Carbon Tax, Cost Of Grain Drying Discussed This Week In Ottawa

The country's agriculture ministers met this week in Ottawa.

 

Blaine Pedersen is Manitoba's Minister of Agriculture and Resource Development.

 

"When we were having our discussions with the federal minister, we certainly reiterated the cost of the carbon tax on propane and natural gas use for drying the crops," he said. "There's a lot of drying that happened this fall. She has asked us to put together some numbers in Manitoba's case, what the extra cost will be and so we'll be reaching out to the farm community to pull together some of the numbers, because I know they are substantial."

 

Other topics of discussion at the meeting included Business Risk Management, African swine fever, and trade issues.

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.