Month: February 2015

DesMoines Register: Livestock confinements need local control

The Register’s Editorial: Livestock confinements need local control The Register’s Editorial 11:08 p.m. CST February 15, 2015 (Photo: DesMoines) Sioux County in northwest Iowa has 1.2 million hogs. Nearby Dickinson County is home to 43,000 hogs. That is not the only difference between the two counties. While Sioux County is apparently comfortable with having the…



Wisdom of United States COOL Law Now Seen Clearly, By Eric F. Nelson

Wisdom of United States COOL Law Now Seen Clearly By Eric F. Nelson With the announcement late last week of the recent BSE case in Canada, cattlemen across the United States and consumers around the world watched keenly in the hours after the announcement to see what affect this would have on U.S. live cattle…



Big Beef keeps getting bigger, thanks to growth drugs with unclear safety records

Big Beef keeps getting bigger, thanks to growth drugs with unclear safety records by Deena Shanker @deenashanker February 13, 2015, 9:21 AM EST Instead of abandoning such drugs, several beef producers are simply switching from one controversial growth promoter to another. When it comes to cattle, size certainly does matter. But how big is too…



Mad cow disease confirmed in Alberta; 1st case in Canada since 2011

Mad cow disease confirmed in Alberta; 1st case in Canada since 2011 Thomson Reuters Posted: Feb 13, 2015 7:02 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 13, 2015 7:19 AM ET The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed on Friday that it had found a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, in…



DTN: GIPSA Didn’t Investigate COOL

Print GIPSA Didn’t Investigate COOL Former Agency Head Says He Wanted to Pursue Claims of COOL Discrimination Chris Clayton DTN Ag Policy Editor Fri Feb 13, 2015 02:09 PM CST OMAHA (DTN) — The former top enforcer of USDA’s livestock marketing rules wanted to investigate whether U.S. meatpackers were illegally discriminating against Canadian and Mexican…



R-CALF Fights to Stop Chinese-Controlled Industrial Hog Farms in Nebraska

Group Fights to Stop Chinese-Controlled Industrial Hog Farms in Nebraska Billings, Mont. – In a letter hand-delivered yesterday to Nebraska Unicameral Legislature’s Agriculture Committee, R-CALF USA urged the rejection of Nebraska Legislative Bill 176 (LB 176). Introduced by Nebraska Senator Ken Schilz, LB 176 would amend the state’s Competitive Livestock Markets Act (Act) passed in…



Salon – What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living, By Jaclyn Moyer

Monday, Feb 9, 2015 05:00 PM MST What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living People say we’re "rich in other ways," but that doesn’t fix the ugly fact that most farms are unsustainable Jaclyn Moyer (Credit: IARphoto via iStock) On the radio this morning I heard a story about the…



OCM News Release: Nebraska Senator Opens Door to Chinese Meat Racket

For Immediate Release: February 10, 2015 Nebraska Senator Opens Door to Chinese Meat Racket Senator Ken Schilz is introducing two bills before the Nebraska Ag Committee this week that could turn the State of Nebraska into a massive industrial Chinese hog factory. Working hand-in-hand with Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods, the largest pork company in the world,…



Ranchers, Consumers Applaud Dismissal of COOL Lawsuit

Ranchers, Consumers Applaud Dismissal of COOL Lawsuit Washington, D.C. – In papers filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, industry opponents to the U.S. country of origin labeling (COOL) law dropped their longstanding case against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This ends the lawsuit, American Meat Institute (AMI) et…



“I don’t think it’s wholesome or safe to consume”: Why a former meat inspector is blowing the whistle

Wednesday, Feb 4, 2015 11:00 AM MST “I don’t think it’s wholesome or safe to consume”: Why a former meat inspector is blowing the whistle Joe Ferguson tells Salon why the USDA needs to abandon its flawed attempt at reform Lindsay Abrams (Credit: branislavpundar/Shutterstock) Joe Ferguson knows better than most where Americans’ meat comes from….