Frank Bertolino can still remember the first paycheck he ever received in America. It was in 1956, and the 20-year-old had just come to the country from Sicily, along with the rest of his family. He had worked in the fish business with his father in the old country, but when they settled in Boston, his cousin got him a job as a carpenter. They made caskets.

“2020 was a below-average year with moments of terror,” says Steve Meyer, Ph.D, an economist with Partners for Production Agriculture, based in Ames, Iowa.

Shocks to the beef industry were all part of 2020’s "unprecedented" theme, but how the market responded was less surprising. There was nothing for it but to make new plans and keep going said a RaboResearch analyst.

While at the Certified Angus Beef annual conference, Independent Processor editor Sam Gazdziak spoke with Troy Hadrick, a South Dakota rancher and online animal agriculture advocate.

As soon as the planters are in the shed, the crew at Weborg Feeding Co. near Pender, Neb., will unpack the shades in preparation for summer in the yard.