Telling your story

Cultures in which it is customary to eat pretty much everything but the moo from meat animals must be scratching their heads over North America’s squeamishness over so-called “pink slime” beef. Lean finely textured beef, as the industry calls it, has never been sold in Canada. Health Canada considers the ammonia treatment the product undergoes

“Pink slime” plants to close

The top U.S. producer of ammonia-treated beef that critics called “pink slime” said May 7 it will close three of its four plants after sales dropped and did not recover following recent attacks on the product. Beef Products Inc. (BPI) will close plants on May 25 in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; and Waterloo, Iowa,


Pink slime An object lesson for the meat industry?

With a long-term decline in per capita consumption — 94 pounds per capita in 1976 to 60 pounds per capita in 2009 — the last thing that U.S. cattle producers need is the current controversy over “pink slime.” And with the controversy in full swing, they certainly don’t need industry and political leaders fighting the



Fall Fertilizer Refresher

MAFRI CROP NUTRITION SPECIALIST The past few wet years have played havoc with the traditional practices of fall nitrogen (N) fertilization. In many cases the N losses have been high, resulting in low yields and/or protein, and in extreme cases some fertilized fields went unseeded. So in recent weeks I have had calls from growers

Yara Buys Terra Industries

Norway’s Yara agreed to buy Terra Industries for $4.1 billion to create the world’s biggest mineral fertilizer producer and boost its U. S. presence, as rivals look to join forces to gain size and reach. Norway’s biggest-ever foreign takeover announcement Feb. 15 comes a month after U. S. CF Industries Holdings withdrew its year-long hostile


Anhydrous Ammonia Certification Deadline Coming

Farmers and agriretailers who want to remain as dealers in anhydrous ammonia should get started now on obtaining the certification they’ll need come 2011, according to the Fertilizer Safety and Security Council. They must be registered under the Ammonia Code of Practice by Dec. 31 of next year or otherwise they’ll no longer be able

Fertilizer Industry Proposes Processes For Disputed Rail Rates

“Most of our plants are captive to one shipper.” – ROGER LARSON The fertilizer industry has proposed a Commercial Dispute Resolution model for dealing with quarrels with the railways over freight rates, says Roger Larson, president of the Canadian Fertilizer Institute. “Most of our plants are captive to one shipper,” Mr. Larson told the Ottawa


Preservatives Can Help With Late-Season Haying

Cooler evenings and shorter fall days reduce drying time for late-season hay, which could result in damaged hay if it is baled while it is too wet. Hay harvested at 18 per cent or higher moisture content will heat, mould, and lose feed value and palatability, warns North Dakota State University Extension Service dairy specialist

Getting The Most Out Of Green Gold

“Being the opportunistic SOBs that we are in the industry, we take that free nitrogen, convert it to something, and then charge the guys for it.” – RAY DOWBENKO Growing crops to feed the world removes nitrogen from the soil. To figure out how much needs to be put back in for next year, a