Latest news with #McCracken
Agriland
23-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Rabobank: Tariffs disrupt global pork trade
According to a recent RaboResearch report, pork prices have rebounded and remain strong despite shifting trade flows and growing economic and consumer uncertainties. Rising tensions between the US and China are creating opportunities for other suppliers, particularly the EU and Latin America with Brazilian and European pork likely to benefit from the US-China trade disruption. So far, rising geopolitical tensions have had limited impact on global pork markets, but they are likely to redirect global trade volumes in the coming months. Despite the agreement between the US and China to reduce tariffs substantially for 90 days, the added tariffs on US pork could still curtail trade according to RaboResearch. Senior analyst – Animal Protein for RaboResearch, Christine McCracken said: 'For China's swine sector, this development is likely to be price supportive, while alternative suppliers like the EU, Chile, and Brazil may also benefit. 'Chinese importers that previously relied on US pork are likely to face margin pressure, while US pork exporters will likely see weaker offal values. 'With China's market largely out of reach, alternative markets will absorb exports at reduced prices. Heightened US-China trade tensions could also affect feedstocks, particularly soymeal. 'Slower US oilseed exports may reduce feed costs for US hog producers, partially offsetting export losses,' she added. Given the uncertainty surrounding future US trade policy, investment in US pork sector expansion is expected to slow, while other regions may see slightly faster growth according to the research. Pork price rebound Pork prices have rebounded, driven by tighter hog supplies due to limited growth in the sow herd and ongoing health and productivity challenges, according to the analysis by RaboResearch. The slow production response also reflects growing market uncertainty resulting from weaker economic growth prospects and the risk of trade disruptions from rising geopolitical tensions. 'We expect limited demand improvement for the rest of the year. High beef and poultry prices, along with the expected shift in consumer spending from foodservice to retail (where pork tends to perform better) may offer support,' McCracken continued. However, potential export disruptions in the US and China, combined with slower economic growth and consumer spending pressures, are likely to cap additional improvement. Despite these headwinds, the industry remains relatively well-balanced, as limited sow herd growth is expected to constrain global pork supply. Disease challenges linger Herd health challenges continue to constrain production in several key regions and, in some cases, are also dampening demand. The most significant development in Q1 2025 was the reappearance of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the EU – marking the first outbreak in decades – and new cases in pigs in South Korea. To control the disease, authorities in the EU established containment zones, increased surveillance, and imposed transport restrictions. Although several trade restrictions were put in place, they are gradually being lifted due to the absence of further outbreaks. Across much of Asia and parts of Europe, producers are also battling African swine fever. New cases and challenges in controlling the spread among wild boar populations are contributing to ongoing production losses and trade disruptions, the research indicates. Additionally, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome is negatively impacting pork production in parts of North America and Europe. South American harvest Expectations for a strong South American harvest and good planting progress for corn and oilseeds in the northern hemisphere are providing tailwinds for feed cost. However, geopolitical disruptions continue to impact global grain and oilseed trade. Factors such as US dollar volatility, rising geopolitical tensions, ongoing US-China trade disruptions, and signs of a potential resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war are all influencing short-term market dynamics. Larger grain supplies and rising stock levels should help keep feed costs manageable. 'Our base case scenario for commodity prices suggests relatively flat feed costs for the remainder of 2025. However, geopolitical developments and weather-related uncertainties remain key risks,' McCracken concluded.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
What becomes of the broken-hearted? This show breaks it to you gently
What's it like to have your heart broken? It's a bit like looking into the face of a predator. Things get physical very quickly. Your body is flooded with a fear hormone in a process commonly known as 'fight or flight'. Weeks or even months later, in those very rare cases where heartbreak changes the shape of someone's heart, some people will literally die of a broken heart. New Zealand writer and performer Karin McCracken was so fascinated by this that she made a show called Heartbreak Hotel with creative partner Eleanor Bishop, co-director of their contemporary theatre company, EBKM. Part of this year's Rising festival, it is the most affirming, original and compassionate exploration of heartbreak you'll likely ever see. McCracken plays the show's hero, who explains the science of heartbreak to us and sings classic break-up songs. The old myths start being toppled in the first five minutes as she repeats advice from her mother: 'Exercise. Try something new … but the idea that time is a great healer should not be used, because for many people time stops … and it's a terrible thing,' she tells the audience. McCracken, standing behind a synth (something new) on a stage lit like a shabby club, then launches into a cover of the Elvis song that lends the show its title. Later, there'll be other covers, from It's All Coming Back to Me Now by Celine Dion and Dreams by the Cranberries. The show immerses us — with utmost tenderness — in the story of a painful breakup. As this story unfolds, Simon Leary plays every other character: a bad Tinder date, a wise doctor, a supermarket employee, the best friend, and finally, the ex-boyfriend, whose invisible presence has haunted the show right up until the point when we finally meet him. McCracken began writing the show in 2021 when it felt, to her, as if the whole world was heartbroken. COVID provided a timely moment to explore the corners of grief. She and Bishop 'wanted to make a show about heartbreak that was useful,' she says. They were interested in a contradiction: how we have a huge pool of heartbreak stories to draw from, but often these books, movies and songs are built from the same 'four ideas' about how to heal. Let time soothe you. Meet someone new. Drink water and go running. Find a hobby. Her own experiences of heartbreak had led McCracken to think about whether the received wisdom was inadequate, so she returned to first principles. 'I'd been thinking [about] what happens to your body, because anyone who goes through a heartbreak will tell you that it's a huge period of change, and often, you get sick or you feel really unwell. A lot of people lose weight or look different.' She became fascinated by the physiology of a separation, from the minute you get dumped, to the weeks, months and years afterwards. What she found is consistently intriguing. In the first moments — when you're still sitting with the person who was, seconds ago, your long-term boyfriend — the body is flooded with norepinephrine, the fear hormone. This kicks off a cascading response from white blood cells, RNA (ribonucleic acid), and inflammatory proteins. Loading 'Our bodies think we can literally outrun or fight off a break-up at this point,' says McCracken, because physiologically we can't tell the difference between being dumped and, say, being attacked by a bear. The most startling thing is that the RNA that protects us from viruses is also stood down to funnel resources towards fighting the bear. Usually 'stars of the show', they now clog the system. McCracken points out the absurdity of this situation, which might last for months. 'So we're primed to punch through a wall, but more vulnerable to flu.' Weeks later the body is in its 'resignation' stage; 'if someone's going to die of heartbreak, it's in this phase,' says McCracken. There is even a rare syndrome whereby 'someone is under so much emotional distress their heart literally changes shape'. The show is carefully researched and, on one level, is a masterclass in science communication. It's also wildly entertaining. The challenge, says McCracken, was to bridge the gap between hard science, social science, popular accounts of heartbreak and 'anecdata'. The stage design adds clarity. Every time we return to the science, informative section titles flow along 21 LED panels behind McCracken, like neon headlines in Times Square. This light installation gives the show the lingering texture of a Las Vegas chapel at night. 'There is something relentless about neon to me, which feels appropriate for heartbreak,' she says. The power of Heartbreak Hotel also lies in the fact that it's drawn from experience; McCracken's vulnerability holds space for ours. I winced when McCracken's 'I love you' is met with Leary's pristine 'you too'. We have likely all been McCracken (or Leary) in this exchange. The show is serious about heartbreak, but it's also warm and silly. 'Some of the things we all do [in a break-up] are totally unhinged, so there should be a space where you can laugh about that,' says McCracken. 'Or, a space where you can manage to take the bits that are funny as funny, because there are plenty of bits that aren't.' Humour also underpins the pastoral care McCracken and Leary provide for the audience. Their performance is so naturalistic that audiences often mistake them for the couple they play. But they're actually long-term friends and collaborators. 'I love Simon on stage because he can drop into a character really easily and he also knows how to be with an audience,' McCracken says.
The Age
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
What becomes of the broken-hearted? This show breaks it to you gently
What's it like to have your heart broken? It's a bit like looking into the face of a predator. Things get physical very quickly. Your body is flooded with a fear hormone in a process commonly known as 'fight or flight'. Weeks or even months later, in those very rare cases where heartbreak changes the shape of someone's heart, some people will literally die of a broken heart. New Zealand writer and performer Karin McCracken was so fascinated by this that she made a show called Heartbreak Hotel with creative partner Eleanor Bishop, co-director of their contemporary theatre company, EBKM. Part of this year's Rising festival, it is the most affirming, original and compassionate exploration of heartbreak you'll likely ever see. McCracken plays the show's hero, who explains the science of heartbreak to us and sings classic break-up songs. The old myths start being toppled in the first five minutes as she repeats advice from her mother: 'Exercise. Try something new … but the idea that time is a great healer should not be used, because for many people time stops … and it's a terrible thing,' she tells the audience. McCracken, standing behind a synth (something new) on a stage lit like a shabby club, then launches into a cover of the Elvis song that lends the show its title. Later, there'll be other covers, from It's All Coming Back to Me Now by Celine Dion and Dreams by the Cranberries. The show immerses us — with utmost tenderness — in the story of a painful breakup. As this story unfolds, Simon Leary plays every other character: a bad Tinder date, a wise doctor, a supermarket employee, the best friend, and finally, the ex-boyfriend, whose invisible presence has haunted the show right up until the point when we finally meet him. McCracken began writing the show in 2021 when it felt, to her, as if the whole world was heartbroken. COVID provided a timely moment to explore the corners of grief. She and Bishop 'wanted to make a show about heartbreak that was useful,' she says. They were interested in a contradiction: how we have a huge pool of heartbreak stories to draw from, but often these books, movies and songs are built from the same 'four ideas' about how to heal. Let time soothe you. Meet someone new. Drink water and go running. Find a hobby. Her own experiences of heartbreak had led McCracken to think about whether the received wisdom was inadequate, so she returned to first principles. 'I'd been thinking [about] what happens to your body, because anyone who goes through a heartbreak will tell you that it's a huge period of change, and often, you get sick or you feel really unwell. A lot of people lose weight or look different.' She became fascinated by the physiology of a separation, from the minute you get dumped, to the weeks, months and years afterwards. What she found is consistently intriguing. In the first moments — when you're still sitting with the person who was, seconds ago, your long-term boyfriend — the body is flooded with norepinephrine, the fear hormone. This kicks off a cascading response from white blood cells, RNA (ribonucleic acid), and inflammatory proteins. Loading 'Our bodies think we can literally outrun or fight off a break-up at this point,' says McCracken, because physiologically we can't tell the difference between being dumped and, say, being attacked by a bear. The most startling thing is that the RNA that protects us from viruses is also stood down to funnel resources towards fighting the bear. Usually 'stars of the show', they now clog the system. McCracken points out the absurdity of this situation, which might last for months. 'So we're primed to punch through a wall, but more vulnerable to flu.' Weeks later the body is in its 'resignation' stage; 'if someone's going to die of heartbreak, it's in this phase,' says McCracken. There is even a rare syndrome whereby 'someone is under so much emotional distress their heart literally changes shape'. The show is carefully researched and, on one level, is a masterclass in science communication. It's also wildly entertaining. The challenge, says McCracken, was to bridge the gap between hard science, social science, popular accounts of heartbreak and 'anecdata'. The stage design adds clarity. Every time we return to the science, informative section titles flow along 21 LED panels behind McCracken, like neon headlines in Times Square. This light installation gives the show the lingering texture of a Las Vegas chapel at night. 'There is something relentless about neon to me, which feels appropriate for heartbreak,' she says. The power of Heartbreak Hotel also lies in the fact that it's drawn from experience; McCracken's vulnerability holds space for ours. I winced when McCracken's 'I love you' is met with Leary's pristine 'you too'. We have likely all been McCracken (or Leary) in this exchange. The show is serious about heartbreak, but it's also warm and silly. 'Some of the things we all do [in a break-up] are totally unhinged, so there should be a space where you can laugh about that,' says McCracken. 'Or, a space where you can manage to take the bits that are funny as funny, because there are plenty of bits that aren't.' Humour also underpins the pastoral care McCracken and Leary provide for the audience. Their performance is so naturalistic that audiences often mistake them for the couple they play. But they're actually long-term friends and collaborators. 'I love Simon on stage because he can drop into a character really easily and he also knows how to be with an audience,' McCracken says.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
LGBTQ+ Treatment Center No Matter What Recovery's Executive Director Spoke at Prestigious IITAP Symposium
LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- No Matter What Recovery, a leading LGBTQ+ focused addiction treatment center in Los Angeles, proudly announces that Executive Director Mell McCracken was a featured speaker at the 20th International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) Symposium. McCracken presented on the timely topic "Televising Trauma: Chemsex in the age of Zoom." The presentation addressed the increasingly relevant intersection of technology, substance use, and intimacy, particularly focusing on how virtual platforms have transformed patterns of substance abuse within intimate settings. This topic is built on No Matter What Recovery's established expertise in addressing substance use disorders within the LGBTQ+ community, where the center has developed specialized treatment approaches tailored to the unique needs of this population. "As treatment professionals, we're seeing how technology is changing the way people use substances, especially at the intersection of digital spaces and chemsex. These shifts bring new challenges, particularly around substance use in virtual settings. Our team at No Matter What Recovery has adapted our clinical approach and curriculum to meet these emerging needs by helping folks safely navigate their recovery and digital landscapes," said McCracken. No Matter What Recovery has established itself as a comprehensive LGBTQ+ affirming treatment provider offering evidence-based programs including Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP), medication-assisted treatment, trauma therapy, and holistic approaches. Their facility, located in Los Angeles, specializes in dual diagnosis treatment addressing both substance use and mental health disorders with particular attention to issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, including Chemex, trauma related to identity, and minority stress factors. The IITAP Symposium brought together leading clinicians, researchers, and treatment professionals from around the world to share advancements in trauma and addiction treatment. McCracken's selection as a presenter highlighted No Matter What Recovery's growing recognition as a thought leader in specialized LGBTQ+ addiction treatment. For more information about No Matter What Recovery and their treatment programs, visit or call (323) 515-1396. About No Matter What Recovery No Matter What Recovery is a licensed LGBTQ+ focused addiction treatment center in Los Angeles offering comprehensive client-focused care. With evidence-based treatment programs and beautiful sober living options, clients work toward a healthier future free from addiction. The center integrates mental health treatment and therapeutic modalities into all rehabilitation programs, with licensed professionals providing high-quality behavioral health treatments designed specifically for the LGBTQ+ community to help clients manage symptoms and begin recovery. Media Contact:Anthony Arranaga395434@ 323-310-4746 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE No Matter What Recovery
Malaysian Reserve
07-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
New Small Business Data: Uncertainty Weighs Heavily
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — As the nation celebrates National Small Business Week, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) is releasing new data showing that nearly two-thirds of small businesses picked economic insecurity the top challenge facing their business – the highest this indicator has been in 13 years. NSBA's annual Small Business Economic Report details small-business confidence, economic outlook, financing, hiring and a host of other key indicators. 'We've been hearing from our members for months that they are concerned about the economy, this survey confirms it: the vast majority of small-business owners expect a flat economy or even a recession in the coming year,' stated NSBA President and CEO Todd McCracken. 'When compared with six months or even one year ago, the majority believe that today's economy is worse off, and small-business confidence in the financial future of their business is at its lowest point since July 2009.' While the small-business overall outlook isn't great, it isn't all doom-and-gloom. As is typically the case with small-business owners, there is an inherent optimism they have in their ability to manage their own business; most report they are already growing or anticipate growth in the coming year. When it comes to capital, the lifeblood of any small business, there hasn't yet been a marked drop in terms of small-business owners' ability to access loans. That said, 40 percent say they are unable to get the financing the need – which should be a wake-up call given the direct correlation that exists between capital availability and job growth. Among the key policy imperatives, small-business owners expressed growing concern over the impact of tariffs and placed top priority on policymakers ending partisan gridlock and work together. 'I look forward to working with Congress and the administration to ensure pro-small-business policies are sought out—including tax extenders, eliminating the Corporate Transparency Act and strengthening small-business lending,' stated McCracken. Please click here to read the full report. Celebrating more than 85 years in operation, NSBA is a staunchly nonpartisan organization advocating on behalf of America's entrepreneurs. NSBA's 65,000 members represent every state and every industry in the U.S. Please visit or follow us at @NSBAAdvocate. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE National Small Business Association
