Video: CBC's coverage on Earls Restaurant

[AgrivilleAdmin]

[ag-boy]

0-k is u-s-a beef hormone free ??
it is fed in amerika feedlot same as in Canada and implants as well ! where is the controle ???
I do agree we should ban implants or any kind of growth added, so what is the good all about ! are they proven more gain and less cost ????
any bad coverage of CBC about food is bad for the house wife shopper

[smcgrath76]

The beef in the program may be hormone free. It is a special label with outside auditing.
I am of mixed feelings about the Earl's announcement. While I agree, it appears that they certainly did not do a lot of consulting, it is also possible they did not know with whom to consult. Further to that I think we have to realize:
1) Consumers of today are at optimistically at least 2 generations removed from the farm. They don't have an uncle or grandparent that farms. They not only don't understand where their food comes from, they don't even know what questions to ask.
2) We take this stuff WAY too personally. I understand that even the suggestion that we treat animals inhumanely is like accusing us of being a bad parent. We get it, but the consumer does not. They want some assurances. If we are 100% perfectly humane, then why isn't my vet clinic sold out of Metacam and why does UFA still sell stock prods?
3) We suck at finding/adding/extracting value from the marketplace, and we like to have a pity party in our commodity trading pit. I have lost money in value added, packing plant ownership and a variety of other things, but we have always striven to add value. How can you add value to a set of calves with a $1500 auction market bull, or no vaccination program, or by doing things half-assed like leaving horns and nuts on sale cattle?
Not to get everyone defensive (see point #2), but if people are asking for something we can choose to either stay out of that market or lead it and capture the premiums before they become a cost. I am not sure that Earl's intent or message is that the industry is bad, it is that their product is better. Every promotion campaign says the same thing. Ford now uses aluminum in their trucks and says it is better. I don't see the steel makers up in arms, concerned about how using aluminum implies steel is terrible. When I promote something I usually try to show how it is better than the status quo and worth the extra $$$ I am asking. I think that is where Earl's is going, and we better buckle up. How many herds are even on the VBP program to verify that they are not shipping cattle before appropriate withdrawal periods? Just saying you do it right, doesn't mean you do. If that were the case my income taxes would only take 15 minutes a year. I would just say I didn't make much money, but sometimes you have to prove it too.