Wendy Holm

IN THE early 1980s, before the Bureau of Competition policy moved from Consumer and Corporate Affairs to Industry Canada and before the repeal of both the Combines Investigation Act and the Foreign Investment Review Act, Cargill’s takeover of Better Beef would have been viewed differently by Ottawa. Of course, back then, the industry itself was […] Read more

AFTER two years of abuse by Washington, there was a collective sigh of relief in mid-April when the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association finally agreed to call on Ottawa to launch the long-overdue trade action against the U.S. embargo on Canadian beef. Yet here it is mid-June and still no trade action in sight. What happened? Is […] Read more

BEFORE the signing of the Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement, Ottawa politicians made two important promises to Canadians: that water was not included in the trade agreements and that Canadian sovereignty over water resources would not be compromised. Both promises were broken and there is no sector more affected by […] Read more

ON March 30, federal agriculture minister Andy Mitchell posed with his Cuban counterpart, Alfredo Jord‡n Morales, in a Havana hotel. The next day brought the Ottawa News release news: along with beef from animals of all ages, protocols signed by the two ministers mean Canada’s cattle are now as welcome in Cuba as Canada’s tourists. […] Read more

LAST week’s decision by a United States district court in Montana and the 52-46 Senate vote the next day calling for a continuation of the NAFTA-illegal trade embargo on Canadian cattle should come as no surprise. Those who disagree need only read the Jan. 4 call to arms of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, formerly […] Read more

WHEN children are at risk, the responsibility of the community is clear: support, defend, protect. Farmers have no fewer rights on a public policy level. Yet these rights are being systematically dismantled. Strong words? Perhaps. But it is a time for strong words and strong actions. As an agrologist with more than 30 years of […] Read more

WHILE bumping down the country roads of Cuba, palm trees silhouetted against a pre-dawn sky, three Canadian dairy farmers and I discuss the Dec. 14 news release that arrived by e-mail the night before: Cuba Opens to Canadian Beef, Nears Agreement on Live Cattle. By fully reopening its border to all cuts of Canadian beef […] Read more

THE glint of sun on stubble is so pretty, you almost forget the acres that didn’t get in as you stand in a patch of winter sun. With the farm buttoned up for winter and wood smoke rising in cold, straight plumes against a December sky, it’s time to take stock of things: what worked, […] Read more

WITH the United States election finally behind us, one of two things should now happen. If, as Ottawa bureau newscrats and industry cheerleaders contend, U.S. agriculture secretary Anne Veneman and company have been just waiting till after the election to reopen the American border to Canadian beef, then it should soon spring open like a […] Read more

WHEN the applause for Ottawa’s package of financial support to Canada’s beef industry dies down, can we please get back to the point? The point is trade. Of course enhancing domestic packing capacity is important. So is diversifying export markets, and providing support to ranchers and feedlots holding cattle back from the market. But Canada’s […] Read more