Groups Hopeful Unusable Crops Will Be Made Into Feed

Jul 19, 2021

Several groups, including Alberta Beef producers are asking to use crops that won't make it to harvest this fall, to be used as livestock feed.

The chair of the Alberta Beef Producers, Melanie Wowk says a decision on that is needed soon. "We are currently asking the AFSC, they are the ones that deliver the programs such as Agri-stability and Agri-recovery, as well as crop insurance. We are asking that they work with crop producers and their insurance, in order for them to be able to turn some of them crops into cattle feed. These crops will not be harvestable." Wowk says there's only a 2-week window where the crops will still be salvageable for feed.

Even Finance Minister Travis Towes, who used to be the president of the Canadian Cattlemens Association made mention of the current situation during a news conference last week.

But according to the NDP ag critic Heather Sweet, AFSC has far fewer crop assessors, thanks to a series of budget cuts by the UCP government this year. Sweet told reporters, just when farmers need those services the most, the government has let them down.

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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.