Opinion
Efforts to collect signatures for a petition to recall the Beef Checkoff fell “far short” of the number needed to trigger a referendum. NCBA president Jerry Bohn calls it “a de facto referendum” supporting the Checkoff.
NCBA CEO Colin Woodall responds to recent comments by tech mogul Bill Gates, suggesting that consumers in wealthy nations should switch to “synthetic beef” as an alternative to real beef products.
Collaboration between two cattlemen’s groups led to a blog from leaders of each urging cattlemen to work together to find common ground. This installment is from NCBA president Don Schiefelbein.
With the industry divided on the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act legislation, perspectives range across regions of the U.S. TCFA president and CEO Ben Weinheimer shares his southern plains viewpoint.
When rumors circled a few weeks ago of pork packing plants refusing loads because of diminished capacity from worker absenteeism due to COVID-19, how could anyone really be surprised?
A virtual FFA community can only fill the gap so far. I am grateful FFA has found solutions during the pandemic, but I believe the things FFA members have missed drive home the reasons why FFA is so important today.
While in-person events have a long list of benefits, there is one downside – they allow animal rights activist organizations to attempt to gain attention for their cause by holding “disruptions” and protests.
Virtual recruiting, including career fairs and interviews, were catching on before COVID-19, but now they’ve become the norm. Virtual recruiting is here to stay.
The current phase of the cattle cycle favors ranchers and cattle feeders as 2023 approaches, says John Nalivka. Are there downsides to the current expectations for cattle markets over the next year?
Is Walmart’s investment in Sustainable Beef a big deal? If Walmart were serious about beef, they would be buying or building their own kill plant, Barnard says, unless it’s a precursor to a bigger move.
An Executive Order recently called for “advancing biotechnology and biomanufacturing” to create a more “sustainable” bioeconomy. What is this, you may ask? A decoy.
A lot has changed since the last drought-induced beef cow liquidation a decade ago. Recognizing those changes is important going into and coming out of the cycle lows.
The U.S. cattle industry needs a referee to ensure a competitive playing field and a viable cash market to keep independent producers in business, says U.S. Cattlemen’s Association director Brett Crosby.
A snapshot of beef cow inventories over the past three decades is essentially flat. The advancements in quality and productivity during that time, however, has been impressive.
Closer evaluation of factors driving today’s cattle markets do not suggest a ‘broken market,’ but rather strengthening prices which are the result of increasing consumer beef demand - both domestic and international.
Investment in better genetics, management, research, and promotion have all proven to make a difference towards bolstering demand. Consumers have more awareness of, and access to, high-quality beef products than ever.
For many industry stakeholders, the go-to solution seems to be more localized, regional supply chains. To these folks, the cohort of soon-to-be-built processing plants looks like a golden next era of the meat business.
The alternative meat industry some believed could disrupt traditional meat is struggling with some of America’s high-profile brands rethinking their menus. Disruption appears denied by demand for the real stuff.
Efforts to regulate profits away from packers is a commodity mindset, columnist Nevil Speer writes. A better investment of time and money is toward consumers and growing beef demand.
Livestock Marketing Association says allowing livestock auction owners to invest in small and regional packers will create competition against large packing entities that already exist.
Collaboration between two cattlemen’s groups led to a blog from leaders of each urging cattlemen to work together to find common ground. This installment is from USCA Region XI director Kevin Escobar.
American ranchers continue to face challenges to end livestock grazing on federal lands. We must remain vigilant to those challenges in order to contribute to U.S. agriculture, the food industry and the U.S. economy.
The farmer’s share of the retail beef dollar is often misinterpreted and is not a good measure of industry viability. Much of the discussion about farmer’s share works to commoditize the marketing system.
Famer’s share, the percentage of the retail dollar captured at the farmgate is an important topic, yet it’s easily misinterpreted and often conflated with other issues.
Recent sales data suggest alternative proteins are struggling to maintain the momentum the products enjoyed after first hitting the market.
The positive shift in beef demand over the past decade has been supportive of beef prices, but we should be cautious about assuming that demand will remain at such a high level.
Federal misguided environmental policies can have an impact on all of agriculture and impact long-term U.S. food security.
Based on the data, it’s impossible to establish any meaningful link between beef imports and the packer and fed cattle prices.
Genetic thievery in commercial herds! It’s a real problem, though it often goes unnoticed. Calves with bottom-end genetics pull average weights down and shrink the size of your calf check.