Beef Round-Up

Beef and forage research in Manitoba has been in the news lately, sometimes for good reasons but also for all the wrong reasons.

It is almost May and most people in Manitoba are wondering when spring will actually arrive.

Not long ago, tariffs were the key barriers to Canadian beef exports. Tariff barriers are still significant problems (Korea for example), but as tariff barriers fall, countries are getting more creative in building border barriers.

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) has just completed its Annual General Meeting (AGM). I know I might be perceived as biased, but I think it was a great success.

There is much talk these days in academic and bureaucratic circles (I don’t hear the words coming from the ranch much) about the “social license to operate.”

Farm groups often bemoan the fact that it can be difficult to work with governments.

I have just completed MBP’s fourteen town hall meetings spanning all regions of Manitoba. I was once again struck by the enormous diversity and beauty of our province. I am also struck by the dogged optimism of its beef producers.

Federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers met last month in Whitehorse to finalize the next agreement on agriculture policy and programs.

Food safety was in the news again recently. This was prompted by a voluntary recall of some ground beef products.

I was on a plane to Calgary earlier this year and I could not help but overhear the conversation occurring in the seats behind me.