Dragons Den

[ddniak]

Hello Dragon's. Our name is Joe Ranchers. We are asking for 8 million for 5 percent of our company. Our company is called grass-fed beef. We will control the production from gate to plate. Our product will be environmentally superior to what is mass produced now. We will have a healthier product that is mass produced now. We will have a product that is all able to penetrate the European market as well as other markets that is asking for a healthier, environmentally sustainable product.

[skhadenuf]

Hello Joe, I'm the mean but realistic bald guy. You produce the world's finest food by the finest of people. Your problem is that you don't have fair access to the world market and you don't even have an organized access to the domestic market. You do not recieve an equitable amount of the final product placed on the consumer shelf. Those making money off of you are not going to simply feel sorry for you and change this ever unless forced to. Who can force this change?
Your government controls trade deals and therefore how much access to foreign market under what constrictions is determined by them. Foreign companies that control the packing industry to retail industry contribute millions to the MPs and their parties that go to Ottawa to represent you in trade deals, therefore do you really think your MPs have your best interest at heart or these companies. Money talks and they're being for all intensive purposes so bought off.
In the short term you have something called the Cais program which gathers all revenue information on your farm. So if you are a mixed farmer your revenue from grain will mask your losses in cattle and vice versa certain years therefore you rarely have a high level of coverage since usually when grain is higher cattle are lower vice versa. It's a bizarre program only good for those working there, for example when your cattle are worth nothing and you have a drought and your feed sitting in your hay yard is worth more than the cows you get no payout because the value of the feed that is going in the mouth and out the ass is going to kick you out of collecting anything. Therefore this program goes against trying to be deversified and sound economically. You had a conservative party that told you prior to the election this had to be changed the program would be scrapped, hell the liberals admitted it wasn't working, didn't do little ditz said on one likely hangover morning it didn't work, they changed it allright, put in place constraints that meant the people that needed money out of this program most would not get this. Wake-up they LIED and your going to hand your vote on a silver platter to them? The only way to change this thing for grain and cattle farmers is to elect people that make the trade policies and deals actually represent you. The conservatives and Liberals want a government well come and get it but bring some money, better trade deals, scrap the cais, have 2 seperate programs one for cattle one for grain it's mental not to. The money saved in administration alone could mean crop premiums cut in half or more, no need for accountants upon accountants for a program that means **** all and is plain stupid.
In the long term the current trade deals allow corporations from here to take raw goods from here ship overseas pay those people nothing to manufacture products from those goods, then ship it back sell it at massive profits. So who is going to buy your beef and grain at a fair price to you if all those people over there are being extorted their labour for pennies a day.
We are not producing too much grain or cattle, there are people starving. but our governments full of people taking humanitarian awards are making trade deals that make millionaires and us peasants.

[kato]

Good one! Please stick around, you two, you've got talent!

[ddniak]

Excellent post SK. You have illustrated some of the roadblock towards sustainability in the cattle industry. That is the age old question. We all I believe know what needs to be done but how do we get there. I truly believe and industry change towards grass fed would be a good start. But how do we do this on a large scale with all the roadblocks.

[tman]

How do we do this on a large scale with all the roadblocks? Be stubborn and persistent and never give up. I look back over my short lifetime of the things that I believe in, where once I was of the tiniest minority, I am now of the...small minority. No leaps or bounds, but small steps in the right direction. Perhaps when I'm on my last breath, I'll be of the majority.