Canadian Beef Producers Now Competing With Australia

Australia has become a competitor for Canadian beef producers.

 

Michael Young is president of Canada Beef.

 

"Traditionally, it's been just the Americans that we competed against but since BSE the Australian sector has moved into the grain fed category and they've since fully developed it," he said. "We run into them everywhere. They put a good product in the box. We need to compete against it, there's nothing wrong with it but there are attributes, sort of emotional and functional attributes, that are associated with Canadian beef that are appealing to some of the markets that we're in."

 

Young spoke last week in Brandon at Manitoba Beef Producers' AGM.

 

He also talked about how the reduction of the swine herd in China due to African swine fever is opening up opportunities for other protein sources, such as beef.

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.