A Good Ag News Week

Our newsfeeds seem to be increasingly filled with doom and gloom. Inflation, WWIII, drought, riots, we are well covered in the mire of depressing news right now. So imagine my excitement when I found not one, not two, but three pieces of news that gave me the warm and fuzzies! Imagine my further shock when I realized that one of those stories even involved the French doing something admirable!

Packing Plant Progress

Progressive Cattlemen’s map of expanded and planned beef packing plants is the most hopeful thing I’ve seen in a long time. Conversations about hanger space and the need for more packing room really gained steam following the Tyson Holcomb Plant fire in 2019. Then, after the mess of pandemic shutdowns, empty shelves and full feedlots in 2020 the discussion really gained steam. The most recent issue of Progressive Cattlemen features an infographic map detailing new and expanding plants across the country, and it’s fabulous news. The total projected increase in capacity sits at a remarkable 28,900 head per day. According to USDA data the nation currently averages around 120,000 head slaughtered per day, meaning, if these new and expanded plants are all finalized we’d see a substantial enough increase to make waves. I will concede, however, that the 4,500 head per day plant in central California is still only in the permitting process and it would be surprising if it passes given the current regulatory and anti-agriculture system in that state.

Opening up hook space could be a big win for ranchers. Our current system has only four major packer players available to bid on fat cattle, a gamed system that trickles down to suppressed prices to the cow/calf man. Increasing competition for those cattle’s final destination will apply pressure to the process and the Big 4, free market style. There’s plenty of nay-sayers out there, already dooming these plants to failure or take over from the Big 4, however a movement with this much enthusiasm is hard to quench. We aren’t talking about one little plant in Nebraska anymore, we’re looking at a wave and it’s beautiful.

Oh Canada!

It’s not very often that I find myself thinking, “look at Canada, being all awesome up there” yet that’s exactly where I found myself last week as news broke that the Canadian Health Department was reversing ship on meat labels.

The Canadians shook up the ag world in 2016 when they first announced their plan to require danger labels on foods determined to be high in sugar, fat and sodium. Companies were given until 2026 to comply with the front of packaging label that mirrors a current regulation in Israel. The new regulations determined that ground cuts of meat must be labeled as dangerously high in saturated fats. Via convoluted thinking it was initially decided the rule would only apply to ground products because the act of grinding turned them into a processed food. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association immediately started a campaign to push back and they won. In the ag and nutrition world we’ll take all the wins we can get, even if they are north of the border.

Wait, Even the Frogs Get it?

Last week that French announced the ban of the use of meat names like “steak” and “sausage” on plant based, fake meat, products. They are the first European country to do so after the EU lawmakers as a whole rejected a similar proposal in 2020. The term “burger” will still be allowed on products like Beyond Meat, claiming it does not refer specifically to meat. Additionally, the EU currently bans the use of the terms “milk”, “butter” and “cheese” on products that are not animal based.