‘If a person wants to argue with strangers on the internet for the sake of arguing, that’s their prerogative. But we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that these kinds of flame wars change people’s minds about anything.’ – Lisa Guenther.

Comment: Respect

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: Don’t feed the trolls.  Or, more specifically to our industry: Don’t bother arguing with animal rights activists online. I thought of this while checking out the Facebook comments on one of our features (Auction marts grapple with a shrinking herd and changing industry). Somehow the animal […] Read more

blue green algae

Pond scum: blue-green algae and cattle

It’s a routine summer day of checking cattle, maybe repairing a bit of fence. Nothing too stressful, at least until you see the dugout you’re using as a water source for your cattle, which has algae in it. Now what? The first question is whether it’s blue-green algae, which can release toxins harmful to cattle, […] Read more


What if the beef industry could flip the public discourse on cattle and climate change from a threat to an opportunity?

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

Comment: Keep your pencil sharp

“The most important tool on the farm is the pencil.” That was the best farming advice Mike Buis ever received, and it came from his grandfather. Buis recently conducted a virtual tour of his family’s Chatham, Ont., beef farm for the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation. Coincidentally, a day or two before the Buis Beef tour, […] Read more


Comment: The power of acknowledgement

Comment: The power of acknowledgement

We may need to drop the 'win the argument' mentality more often

Well, it sure has been a long haul with this pandemic, hasn’t it? I wonder what the world is going to look like in six months. Will we all remember how to socialize in real life once we re-emerge from these cycles of lockdowns and semi-lockdowns? Will we regain ground on the mental health front? […] Read more

How can producers improve their own farms and ranches so they can thrive in these challenging times?

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


Comment: The edge

My appreciation for price discovery and other elements of ag markets began with a visit to the Chicago Board of Trade back in 2014. At that time, the futures markets had moved to electronic trading, but the corn options pit was still lively. I talked to several people who’d worked at or near the Board […] Read more

Comment: How the sausage gets made

The pandemic has spotlighted packing industry concentration this year. People in the beef industry have been aware of these issues for some time, of course, but I even have friends outside ag who have been talking about it lately. Many want to see more, smaller federally inspected plants. It takes a tremendous amount of money, […] Read more


Comment: What a meeting!

Unless you’ve been living in a cave since last month you are no doubt aware of the unparalleled success of the inaugural Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Calgary. It made headlines around the country, topped the national Twitter feed, and generally brought smiles to the faces of anyone who was there. It’s rare to have […] Read more