Twitter Battle: Brad Wall calls out A&W on claims regarding Canadian Beef quality.

[AgrivilleAdmin]

On Twitter today. Brad Wall calling out A&W on their claims regarding Canadian Beef.

[Hamloc]

A&W used to be my favourite fast food restaurant then they started their hormone free non Canadian beef promotion. Have only ate there once in the last year. Started eating at McDonald's because they use 100% Canadian beef. Don't intend on going back to A&W. Much to my surprise McDonald's is pretty good.

[farmaholic]

"....Isn't enough that matches our standards"....???????¿

What? Not enough lips and assholes, nuts and udders in it for ya A&W?

Fast food is all ****ing garbage anyway.....if they had to make a living off my support they all would have been out of business years ago!

Don't tell those chamomile tea sipping, tattooed, toque wearing, tree hugger anti-everythings how much fat and sodium is in that SHIT!

[Oliver88]

Haven't stepped in an A&W in several years since they started their BS advertising campaign.

McDonald's or Dairy Queen I do step into occasionally when travelling.

[Blaithin]

I find the A&W boycotts and call outs irritating.

As always, we as producers provide a product to consumers. If they want a specific product, we supply it or lose out on their money.

Who are we to get mad that they want something that hasn't received implants or prophylactic antibiotics. Who are we to nitpick marketing wording and consumer intelligence.

Sure, buy local and buy Canadian whenever possible. I do. But I do not like supporting feedlots or their practices. So if it comes down to local vs CAFO... it's not always an obvious answer. I would rather help drive the industry in a direction I believe in than support practices I want to see discontinued, even though they're local.

I do agree it's rather pointless to argue the quality of meat when it's fast food... but lips and assholes can be treated differently while alive and for some people, that's the issue.

[grassfarmer]

Agree Blaithin. So what's Wall's angle - is he wanting a directors seat at McDonalds?

[bucket]

Not sure this is good time management from a premier running deficits....why does he care? Maybe he ought to push A&W around like BHP....yeah that will do it....


He should worry more about the province than a 6 dollar hamburger...better yet maybe give a shit about cattle guys that don't have feed or pasture ....or the ones that lost cattle .....

[the big wheel]

Growth hormones are a lot worse for you than people realize. How about making it easier for producers to raise their beef without it? I don't see anything wrong if they want to sell that and there truly isn't enough here well actually none of his business except maybe should be encouraging producers to
Start producing what people want.

[farmaholic]

Everyone has the right to choose what they consume...

But ultimately. ..who tells the auto industry how to build their vehicles. Who tells Apple how to design and build their devices?

Send the messages with your wallet or grow your own food.

[farmaholic]

Growth hormones are a lot worse for you than people realize. How about making it easier for producers to raise their beef without it? I don't see anything wrong if they want to sell that and there truly isn't enough here well actually none of his business except maybe should be encouraging producers to
Start producing what people want.

Can't disagree with the questionable practice of hormones or "antibiotics"....but those production methods in some of the livestock industries has the consumer addicted to reasonably priced meat. Are they willing to pay more for hormone and antibiotic free production?

I bought farm raised chickens from my cousin...about $24/butchered bird....maybe the consumers need to pay up if they're going to dictate production practices.

[the big wheel]

Yep that's true. Where are they getting their antibiotic and no hormone beef from? Where are they getting it so
Cheap to compete with the others

[Blaithin]

The price debate is hard. On one hand, I can easily see many people not wanting to pay for the grass fed option. On the other hand...

Well, as an example, I have proliferate chickens and extra eggs. I almost can't give them away around the local farm community. For $2.50 a dozen, less than almost all store bought eggs, I rarely get any orders. Yet I can charge $4-$5 a dozen and will sell out every time I go to Red Deer.

Urban people seem to be much more willing to pay for what they consider to be quality products than rural people. To an extent anyway.

[sawfly1]

really no need for them. so what if it takes 3- 7 % more cows to get the same beef.
if they are banned for everybody.
level the playing field.

same for BSE in milk.
and antibiotics as a regular supplement to cattle.

probably just not a good idea.

but the chem . cos that sell it will fight because they are the only ones , that would really lose anything if they were banned

A&W is full of it. too but the adds cater to a narrow mindset.
kinda like pretending to have good cigarettes,

i guess if it works,for them go for it.

as for wall , he is as full of it as a&w

for the most part , those things really do not need to be there at all. so who is wall defending other than the chem. co.s

[farmaholic]

Ask A&W why they stop making claims at the beef? What about the potatoes that make the fries, or the oils they're deep fried in. The lettuce in the burgers and salad and vegetables in their "healthy choice" menu items. The production practices of the wheat flour in the buns.
The processing practices of all those ingredients then how they're prepared before they're presented to be eaten.

It's the hypocrisy I find hard to handle! Just appealing to the mindset of some of their customers but not telling the whole story at the same time!

Edit...sawfly...we both used the word mindset. I was composing my post before I read yours. ..

[GDR]

I find the A&W boycotts and call outs irritating.

As always, we as producers provide a product to consumers. If they want a specific product, we supply it or lose out on their money.

Who are we to get mad that they want something that hasn't received implants or prophylactic antibiotics. Who are we to nitpick marketing wording and consumer intelligence.

Sure, buy local and buy Canadian whenever possible. I do. But I do not like supporting feedlots or their practices. So if it comes down to local vs CAFO... it's not always an obvious answer. I would rather help drive the industry in a direction I believe in than support practices I want to see discontinued, even though they're local.

I do agree it's rather pointless to argue the quality of meat when it's fast food... but lips and assholes can be treated differently while alive and for some people, that's the issue.

I haven't been to A&W since this message started. Like Hamloc have switched to Mcdonalds and too have been pleased compared to 20yrs ago.
Blaithin,
No one cares if they want to promote a product to a certain clientele, that's just good business. It's the insinuation that traditional beef is bad for you that is a problem. Keep in mind that they toned down their original campaign after a couple weeks after pressure from industry.

Our ag industry has few producers compared to consumers. A negative attack on any aspect including beef production is a negative mark on all of our ag industry. No one wins in a battle of mine is better than yours because it's a full circle and sooner or later your on the bottom.