I have touched down in warm and sunny San Diego for the 2016 Cattle Industry Convention & National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show. Cattlemen & women from across the country have made their way West to take in the latest beef industry issues and network with fellow cattle producers. The trade show is like no other and the Cattlemen’s …
WTO Announces $1.01 Billion in COOL Retaliation
We anticipated this and now it’s here. The World Trade Organization (WTO) announced $1.01 billion retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods authorized in the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) with Canada and Mexico. The WTO has upheld multiple times our neighboring country’s claim that the label creates an unfair advantage to U.S. products. U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chairman of the Senate Committee …
Beef Leader Rodney Larson Passes Away
The father of our former sales representative Dave Larson, Rodney “Rod” Larson, 86 of Webster City, IA has passed away. I did not know him but he certainly had a marvelous farming career. Here is what Dave wrote to share with the AgWired community. In 1956, Rod began his own crop farming operation, Larson Farms. It grew to be a …
Lots of Reaction to TPP
Seems like everyone has something to say about the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement reached by negotiators meeting in Atlanta for more than five days, even though few details have been released. U.S. Trade Ambassador Michael Froman does say that agriculture is a big winner under the agreement. “Tariffs will either be eliminated or greatly reduced or quotas will be significantly …
Beef Excellence in Canada
Beef is what was for lunch during one of my tour stops at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation Annual Meeting. Excellent beef. Beef from the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence to be precise. This center opened earlier this year and is a Canadian beef and veal innovation, training, education and culinary marvel. The key areas are a presentation room, meat …
NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts Moving On
After six years of serving as the Chief Executive Officer for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), Forrest Roberts has announced his resignation, effective July 31. Roberts is leaving NCBA to “pursue other opportunities in the cattle industry and agribusiness” but will remain with the organization until the end of July to help with the transition of staff leadership and …
U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef Assembly
The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, started in March of this year, announced today the first general assembly meeting. When: July 14 and 15, 2015 Where: Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center 650 15th St., Denver, CO 80202 Program here. Registration here. USRSB’s mission is to advance, support and communicate continuous improvement in U.S. beef sustainability through leadership, …
House Passes COOL Repeal for Meat
By a vote of 300 to 131, the House of Representatives passed legislation late Wednesday to repeal Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for beef, pork and chicken. “I am thankful for the support of my colleagues today in passing this common-sense, bipartisan bill that is a necessary targeted response to avoid retaliation from Canada and Mexico,” said House Agriculture Committee …
Schmacon Casserole
The AgriBlogger is all about food. This includes casseroles. They’re easy and I make more than enough so I can freeze the rest for another meal. So, with a pound of Schmacon for inspiration I decided to make a new casserole this week. Here are my ingredients: 1 bag of shredded potatoes 1 pound Schmacon (beef’s answer to bacon) 1 …
Schmacon Inventor Ready for Retail
The inventor of Schmacon, Howard Bender, accepted a challenge to do better than the turkey bacon he and a friend were eating one day. So he invented “Beef’s Answer to Bacon – Schmacon.” If you attended this year’s American Farm Bureau Federation convention you might remember being able to sample it. You can read his full story here (pdf). Smokey, …