Beef Producers Optimistic For Year Ahead

Feb 07, 2020

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) 41st Annual General Meeting wraps up Friday in Brandon.

Outgoing President Tom Teichroeb commented on the state of the industry.

"We have an incredible amount of potential here that we still need to realize," he said. "Certainly before we can realize that we have to catch up a little bit from the last two years with the drought and the different challenges that we've had. Overall, a tremendous amount of optimism from my perspective. On the national side we had one of our best years in trade and marketing our product abroad."

Teichroeb says one of the biggest challenges for the industry is passing the torch to the younger generation.

"To make sure there is succession in the industry. In agriculture in general, you will see that the majority of the producers are the more mature...generation and we're looking for more young folks to come into the industry...If we can find a way, through the industry and government together shaping policy so that it's favourable for those young producers to come in, then we have achieved a lot."

The theme of the AGM this year was "Where Beef Fits in an Evolving Marketplace".

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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.