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Beef Production and Subsidies

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    Beef Production and Subsidies

    I found this article at the Canadian Farm Business Management site (www.farmcentre.com) and would like to have your comments on what the writer has said.

    CBC editorial by Barry Wilson:
    Canada cattle producers pride themselves on their free trade,
    anti-subsidy ideology. Scratch a hardcore cattle producer and
    you'll find someone who never met a protective tariff or an
    agricultural subsidy he or she liked.

    Sometimes they even appear to be looking down their political noses at
    sectors that depend on import protection or government subsidies for
    their survival.

    In fact, it was a major story when Alberta's cattle lobby decided to allow
    its members to join one of the most benign of all subsidy programs the
    government supported Net Income Stabilization Account program.
    Taxpayer aid was only accepted grudgingly cattle producers don't like or
    need subsidies.

    They are free trading, anti-subsidy farmers and proud of it. And they
    don't take kindly to anyone suggesting otherwise.

    Which is why economists and provincial government officials tend to
    check to see if anyone is within hearing distance before suggesting the
    prairie cattle industry owes its recent successes, in part, to subsidies and
    protectionism.

    If grain subsidies were to end, they say, it would mean higher grain prices
    and smaller livestock margins.

    The cattle industry also benefits from protectionism. Yes, it is a ferocious
    supporter of open borders when it comes to trade with the United States.
    But North America is protected by a tariff regime that limits imports of
    meat from outside, effectively isolating North American producers from
    the effects of subsidized or more cost-effective production from
    elsewhere.

    Subsidized European or cheaper-to-produce South America beef isn't
    driving down North American beef prices the way subsidized American and
    European grain is keeping Canadian grain prices low.

    Despite their rhetoric, there are strong reasons why Canadian beef
    producers should be careful about what they wish for when it comes to
    ending all protectionism and agricultural subsidies.

    How far off the mark is he?

    #2
    I believe he is a little off the mark! What grain subsidies is he talking about? Is it the dyed fuel rebate we get? Fuel is still cheaper in the U.S. even after the subsidies. How is it that U.S. corn is flooding into Alberta if we get such a bargain on grain? Like our grain farmers are rolling in dough?
    As far as South American beef goes...it is all dirty with FMD! Why should we accept European beef when they won't accept ours? What about the Australian and New Zealand beef they let into our countries?
    Why should we allow their product into our countries? Are they fair traders?

    Comment


      #3
      New Zealand and Australia are free traders in beef (don't get me started about pork though). Their product is different from ours, if we wanted to we could produce it, but we get more US$ from producing a grain finished product for export and importing hamburger meat, this is global free trade, more power to it!! everyone wins, the US ships loins to Japan (Prime) we ship AA and AAA to the US, we ship our A to Quebec from Alberta and the aussies ship us frozen grinding meat to blend with our fresh trim, hey one does not sell every part to one buyer, our offal meats go to Taiwan or Mexico, get over it or start to eat the whole cow in your own home, and I mean horns hides and hooves! Trade is good, lets let er open and see how good we really are!

      Comment


        #4
        I'm not against free trade. But at what price? Do we really want FMD in Canada? What kind of food safety do these countries have? Look at the Jack-in-the-Box disaster a few years ago in the U.S.A...that was Australian beef coming through the back door from Canada. Also kangaroo meat found in Australian meat shipments. This is good?
        I don't know if you remember when Irish cow beef was flooding our market in the 80's....it turned out the subsidy,alone, was higher than the price of cows! Of course our government rectified that but not until they had destroyed our domestic market. If the price of cows ever gets a little high all the rules seem to go out the door and in comes the garbage. Got to keep those Ontario delis happy!Is this what you mean by free trade?
        We don't need garbage coming into our stable North American market. Our overseas markets need our safe, quality product. We don't need a bunch of inferior meat flooding our markets.

        Comment


          #5
          And yet all through the 90's Canada shippped cull cow meat to S Korea as "high quality beef", in the 80's we shipped unaged overfats to Japan that sold for "protected prices" due to quota and built our reputation as suppliers of expensive, tough beef.

          In the same period Importers in S. Korea again watched as we shipped boxes of "green" beef to them when the US market rejected loads of chilled beef and we froze for export when it got back here from rejection at the US border.

          Traders do this same business into many countries of the former USSR today I am sure.

          When the Cdn $ falls our live cattle pour into Washington and other nearby slaughter points in the US in the tens of thousands while we allow no feeder cattle into Canada from those same states (ok so a few thousand got in over the last few years under the "experimental program").

          Free Trade is a 2 way street. Right now Canada is on the winning side of that street with 80 % of our exported beef flowing into the US. If that market closed tomorrow what would be the impact on "Canadian Prices" as these tons of beef and live cattle hit the market here with only 30 million consumers to eat it? Are we willing to put all our eggs into the one basket or do we want to practise some risk management here and try to diversify the market and our buyers a little and build some trading relationships with other nations.

          Beef eating nations with money are not all that common, they will not just open their borders to our beef without some items to ship back to us. Trade means just that, an exchange of goods and services where both sides win, note this does not mean the person who made the product wins, the person trading it wins. Lets seperate protecting our markets with "health issues" from protecting them for "price issues".

          Jack-in-the-box was an ecoli case if I am not mistaken, Lakeside has had numerous recalls over the last few years, glass houses and all.

          Comment


            #6
            You missed my point entirely. The U.S and us are one market and in reality one people. And I don't consider over 96,000 cattle, imported from the U.S. to be a "few thousand". I wil admit we benifit greatly in numbers, mostly due to our cruddy dollar.
            Of course we trade with these countries...have you noticed the number of Japanese, and other Asian countries, cars and electronic goods in our country? How many goods do we sell to Australia, New Zealand and the very dirty South America? How's our trade balance with them? Are we selling them lots of cattle?
            I certainly am not going to defend the packing industry in this country! They would sell their mothers corpse if they thought they could get away with it! But I like to think we have a quality inspection service with good people who have a conscience working in it. I base that on working in a packing house for many years in my youth.

            Comment


              #7
              LOL *-*
              ~/

              I had too, sell their....

              Thanks for brightening my day.

              Nuff said

              Comment

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