Meat Matters

Politics permeates every aspect of our lives. So it’s inevitable that it seeps into the beef industry. One example is how politicians passed a country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law that has been disastrous for the North American livestock and mea...

Did you know that Californians take regular trips out of state just for a shower? In my case, it took a trip to Arkansas to see what green grass looks like. The Golden State is about to be renamed “The Dirty Brown State” — it is not only enduring...

I wasn’t that good at science in school. But later, I became fascinated by scientific discoveries and the way they shed light on humans and the world around us. I was thrilled to see how antibiotics were developed to restore humans and animals to...

Water is the lifeblood of U.S. food production. That’s why California’s drought is hitting the national headlines. A massive 80% of the water used by humans in California goes to agriculture. The state’s Central Valley has 17% of the irrigated la...

Some in the beef industry have been wringing their hands about price discovery for live cattle since the late 1980s. Concerns arose then after a bout of packing industry consolidation, which led to concerns about so-called captive supply (packer ...

Who would want to invest in a meat packing plant? I’ve asked myself that several times in recent years as dreams turned into follies and long-established plants closed. It’s no exaggeration to say the landscape is littered with mothballed plants...

Now is the autumn of our discontent. My apologies to William Shakespeare (who wrote “winter,” not autumn), but this fall brings together two issues that have been a mighty burr under the industry saddle for far too long. These issues are country...