Agriculture Roundup for Tuesday January 31, 2023

Feb 01, 2023

Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) has elected its first female president.

Jill Verwey of Portage, Manitoba farms with her family in a mixed dairy, beef, and grain operation.

Verwey won the election at KAP’s annual meeting over fellow incumbent vice-president Jake Ayre in the organization’s first contested election for president in several decades.

She replaces Bill Campbell who served the maximum four one-year terms as the head of KAP.

Agriculture in the Classroom – Canada (AITC-C) is extending its best wishes to its founding executive director.

Johanne Ross has served AITC-C for seven years. Her final day of work will be Feb. 9.

Ross was instrumental to the establishment and growth of the national organization.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.