Beef Packers Block Plan To Revive Growth-Promoting Drug January 27, 201511:30 AM ET By Dan Charles Cattle in holding pens at the Simplot feedlot located next to a slaughterhouse in Burbank, Washington on Dec. 26, 2013. Merck & Co Inc is testing lower dosages of its controversial cattle growth drug Zilmax drug in an effort…

Meat of the Matter: A scandal in Nebraska Dan Murphy, Drovers CattleNetwork A scathing media investigation uncovers a lengthy list of outrageous incidents of animal abuse – and not at some rogue packing plant, but at USDA’s premier animal research facility. USDA officials are calling for an independent review of the department’s operations at the…

National Farmers President Reviews Market Access, Trade and Rural Issues NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 23, 2015)— During his remarks to members in Nashville, Tenn. Thursday night, National Farmers President Paul Olson, Taylor, Wis., expressed his concern about falling dairy prices, along with grain price levels that, for some crops, are lower than what it costs farmers…

Modern Farmer’s Future in Doubt By KIM SEVERSONJAN. 23, 2015 Credit Robert Wright for The New York Times Modern Farmer, the quirky 100,000-circulation quarterly and website that tried to link effete urban farmers’ market culture with the practicalities of actual farming, became a magazine without an editorial staff on Friday, when its remaining paid editors…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Jan. 22, 2015) Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 ajerome New Study: Economic Downturn and Other Factors, Not COOL, Caused Decline in Live Cattle Imports to the U.S. Canadian claims of economic damage without merit WASHINGTON (Jan. 22, 2015) – Contrary to arguments made by America’s trade competitors to the World Trade Organization (WTO),…

R-CALF USA: NCBA’s New Proposal Fails to Fix the Broken Cattle Tax Billings, Mont. – Despite the departures of both R-CALF USA and the National Farmers Union from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sanctioned Beef Checkoff Enhancement Working Group, all of the checkoff contractors, led by principal contractor, National Cattlemens’ Beef Association (NCBA), and…

GIPSA fines former Tyson hog unit By Tom Johnston on 1/20/2015 USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration announced it entered into a consent decision with Tyson Hog Markets Inc., doing business as Heinold Hog Markets, Dakota Dunes, S.D. Tyson has been ordered to cease and desist from: • falsifying scale tickets for livestock; •…

A beef over politics Small ranchers raise Cain over cattle fee Mike McGraw Special Projects Reporter | FLATLAND View Profile Peggy Lowe Investigations editor | Harvest Public Media VIDEO NEMAHA COUNTY, Kan. – From their small farms set in the rolling hills of northeast Kansas, two ranchers are raising a few cattle, and a lot…

Ranchers take on the beef industry over mandatory checkoff payments By MIKE McGRAW and PEGGY LOWE Harvest Public Media 01/17/2015 › ‹ David Pfrang of rural Goff, Kan., seen here checking on a herd at feeding time, has become a thorn in the side of bigger beef producers. File photo by Jill Toyoshiba The Kansas…

The Possible Presidential Candidate Who Agrees the Most With Pope Francis Jan. 9, 2015 Senator Bernard "Bernie" Sanders, an independent from Vermont and chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, waits to begin a hearing in Washington on May 15, 2014. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images Unlike many leaders who name-drop Pope Francis to score political points —…