The feeling isn’t necessarily a bad thing, fostering such movements as Buy Canada and Elbows Up.

It has been encouraging to see most Canadians unite against a common enemy in a time of existential threat.

From refusing to buy American products to putting the brakes on American travel, many Canadians are doing what they can to voice their displeasure with the current American administration.

These movements have prompted some American government officials to decry what they see as unjustified anti-Americanism, but rational thinkers can easily see through this ridiculousness.

In the face of such hostility, Canadians are banding together to protect themselves any way they can, and yes, it can be tempting to think that we’re doing it on our own.

But we’re not.

Millions of Americans, even some who voted for U.S. President Donald Trump, aren’t happy with what’s happening to Canada-U.S. relations.

This is probably not completely altruistic.

Communities that have previously relied on Canadian tourists for their economic health have practical reasons for bemoaning the current state of affairs. So too do manufacturing sectors that are heavily reliant on exporting to what has become an increasingly unwilling Canada.

And then there are the fair-minded Americans who must be horrified by their government’s actions.

The latest example likely falls more into the former camp, although we would hope that there might also be a bit of the latter.

About 40 American farm organiza­­­tions have formed the Ag Coalition for USMCA, which is what they call the Canad­­­ian-U.S.-Mexico Agreement down south.

The coalition is campaigning for the trade deal to continue after this year’s review.

Once upon a time, such a coalition would have been considered unnecessary because North American free trade, which has been around since the 1980s in one form or another, has been seen as too important to fail.

But those days are gone.

The United States now has a leader who has nothing good to say about his country’s trading relationship with Canada, and on his worst days even suggests tearing up CUSMA entirely.

Thus, U.S. agricultural groups have deemed it necessary to join forces to do what they can to save the deal.

As has been mentioned, this isn’t mere altruism.

American agriculture sees much to like about having structured trading rules with Canada and Mexico.

In a recent news conference, members of the coalition said that total agricultural exports from the U.S. to its CUSMA partners reached US$60 billion in 2024, along with $1.2 billion in seafood exports.

A study commissioned by the coalition found that agricultural and seafood exports to Canada and Mexico generated $149 billion in total economic contribution and supported nearly 500,000 jobs and $36 billion in wages.

For every $1 in exports under the deal, there is an additional $2.45 of economic activity.

Other key numbers include $64 billion in gross domestic product and $13 billion in tax revenue that the country earns from the agreement.

The coalition’s message isn’t all sunshine and roses.

Members also see areas where the agreement can be improved, such as forcing Canada to “hold up its end of the bargain on dairy,” particularly in how Canada manages tariff rate quotas.

However, the coalition’s main message is clear: CUSMA is vitally important and must continue.

It’s heartening to have this level of support, especially when considering that many of its members are fervent Trump supporters.

Surely this will send a crystal clear message to the president and his administration and saner heads will prevail.

Unfortunately, we better not count on it.

Just look at what’s happening in the U.S. beef sector.

American ranchers are solid Trump supporters, but that hasn’t stopped the president from going after them over high beef prices.

He must feel he can get away with this, rightly assuming most agricultural producers will support him, no matter what.

So, while it’s nice to have powerful allies, it’s also important to recognize that their influence will have its limits.

A multi-year process was put on hold once again when, in November, the southern Alberta municipality’s newly elected council paused the previous council’s decision to convert six sections of municipal native grassland into irrigated cropland near Scope Reservoir upon expiring leases in 2026.

Why It Matters: Rural municipalities struggle to find revenue streams for service delivery for their residents, trying to find a balance between environmental conservation with ranchers and their grazing with high-value irrigated crops for land value.

The previous council’s decision passed by a slim 4-3 vote, showing just how contentious the issue has been over the years, with packed, standing-room only public information sessions, coupled by more split votes from the fallout in late 2025.

According to meeting minutes from Dec. 16, resolutions involving grazing lease annual rates, term lengths, term conditions and compensation were all met with distinctive fractured split votes.

Council will once again direct administration to develop public engagement and consultation processes to grazing lease policy. Some of the grazing leases in question on tax-recovery land were set to expire as early as late February.

Former councillor and current agricultural lease holder Brian Hildebrand was one of those councillors voting in favour of the joint venture with Bow River Irrigation District (BRID) at the time.

He says he hopes the southern Alberta municipality’s vision stays the same going forward.

“I really believe strongly the resources the MD have are utilized responsibly and to the benefit of the municipality of all the residents, not just a few,” Hildebrand said about the $344 million asset based off of three years’ sales of pasture land in the region, with trends going upward.

“Also, council operates with integrity, and that conflicts and pecuniary interest is not a motivating factor.”

Ninety members belong to five grazing associations — Vauxhall, Hays, Fincastle, Barnwell and Circle E — which border 7,900 municipality residents.

In correspondence to council from early December, Hildebrand said the best way to allow young/small operators to enter the market is to allow some turnover in leases. Transferability of leases without first going to a public process makes it harder for smaller farms to enter or expand.

At a meeting in February, a lease tender summary for some parts of grassland in the MD showed offers of $200 to $250 per animal unit month (AUM), shattering both provincial and market rate averages at the time.

“It’s not a factor of, it’s orders of magnitude. It’s not a factor of two or a factor of five. It’s an order for magnitude,” Hildebrand said as the MD looks for ways to collect about $19 to $20 million in taxes to balance its budget.

With increasing demand for services and limited taxpayers to draw from in the rural agricultural land base, Hildebrand has questioned how Taber’s 75,344 acres of grazing land have been underused as a revenue-generating source.

He said the tax-recovery lands and grazing leasing in question have had a 70 cents per acre lease rate from 2016 to the present.

Oil and gas revenue paid out to the leaseholders averaged about $160,000 per year. Add it all up and it amounts to more than a $1 million loss servicing the leases.

“For those 10 years, the MD of Taber would of been further ahead to have that land vacant and just collect the oil revenue, plus all the cost of administering these leases,” said Hildebrand.

He said he has heard the concerns in council chambers of large corporations taking over the MD lands in investment funds, squeezing out the “little guy,” but he argued the concerns aren’t warranted.

“I find it very strange that one of the proposals is the first right of refusal to purchase or the first opportunity to buy at appraised rate by the current leaseholders,” he said.

“The transferability of the leases to another individual at the same time, there’s a fear of these large corporations. How does transferability of the first opportunity to purchase protect against that?”

Conservation groups entered the MD grazing lease debate in August and September, along with the Oldman Lease Holders Association, rallying behind a petition to try and block the 3,100-acre carve-out proposal for the Scope Reservoir joint project with BRID.

Whispers of possible legal action were discussed during information sessions arguing for the petition, speaking about the MD being in violation of the prairie conservation bylaw it adopted in 2014.

Some producers have also looked for compensation for all the funding and maintenance they have put into their leases over the years if they are taken away.

The land in question was forfeited to the province for non-payment of taxes before being handed over to the MD, with no restrictions put on it because was broken and farmed previously.

“Conservation is another issue,” Hildebrand said.

“If the purpose of the MD is to conserve these lands, that’s a different conversation. Is that a municipal responsibility for conservation, or is that a provincial or federal responsibility?”

Public engagement was expected to continue at a Jan. 27 council meeting about the direction of changes to grazing policy and associate leases, to go along with a draft of an agricultural land sales policy.

Ron McCullough, who died in May, was the last surviving member of the group that formed the organization during an Agricultural Institute of Canada annual meeting in Edmonton on June 20, 1955.

He rubbed shoulders with the likes of Tom Leach (CBC), Dick Beamish (Western Producer), Jack Cram (Family Herald), Frank Jacobs (Canadian Cattlemen) and Don Baron (Country Guide).

Born in Lacombe, Alta., in 1932, McCullough completed his agriculture degree at the University of Alberta in 1954.

He found work shortly after graduating as the farm radio director for the Alberta Federation of Agriculture. Seven short months later, he was working for CFAC Radio in Calgary, covering southern Alberta with his daily farm broadcasts.

In 1957, United Grain Growers and CFAC sponsored McCullough to take an 80-day world tour to compile radio reports of Canada’s contribution to the Colombo Plan, which was intended to foster economic and social development in Asia, including agriculture.

“Ag journalism is really important right now because of all the misinformation of the activism going against certain aspects of agriculture. Good story telling and good research being explained would really help people understand where their food comes from,” said McCullough’s widow, Brenda.

“Look at the technology they have now and the products for soil health that have improved since back then.”

The world tour did take a toll on McCullough. He contracted yellow fever and had to quit his CFAC position, taking four months to recover.

That did not slow down his informative spirit, however.

He bought a small Piper aircraft in the summer of 1959 with a classmate who was studying for his MBA, and they flew it throughout South America, financed by the sale of written and broadcast news reports.

McCullough graduated from the Ivey School of Business in London, Ont., and returned home to help his family’s registered Angus business for a decade.

Despite all his farming responsibilities, he served on Red Deer city council and was chair of the Westerner Exposition.

His agricultural influence did not end there, as he worked until 1974 as assistant commissioner with the Canada Grain Commission for the Alberta area.

McCullough then worked for the federal department of regional economic expansion for six years, where as Alberta’s director general he saw nearly $25 million ($200 million in today’s money) dispensed in regional grants.

A stint with Suncor in government affairs followed before he returned home to Red Deer in 1984 to manage the family’s Angus herds after his father passed away and to assist with the dispersal of the cattle interests.

McCullough was awarded an honourary life membership in the Alberta Farm Writers Association, where he once served as president.

As well, the McCullough name is still visible at the University of Alberta, where a reading room was named after the family in the restored University Commons building.

The family’s involvement with the university started with Ron’s parents, Mac and Mattie, and includes the Lillian McCullough Breast Cancer Research Chair (named after Ron’s first wife) at the university’s Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta.

An ambitious agriculture initiative was to help create the Centennial Dutch Endowment Travel and Experiential Learning Award, which endows yearly scholarships to students in the university’s Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences.

It gives students an opportunity to study and learn at the world renowned Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

“Hopefully, we can practise some of the things they do in the Netherlands,” Brenda McCullough said about the country, which ranks second globally in agricultural exports.

“How do they do that in that little postage stamp of a country. What Silicon Valley is to technology, Wageningen University is to agriculture as the top ag university in the world. Hopefully, it helps bring some of the technology and knowledge back into Alberta.”

Ron McCullough also donated funds to the AFWA for legacy projects to raise awareness and educate high school and post-secondary students about careers in agricultural journalism and communications.

Tracey Feist, current secretary for the AFWA, confirmed the organization is trying to work with the U of A to build a certificate program that would cover off areas of agricultural journalism, communications and broadcasting, which McCullough helped trail blaze.

Feist recently helped organize farm tours for writers and the general public in Saskatchewan and Alberta as part of a AFWA/SFWA joint venture in June.

It reinforced the message Feist repeated at a speech at the International Federation of Agricultural Journalist Conference in 2023, passing on the words of one of the original CFWF founders, Tom Leach of CBC:

“We foresaw the improving influence we could have on the quality of farm reporting, how we could encourage more intellectually minded students to enter the field of farm journalism, and we could even imagine that our influence might help establish suitable training centres in the agricultural colleges where aspiring writers could receive adequate instruction in the art of research and reporting, either by radio or TV or press.”

Those prices have stayed afloat in 2025, despite worries earlier this year that tariffs would end the party early.

It’s a welcome shift for cow-calf producers, whose market has sunk into signficant price valleys several times in the last 25 years.

While the influx has given beef producers financial wiggle room, what they’re doing with that money depends on farm size, location and individual priorities, among other factors.

Fraser Schram, co-owner of Northfork Ranch Supply in Cartwright, Man., said the farmers he talks to are being cautious. They’re still focusing more on needs than wants.

“They’ve been very wary to this point,” said Schram, whose store has a service area of about 100 kilometres.

“For 10 years, we listened to forecasts that the prices were going to go up, and then there always seemed to be a dark swan event: BSE came along and that blew things out of the water, and then COVID didn’t help. And so nobody is very confident that this is real.”

Connor English, a beef and perennial forage producer northwest of Brandon, Man., said his main priority is cutting costs in any nook and cranny it’s feasible to do so. That includes feeding practices that reduce costs and labour.

In other words, he’s preparing for when the bottom finally falls out of the cattle market.

He’s not focusing on darkening clouds, he insists. He’s looking at their silver linings.

“Right now, with the high market, we can try a few things that maybe we didn’t want to try when the market was low just because (we’re) not as comfortable to try new things when the budgets are that much tighter,” he said.

Schram, who was once a beef producer himself, is as happy as anyone about current cattle prices, but he’s not sure it’s sustainable, especially on the consumer end.

Beef has “become a middle, upper-class food for people to buy,” he said.

“I look at it a bit like lobster now. The way we used to look at lobster was that you had it once or twice a year, and that’s becoming what’s going to happen with beef. It’s a supply-demand thing, and the supply is so low right now. And honestly, I don’t know whether that’s going to turn around anytime soon for the cattle producers. I hope not, but for the consumer, it’s tough.”

Low cattle supplies have been sticky thus far in both the United States and Canada, with herd numbers facing an extended low period following critical and widespread drought early in the decade.

Across the Prairies, beef operations dropped 650,000 head between 2021 and 2024, or about 7.3 per cent, according to data from Statistics Canada.

While high prices would normally incentivize farms to build, industry instead noted an alarming number of herd dispersals.

In March, Tyson Foods chief executive officer Donnie King said U.S. beef producers might finally be entering a rebuild cycle.

Schram said there’s a lot of interest in solar-powered watering systems and electric fencing among his customers. He attributed much of that interest to financial incentive programs that the Manitoba government has rolled out for both.

“A lot of the provincial money that is being spent (on) farmers is on … temporary grazing equipment and solar-powered water systems that help people do a better job of keeping cattle out of waterways and out of dugouts and give them pressure water, etc.,” he said.

English is taking his purchasing focus off equipment that inevitably depreciates in value and more toward products that build wealth.

“I’m trying to just ensure that whatever we’re purchasing right now is an appreciating asset and we’re not going to be getting ourselves into any long-term debts that are just going to continue to depreciate,” he said.

“So we’re trying to stay away from things like upgrading loader tractors, balers, haybines — that sort of thing — and looking at other options.”

With feed being the biggest expense on his operation, extra hay turned out to be a good investment for English over the winter and spring.

Producers in Manitoba have had recent experience with the feed scramble during drought years such as 2021.

“We’ve gone out and secured a lot of winter feed, enough for two or three years worth, and we can really utilize that in a fashion in our feeding system. We’ll bale-graze cows — it takes really minimal labour and and we’ve kind of locked in a feed source at a very low cost for many years to come,” he said.

English doesn’t bother speculating much on how long high cattle prices are going to last. They’re outside of his control, he said.

What producers do have control over, he said, is purchasing livestock price insurance policies to set price floors for their cattle.

The business risk management program is meant to protect producers from price volatility and is enjoying a moment in the sun, given potential volatility from tariffs. At the same time, many producers have historically considered the non-cost shared program prohibitively expensive.

Past that, the producer has sold some cows and plans to sell a set of cow-calf pairs he considers “way overvalued” at this point in time.

“I think there’s lots of opportunity for moving out high-valued animals right now. Bred cows or cow-calf pairs seem to be very, very high-value, probably much higher than they have ever been.”

Government funding and lending programs can also be an indicator of what beef producers are buying. Dave Gallant is vice-president of finance and Advance Payment Program (APP) operations for the Canadian Canola Growers Association, the largest administrator of the federal loan guarantee program.

APP offers farmers up to $1 million in advances per year with the first $250,000 interest-free. Despite its canola ties, the association administers the full spectrum of the program, including beef cattle applicants.

Emphasizing the small sample size from a limited time frame of the 2025 APP season, Gallant said beef applications as of May 20 saw “50 per cent more applications for about 50 per cent more money,” compared to the same day in 2024.

General feedback — much of it anecdotal — suggests a number of beef producers are actually using funds to expand and rebuild their herds, said Gallant.

“The vast majorities are looking to either expand their herd or buying breeding stock, whereas in prior years, a lot of our conversations with the cattle producers mostly hung around feeding those cattle with the funds that they were borrowing.”

Gallant said that payback among beef cattle borrowers is happening at “a normal pace.”

Most aren’t rushing to pay back their loans before deadline to avoid extra interest.

“Farmers are paying off their advances about normal relative to any other prior years, so we’re not seeing any rapid repayments of advances simply because prices are higher for cattle,” he said.

Beef-related applications to another APP administrator group — the Manitoba Livestock Cash Advance program — are also coming in at higher numbers, said chair Mark Good. He credits it, in part, to heavier marketing of APP in 2024.

Good suggested that beef producers are using cash advances to pay down lines of credit to avoid rising interest. Equipment updates, dugouts and fencing are also high on the list, particularly with the incentives available through provincial beneficial management practice programming — cost-shared projects that the province links to sustainability.

Good, who is a beef producer himself, plans to submit his own Manitoba Livestock Cash Advance application in the near future.

He added that he has used extra revenue from cattle sales to buy a new aluminum stock trailer, in advance of U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.

“I got a little spooked when the Americans talked about putting 25 per cent tariffs on aluminum,” he said.

“I could barely afford it now, but I can’t afford it if the tariffs go on and the price goes up.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Global trade patterns are shifting amid new U.S. tariff policies

The concerns come ahead of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s official visit to France and the expiry on Thursday of a free trade deal with Ukraine, which is expected to shift to import quotas this summer.

Lula said on Tuesday he would discuss the EU-Mercosur deal with President Emmanuel Macron, a strong critic of the agreement in its current form, which was finalised in December but still needs approval from member states.

In a meeting with members of parliament, French farmers’ groups urged Macron to rally enough partners to form a blocking minority against the Mercosur deal, which they say would be devastating for the beef, poultry and sugar industries and compromise the EU’s ambitions in terms of food sovereignty.

“It would be a real tragedy for our industry,” Alain Carre, head of French sugar industry group AIBS said. “We’re sounding the alarm.”

French farmers held nationwide protests last year over low incomes, rising costs, and competition from cheap imports, particularly from Ukraine and Mercosur countries, demanding fairer trade terms and lighter regulation.

“Our demands (for an EU-Mercosur agreement) are simple: reciprocity of rules, traceability abroad and much clearer labelling,” Jean-Michel Schaeffer, head of French poultry industry group Anvol, said.

Meanwhile, a few hundred farmers protested in Madrid against cheap grain imports from Ukraine and other countries, saying prices have fallen below production costs.

Spanish farmers are likely to lose 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) this year, said Javier Fatas, a leader of farmers union COAG from the Aragon region in northeastern Spain.

“This happens because of trade deals signed by Spain and the EU as part of geopolitics, bringing us prices too low to sustain our farms,” Fatas said.

He warned that genetically modified grains from Mercosur also created unfair competition, echoing French farmers’ concerns.

Wednesday’s protest was peaceful, but only the beginning, he added. “Bad times are coming.”

Aaron Stein joins the AFA from a career in agriculture and business, holding leadership roles across several sectors.

He founded and managed Alberta’s first commercial composting facility, and led marketing initiatives at Marketing Specialties, a firm that concentrated on the agriculture sector. He also managed a portfolio of biotechnology products tailored for agriculture.

“Aaron’s combination of leadership, business acumen, and a passion for agriculture makes him the perfect fit to lead the AFA,” said Lynn Jacobson, AFA president, in a media release. “We’re confident his expertise will be crucial in advancing our work in representing Alberta’s farmers and ranchers.”

One of Stein’s immediate priorities will be overseeing the development of a comprehensive five-year strategic plan for the AFA. This plan will guide the organization’s efforts to tackle important issues such as tariff threats, climate change, water security, farm business sustainability, labour shortages, and succession planning. As a member of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), the AFA will continue to advocate for Alberta’s agricultural sector on both provincial and national platforms.

“I’m committed to ensuring that Alberta’s agricultural producers have a strong, united voice advocating for their needs, both locally and across Canada,” Stein said in the media release.

In addition to their new director, the AFA’s annual meeting will be held virtually on March 3, at 7 PM. Pre-registration is required.