CFA Happy To See CUSMA Ratified, Still Concerned About Supply Management

Mar 17, 2020

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) was ratified last week.

Keith Currie is 1st Vice President with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).

"A deal is better than no deal, however, we'll still working out how that's going to look for our supply managed system, with respect to any compensation for the loss that they negotiated away during this deal," he said. "By in large, for most of agriculture, it's going to be a positive. It's going to mean that our products are still going to flow back and forth between the three countries, that is a positive for us in agriculture because we are such large exporting nation."

Currie commented on the timing of the ratification.

"COVID-19 certainly is amplifying the need for agreements, no doubt, but I think just in general for trade, the U.S. is our largest trading partner. Getting this deal done to maintain that flow of goods and services, not only through all three countries, but in particular with the U.S., who we do the majority of our trade. I think it was just important to get the deal done."

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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.