Category: The World

  • Loonie

    The Canadian cattlemen have really been getting beat on in the last few years. I really feel for them. First there was the case of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> which closed the border into the US where a large portion of their beef goes and really sent the market into a nose dive. A lot…

  • Priorities

    <a href="http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2007/10/30/local_news_updates/19local_10-30-07.txt">Tainted meat traced to Canada</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>A now-closed Canadian beef company was the source of contaminated meat that sickened 45 people in eight states, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials say.<br />n<br />nOne of those states was Wyoming. A recall pulled the meat from shelves in Cheyenne in late September and early October.<br />n<br />nA…

  • Product Of

    You might know that I've found the whole idea of Canadian Cattle producers getting upset over American <acronym title="Country of Origin Labeling">COOL</acronym> as funny. Mostly because it doesn't seem right for them to be upset over internal American Policy. Now I have another reason to think their behavior is funny. Canada has it's own <acronym…

  • Strong Statement

    <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/10/04/news/state/39-beef.txt">It appears</a> that the Bush Administration is taking to heart the noise from Congress about no Free Trade Agreement with South Korea until beef trade is normalized.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said Wednesday that U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab has assured him that the Bush administration will not push a free-trade agreement with…

  • Meltdown

    The Australian cattle industry <a href="http://www.kticam.com/news/agricultural/efc2dd23-29b8-4d38-8ebe-20378233c818">appears to be in meltdown</a> because of drought and grain prices down under.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Record high grain prices have thrown Australia's A$4 billion ($3.5 billion) beef cattle industry into disarray, emptying feedlots, cutting cattle saleyard prices and triggering price rises for domestic and exported beef. <br />nThe world's biggest beef…

  • Pressure

    I see China is trying to pressure the US into <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/18/business/AS-FIN-China-US-Food-Scrutiny.php">accepting more tainted food</a> by blocking American imports into their country.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>China has sharply increased inspections of imported U.S. food, escalating its spat with Washington over product safety and leaving American beef piling up in warehouses and delaying shipments of black pepper and…

  • Troublesome

    I found <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/15/AR2007091501647.html">this article</a> about pig disease in China very troublesome. I read it yesterday morning and had to let it run around my pea sized brain for a while but it struck me as a problem.<br />n<br />nWhat's so troublesome about it? China is so worried about making money off the vaccine for…

  • Round Two

    <a href="http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=FBC46DE0-CE0B-FDF8-DA0FC21D2AC4EB1E">New FMD case confirmed in England</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>he British government has confirmed another case of foot and mouth disease in Surrey County. The new site is about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the farms that were infected in July and August. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has established a 10…

  • China’s Cattle

    I found <a href="http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=801&ArticleID=35109&TM=77478.55">this article</a> about the possible competition from China for the beef industry interesting. Am I overly worried about China importing meat to the US? No. Where I see the problem coming is the competition in some of the foreign markets like Japan and South Korea that China could give us. That seems…

  • I Wonder

    There seems to be a lot of talk about the women <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/08/17/news/state/55-quads.txt">having identical quadruplets</a> here in Montana the other day. I really have to wonder though, if Canada's single payer health care system that so many in the US want to emulate, is so great, why did these people have to drive down to…