mood be of our largest trading partner and […] Read more
Comment: Still America first
Research shows feed additive cuts methane emissions at commercial feedlots
A recent two-year trial examined the effects of 3-NOP, an additive developed by Royal DSM, in the diets of both finishing and backgrounding cattle.
Recent research out of Alberta has confirmed that a novel feed additive cuts methane emissions from feedlot cattle by as much as 80 per cent, depending on the diet. The beef industry is frequently criticized for its greenhouse gas contributions, particularly methane produced by rumen bacteria as cattle digest feed. But methane produced by cattle […] Read more
Comment: Continuous improvement?
Canadian producers as a whole have become more efficient over the decades in almost any way you can think to measure. One example of those gains is a study conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba, Environment Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Those researchers examined how beef production changed from 1981 to 2011. […] Read more
Alberta Beef Producers calls for reinstatement of provincial policy restricting coal mining in environmentally sensitive areas
The provincial cattle organization is asking the provincial government for "proper public consultation" on changes to land use policy
The Alberta Beef Producers are expressing frustration with the Alberta government’s decision to bin a decades-old policy restricting coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, a move that many ranchers see as threatening their livelihoods and the land they manage. Last spring Alberta’s Energy Minister Sonya Savage rescinded A Coal Development Policy for […] Read more
Comment: Your most important asset
About 15 years ago, I was sitting in a classroom at Royal Roads University on Vancouver Island when the professor said something that shifted my priorities. Bev McPhee was the professor who changed how I saw things. McPhee had a lot of experience in the corporate world, and her insights were very welcome to those […] Read more
Processing industry turns to technology to contain COVID-19
Online health-screening platforms and apps can help processors spot and control emerging outbreaks.
As communities and businesses across Canada face swelling COVID numbers, stakeholders in Canada’s beef industry are trying to help processors ride the second wave. Keeping employees healthy and containing outbreaks has been top-of-mind for processors across North America since COVID broke last spring. It’s become de rigueur to screen plant employees for symptoms each day, […] Read more
Supporting small farms and reducing food waste
Jaime White has gone from running a small farm to founding a program that salvages 150 loads of surplus food a day.
This is the second in a two-part series. You can read the first story here. Jaime White and his family were on track to be artisanal producers, raising sheep, pigs and chickens. Then he had an idea. Why not turn their community of Dawson Creek, B.C. into a waste-free town, lower their own feed bill and support […] Read more
Knowing the regulations a must when feeding surplus food to livestock
Jaime White, Loop founder, is on a mission to not only reduce food waste but educate livestock producers about feed regulations
A program that redirects surplus food from grocery stores to livestock aims to reduce feed waste while also educating livestock producers about safe feeding practices, says the program’s founder. Loop Resource connects grocers with food banks and charities, as well as livestock producers, who use unsold food that grocers would otherwise chuck. Food waste may also be used for fuel or composted. Loop’s producers and charities divert 150 […] Read more
Comment: Farewell to 2020
There are events in a person’s life that are so pivotal, nothing is the same afterwards. They might be personal, such as falling in love, having children, or, on the negative side, a tragic accident. There are also life-altering collective events. In 1918, my great-grandmother’s two older brothers, just returned from the First World War, […] Read more
Bridging the rural-urban media divide
I’ve had a couple of conversations with producers recently about criticism of the beef industry in urban media and public perceptions of beef production. I’m also on a virtual ag media panel for the Advancing Women in Ag conference slated for Nov. 24 to 25, and one of the questions we were asked to cover […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
