China’s first welfare code for feed lots, slaughterhouses due in June By Mark Godfrey 10-Feb-2016 Last updated on 10-Feb-2016 at 15:13 GMT China will have its first draft animal husbandry and slaughtering standards code by June, according to the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), which is working with 30 domestic livestock breeding and slaughtering enterprises…

TPP would be ‘death knell’ for industry, R-CALF leader says Matthew Weaver Capital Press Published:February 15, 2016 10:28AM Matthew Weaver/Capital Press R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard outlines some of the problems with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement for U.S. cattle producers Feb. 10 during a meeting in Spokane. Matthew Weaver/Capital Press R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard outlines…

Farmers Raise Serious Legal Concerns about Election Process Cattle Producers File Lawsuit Against Missouri Department of Agriculture to Stop Deeply Flawed Beef Checkoff Referendum Farmers Raise Serious Legal Concerns about Election Process Press Release—February 11, 2016 On February 10th, the Missouri Rural Crisis Center filed a lawsuit asking the Cole County Circuit Court to issue…

Meanwhile Nebraska Senators give their state away … Australia blocks sale of largest farm owner to foreign investors By Lincoln Feast and Colin Packham Nov 19 Australia on Thursday blocked the sale of the country’s largest landowner, private farming group S. Kidman and Co, to foreign investors, saying an agricultural area the size of South…

Unicameral Votes for Meatpackers over Family Farmers and Ranchers By Traci Bruckner on Feb 5 2016 – 12:00am On Feb 5, 2016, the Nebraska Unicameral voted for final passage of LB 176, legislation to rescind Nebraska’s statute prohibiting meatpacking corporations from owning hogs prior to slaughter. The bill will now be sent to the governor…

Report: New OSHA rule reveals slaughterhouse worker amputations By: Peggy Lowe A poultry worker debones chicken at a processing plant in Montgomery, Ala., where deboning 25 to 30 chickens a minute is a common industry standard. (Courtesy Oxfam America) In the first nine months of 2015, workers in meat-packing plants owned by Tyson Foods averaged…

Hot and cold on COOL: Some want revival of controversial meat labels Seth Tupper Journal staff Feb 7, 2016 Critics might consider attempts to revive country-of-origin meat labeling as useful as beating a dead cow, but supporters of the repealed program believe it is worth it for South Dakota ranchers and members of Congress to…

Howdy, As we evaluate the prospect of the Trans Pacific Partnership, the performance of our past trade agreements must be examined. Has our U.S. trade policy been working to the advantage of our nation? When policies work, we should continue them. When policies do not work, we should re-examine, re-think, and modify them. Alan Guebert…

Nebraska’s Livestock Market Faces Death by Big Meat Lobbying by Leah Douglas @leahjdouglas February 5, 2016, 2:40 PM EST A bill that safeguards small farmers might be nixed for one friendlier to multinational meatpackers. Few images are more emblematic of the American heartland than that of farmers taking their livestock to market. But if Nebraska…

American Egg Board Seeks New PR Agency After Hampton Creek Debacle Edelman Is Longstanding Incumbent on the Business By Lindsay Stein. Published on February 05, 2016. In September, the organization, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, found itself in hot water when emails to its long-time PR partner Edelman, among other contractors,…