Long Term Pricing Agreement Reached

Dec 28, 2016

Manitoba Chicken Producers (MCP), Granny’s Poultry Cooperative, and Dunn-Rite Food Products have reached a long term agreement on a pricing formula. The agreement will be in place until January 20, 2018 (periods A-141 to A-147).

The formula to determine the minimum live price uses a cost of production model (including both fixed and variable costs) and an operating margin. The price will change each production period based on the Manitoba costs for feed and chicks. Catching costs will be set annually. The formula will use the Chicken Farmers of Ontario operating margin, which is updated annually.

A live weight category of >2.2 – 2.3kg will be used for the base price. The prices for weight categories outside this range will be calculated from this base price. The number of weight categories increases to 10 (previously 4), and the range within each weight category is narrower.

Source : Manitoba Chicken Producers

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.