It was an odd feeling, sitting in the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) environmental committee meeting in Ottawa in March with Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi stuck in my head. Discussions around conserving forage and grasslands triggered the earworm, and lyrics about not knowing “what you’ve got, til it’s gone” seemed apt. Later, in the hallways […] Read more
Comment: Are we going to save or pave paradise?
AUDIO: Pandemic woes push beef industry to collaborate
Bob Lowe reflects on his two-year term as president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, which began just as the country was locked down due to COVID.
Bob Lowe was elected president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) on March 13, 2020. Coincidentally, that was a Friday, and if you’re at all superstitious, you might see that as foreshadowing. By the next week, the country was in lockdown in an effort to slow COVID. Over the next two years, the beef industry […] Read more
Comment: Agriculture and hope go hand in hand
It’s no coincidence that War and Famine ride together as part of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Humans have known for a long time that war breeds hunger, and hunger brings war, so it’s not surprising that knowledge is encoded in a major religious text such as the Bible. Of course, pestilence is also […] Read more
Comment: Managing market risk
We don’t know what 2022 has in store for us — hopefully rain at the right time and good cattle prices all through the fall. But hoping is not planning, and to plan, you need good information. So what should producers be watching in the markets as the year progresses? I asked Brian Perillat, senior […] Read more
Comment: Media 101 – From interviews to photos
Alexis Kienlen and I recently had a chance to connect with the Young Cattlemen’s Council and Cattlemen’s Young Leader program participants and alumni. Near the end of the event, we took the virtual stage to answer questions and share tips for those interested in doing interviews. I thought I’d share some of our ideas in […] Read more
Comment: Toiling in the mines for trade
Given everything that’s happening globally, it must take relentless optimism and determination to maintain existing trade relationships and broker new ones these days. That was my main impression as I watched a trade panel organized by the North American Association of Ag Journalists in late 2021. The panel comprised three trade veterans: Gregg Doud, who […] Read more
Cows ain’t coal
The recent article in Time proclaiming cows as the new coal must have been discouraging to ranchers and beef farmers, never mind the segment on CBC’s The Current that included cutting red meat as a way to fight climate change. At one point on The Current, Lloyd Alter, who has a background as an architect […] Read more
Comment: The time is now
Last month, I touched on the opportunity to flip discussions around methane and the beef industry into a positive. However, it occurred to me afterward that some readers might have walked away with the impression that I have no qualms about the potential effect of government regulations and policy around methane on the beef industry. […] Read more
Labour strife and packing plant concentration
I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling a little sick this week watching the deteriorating negotiations between Cargill and the union at its High River plant. Earlier this week United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401 conducted a vote on Cargill’s latest offer, and workers rejected that offer by a 98 per cent […] Read more
Comment: The whole picture
A few years ago, a friend and I came upon an accident on the highway just after dusk. A car and tractor had collided head-on. We were on the scene ahead of the first responders, so we stayed to help. The tractor had broken in half, which gives you an idea of how much force […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
