2019 Volatile Year In Agriculture

Jan 03, 2020

The Chief Agricultural Economist with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) says 2019 was a very volatile, uncertain year.

JP Gervais says two things really stand out for the agriculture sector, trade and weather.

He notes China’s ban on canola seed shipments from two of our biggest exporters is still an issue.

"That really was a major, major event. We had canola prices that really started to somewhat decline at the end of 2018, going into early 2019 but certainly that brought canola prices even further down with the ban of canola seed going to China. So that's one thing that stood out for sure and then in the summer we had also another ban with regards to our Canadian pork and beef exports."

Beef and pork exports to China have since been lifted with the product slowly starting to move again.

Gervais believes that China will have to look at rationing their meat supply as African Swine Fever has really impacted their pork supply.

"We’ve seen retail prices in China jump really high, over 100% for pork, there's a lot of inflation for beef and chicken as well. So, on the protein side I think the 2020 story is going to be interesting as well. It started out in 2019 with how we position the demand for protein. 2020 is going to be really interesting because there's going to be a really big gap."

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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.