(Canada Beef Inc. photo)

Mexico halts bid for COOL retaliation

Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico has halted a bid to impose retaliatory trade measures on the U.S. over meat labeling rules after U.S. lawmakers repealed them this week, a Mexican government official said. Mexico had announced earlier this month it would start internal procedures to strip benefits from some U.S. agricultural and industrial imports, […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

COOL saga winding down, but not over yet

CNS Canada –– The seven-year saga of U.S. country of origin labelling (COOL) rules and their adverse impact on Canada’s livestock sector may be nearing its final chapter, but the conclusion still needs to be written. After numerous complaints and appeals with the World Trade Organization, the COOL regulations in place since 2008 have been […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

NAFTA countries debate COOL harm at WTO

Canada and Mexico have made their case before a World Trade Organization arbitration panel on how much tariff revenge they’re allowed to impose on U.S. goods over country-of-origin labelling (COOL). The WTO “has ruled four times that the U.S.’s COOL rules are discriminatory,” Canadian Pork Council chairman Rick Bergmann said in a council release Wednesday […] Read more

CCA Report: Drought concerns and trade talks

CCA Report: Drought concerns and trade talks

From the August 2015 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

It’s been a busy summer for the Canadian Cattlemen Association (CCA), with plenty of activity on a number of ongoing files. CCA officials were in Charlottetown, P.E.I., for the annual July meeting of the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture, where workforce issues, social licence and the extreme dry conditions in pockets of Alberta […] Read more


Uncertainties and potential worries loom large as the 2015 calf crop's fall run begins.

Editorial: August anxieties

There are a lot of balls in the air as we start another fall run

If you only look at prices charts it’s a great time to be in the cattle business. It’s only when you start looking longer-term that you see plenty of reasons to be anxious for the beef industry this August. As of this issue going to press Canada is in what appears to be the final […] Read more

(WTO.org)

U.S. seeks arbitration at WTO over COOL-related sanctions

The U.S. government has mounted a new defense at the World Trade Organization for its meat label law, this time seeking arbitration against Canada’s request for trade sanctions. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) had been scheduled Wednesday to hear Canadian trade officials’ request to authorize over $3 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods, in formal retaliation […] Read more



(Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada preparing shorter list of tariff targets in COOL fight

Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada is whittling down its list of U.S. products that it may hit with steep tariffs in retaliation against contentious meat-labeling laws, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said on Tuesday. The Canadian government is likely to target beef, pork, California wines, mattresses, cherries and office furniture, possibly along with other goods, from […] Read more


Cutaway of Plant and Roots in Dirt

We need a return to healthy soil

The relationship between soil health and human health has been recognized throughout history

Back in 1400 BC Moses sent his scouts ahead to Canaan to see what the soil was like and bring back fruit. By 400 BC Hippocrates was relating soil health as part of the overall evaluation of patient health. Flash forward to 1940 and R.A. Hayne proclaimed that “only healthy soil can produce healthy people.” […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. lawmaker sees early June vote to repeal COOL

Washington | Reuters –– U.S. House of Representatives agriculture committee chairman Mike Conaway said on Tuesday he expects an early June vote on legislation to repeal U.S. meat labeling laws, to avoid costly retaliation from Canada and Mexico. Canada and Mexico began preparing retaliatory steps against U.S. goods on Monday, after a World Trade Organization […] Read more