Canadian Pork and Beef Commodities Tout Victory over WTO Ruling

Jul 03, 2012

World Trade Organization Cool Ruling Leaves the U.S Scrambling

The World Trade Organization ruling is welcomed by beef and pork commodity groups in Canada. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Canadian Pork Council predict that the Cool ruling should speed up export relations between Canada and the United States. Prior to the WTO ruling, trade negotiations between the two countries were becoming sticky, with Canadian commodity groups noting that the US has been discriminating against Canadian livestock. The Cool ruling has confirmed the long held belief that discrimination has been a factor with trade exports.

The President of the Canadian Pork Council Jean Guy Vincent expects that the ruling will require the US to make changes to legislation in order to comply with the ruling. The Canadian Pork Council has said that since the implementation of COOL in 2008 it’s costing the pork industry 1 point billion dollars annually.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is also claiming victory with the Cool ruling. The CCA President Martin Unrau echoes similar hopes that the US will amend the COOL legislation to remove discrimination for both pork and beef to the US. The CCA argues that the legislation is costing cattle producers between 25-40 dollars a head amounting to 150 million dollars a year.

Both commodity groups say that the long and expensive trade dispute was well worth the results of the WTO ruling.

Video: Season 6, Episode 12: Veterinarians’ Perspectives on Managing Swine Herd Health Across All Phases

Identifying challenges in swine production and turning them into solutions through research and team development is the focus of this episode. Dr. Christine Mainquist-Whigham of Pillen Family Farms and DNA Genetics shares insights on herd health, biosecurity and trial work to improve pig performance. She also discusses her team’s research philosophy, how they evaluate rate of investment and how they gather feedback from employees to address challenges and maintain herd health across all phases of production. Dr. Carlos Roudergue of Country View Family Farms discusses the growing complexity of swine production, especially as technology increases and employee interaction decreases. He also shares how their workforce is shifting toward more specialized roles to support herd health and efficiency.