Cattle Producers Welcome AgriRecovery Announcement

[loric]

(Calgary, Alberta) May 31, 2010 – Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) joins cattle producers in Alberta and Saskatchewan in welcoming today’s announcement of AgriRecovery support for producers hit hardest by the drought of the past two years. This announcement comes after seven months of intense work by cattle producers, provincial and federal government officials, and ABP delegates, directors, and staff.

ABP appreciates the willingness of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Jack Hayden and Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz to provide this necessary assistance for producers. We also are grateful for the hard work done by senior officials in both the provincial and federal governments in developing the 2010 Pasture Recovery Initiative. This assistance is not as timely as we would have liked and it won’t cover all the extra costs that producers are facing, but it will provide much needed and much appreciated help for producers dealing with the impacts of the drought

The ABP Cow Calf Council led our efforts to secure AgriRecovery support for producers affected by the disastrous drought. We estimated that close to 80 per cent of our cow calf herd is in areas stricken by a lack of pasture last summer and fall, a shortage of forage for winter feeding, high feed costs, and delayed use of pastures this spring. ABP and our Cow Calf Council began responding to the drought last summer and formally approached the provincial government for AgriRecovery support last October. Our discussions continued through the winter and spring before finally leading to today’s announcement.

Ted Ford, Chair of the ABP Cow Calf Council, says “this funding is desperately needed by many producers and will be welcomed. We do think that the delay in providing the assistance hurt producers and the AgriRecovery framework needs to be made more responsive.”

The nearly 28,000 beef producers in this province have an organization which represents their collective interests – the Alberta Beef Producers. Run by producers for producers, ABP is dedicated to supporting a truly sustainable, competitive and profitable cattle and beef industry for the benefit of all Albertans.

[sagewood]

I heard the announcement just a bit ago and went on line to read more and clicked on "Calgary Herald" and went to 'News' and read the article--I was also amazed to read the one comment that follows the article--I tried to put it on this site, but am not good at that transfer sort of thing. In essence, "anonymous' (did not even have the courage to print their name) basically said - 'here we go again--million dollar bail out for an industry that cannot stand on its own 4 feet--industry gets all the freebies with the leases and the o & g revenue from it and just had a 300 million dollar bail out etc. etc."--then just adds "let it fail". Sadly, folks that is how most urbanites view any support to our industry--they have not got the first clue than when we fail--their steaks and hamburgers will cost them dearly--if they can find Canadian beef it will be scarce--but then I suspect the Americans will be pleased to step into our market and fill the shelves with their corn-fed, high-priced American beef--while those of us who are out of the cattle business look to take up jobs in the city...sad, just sad. Hard enough to keep a positive outlook in this business some days, but to read that person's rant--well it is a downer for sure.

[kato]

Maybe let him know that if we must take jobs in the city, maybe we might just come for his job. Heaven knows we've got qualifications and a work ethic that's hard to find in the urban centers. Grabbing a well paid job out from under someone who doesn't even care where his next meal comes from shouldn't be hard. He's obviously not that bright anyway. LOL

If this country doesn't start to support it's food producers, it's going to head down a long hard road that I don't think anyone has thought about yet.

Someday Canadians could have a choice between American chicken poop fed, non BSE tested beef, or Brazilian three year old grass fed steers grown on burnt out rainforests. Not much of a choice, IMHO. The day could come where if you don't personally know a Canadian with some cows, that's all you're going to get. And they shall be at the mercy of the exchange rate. And the whims of those who still have a beef industry. Of that you can be sure. Who would have ever believed the day would come when Argentina would stop exporting beef because they didn't have enough for themselves? Never in a million years. But it happened. And it could happen in any number of other countries. In fact, it's in the process of happening here right now!

A country that doesn't take it's food security seriously does so at it's own peril.

[wilagro]

And where was the !@#$% government ten years ago when the drought caused many producers to liquidate their herds because of drought? Will retroactive claims be allowed?

No???...well it seems like the current crop of cattle producers must be better at lobbying the gov't for assistance. Or perhaps another election is on the horizon.

[kato]

Actually, since Agri-Recovery is supposed to be a long term part of the so called suite of farm programs, why does anyone have to lobby in the first place?

It should not be necessary for producers who are hit with disasters to go begging for the government to use programs that are supposed to be set up for just that purpose.

This took seven months of lobbying to make this program do what it was supposed to do. In Manitoba, the flooded Interlake region lobbied for well over a year! Maybe more, it took so long I can't remember.

[smcgrath76]

Don't feel too bad Sagewood. The
destitute and impoverished oil industry
has seen reduced royalty rates and now
drilling incentives to help them come to
grips with the harsh economic realities of
the oil patch...

[mcfarms]

A few comments on this announcement , Can a "disaster" be covered outside available insurance. Pasture ins. is and was available in Alberta for the affected producers.

Should we expect a political based announcement everytime a already established program is triggered?

Finally if all Producers in a trade area are not eligible for this program should they not be able to start a domestic challenge based on the fact that this would in fact be a un even subsidy and distorts the marketplace internally be offering support to one group within an industry while excluding others.
The question is why should the producers excluded from this program allow gov't to pick winners and losers within an industry without being challenged?

[ProFarmer]

Nice to see your country coming to the aid of cattle producers. Here in MANITOBA our government does not give a F##K.

[grassfarmer]

mcfarms, you bring up a good point. Bail outs and subsidies always pick winners and losers and that is their weakness. In this case guys that were so badly affected by drought they sold cows off before Jan. 1st, or that sold off cows and retained their heifer calves to breed this year will get nothing. Is that fair? did they make a worse business decision than the guys that kept all their cows? if not why are they penalised?
This is why we should all be after the Government for a real solution - fix the marketplace. Producer share of the beef retail dollar has shrunk $500/animal in the last decade. Instead of treating a $50 one off payment as some kind of lottery win we should be campaigning to get the $500 back on every animal, every year. I would have no problem sharing this $500 proportionally with the feedlot sector. Therein lies the real solution to the income crisis in the beef sector. This would cost the Government nothing but courage and some vision. The result would be better for them, for taxpayers, for cattle producers and for rural communities.

[rkaiser]

Very good points Grassfarmer. Treating DIS - EASE with drugs does not cure the probelm.

[per]

The headache comes back as soon as the Tylenol wears off? It also would help if we quit hitting our head with a hammer.

[coppertop]

Whether we like the oil royalty roll-
back/drilling incentive it will likely
provide employment for farmers who need to
work off the farm to make ends meet !

[smcgrath76]

Good point CT. A socially acceptable
form of subsidy so the farmer can
subsidize themselves.
I also noted last night the war on
plastic bags on my provincial news. I
thought that is pretty ironic when the
tar sands are moving ahead great guns.
It is like robbing peter's little
brother to pay paul, mary and their
MLA...
I was also disappointed to hear on the
radio my local ABP rep saying that the
payout was too little (I agree with the
too late for many).