Round Table wth RItz

[SADIE]

Thankyou Kato on the comment regarding the PFRA pastures. I believe you should have got an email today that went out to all the Saskatchewan Members of Parliament and All the Provincial MLAs. The groundswell of support and organization of the Patrons of the PFRA pastures has swept the province of Saskatchewan. The patrons realize we need a collective "one voice" on issues regarding our important part of our businesses. The need for the "little guy" to have access to grazine with PFRA pasture managers in place to deflect those controversial issues that appear to arise between issues of one pasture patron and another.

Jan 23 Sutherland Hall 1112 Central Avenue Saskatoon Sask. Registration 8:30-9:30 Full day meeting. Media have been invited.

[smcgrath76]

"... as she is escorted from the room." I think your previous assessment
about not letting you within a mile of the minister is probably closer (LOL).
I would be really curious to know - what is your long term vision for the
beef industry in Canada? What type of cow numbers/processors are you
thinking? What are your plans to grow export markets? How do you plan to
ensure food safety and animal/human health in a transparent, tough, low cost
way that is internationally accepted? What are your efforts to grow a
competitive advantage going to look like?
What exists in your plans to maintain profitability of moderate sized cattle
operations (or cattle operations at all)?
I would listen very closely for dogma, as I believe that is what will direct
the government over the next several years, and I suspect that knowing that
dogma more clearly will be a good form of risk management, as I can't see
them taking or listening to a lot of advice.
I would also be curious to know about their new idea of regional information
centres. I can't see this being more valuable than current (or non existent)
provincial operations.

[kato]

Are you asking me? If so, this is my vision. If not, here it is anyway. ;-)

Since virtually every disaster that's happened to the beef/cattle industry in the past years has been the result of mismanagement in the regulatory system, my vision is to have said system be overhauled, and get a new mission statement that puts the emphasis on developing a business environment where people can invest in long term projects without having to worry about them coming crashing down due to some bureaucratic error or "dogma".

We need to be able to go forward with the confidence that government policy is being developed that protects us from the kind of fiascos we've had to deal with in the past.

There is no trust in the competence of government any more. We all live with the ups and downs of markets, weather, and such, and accept them as part of the risk of doing business.

How can we be expected to make life long investments in a business, when at any moment somebody in an office in Ottawa decides that we no longer need a PFRA, or that the protection of their political agenda is more important than the good of the country. Or that there are too many cattle farms, and small farms, and they have to go to make way for some that fit the government "vision" for a corporate based food production system.

I just want to go ahead with my business without having to worry about my own government being my own worst enemy. I'm sure those trying to start up new ventures in processing want the same thing.

If some faith in the future was re-established, the rest would all fall into place.

[grassfarmer]

I disagree kato, I think faith in the future has to
come from within one's self it can't be created by
Government. Just as you are prepared to "live with
the ups and downs of markets, weather, and such,
and accept them as part of the risk of doing
business" so you should be prepared to deal at a
business level with actions or reactions caused by
change of Government policy or their rules. That has
always been a part of business risk, not just in
agriculture either. Blaming Government is a
convenient way to shift blame but agriculture always
has, and always will be a dynamic industry full of
change to which the survivors will adapt and those
that don't get out.
Don't get me wrong I'm not a big supporter of the
Government and we still should be prepared to
lobby them on the things we disagree on but at the
start of each day we each get the chance to shape
our own destiny one day at a time and that's one
think I love about being an independent operator
involved in agriculture.

[ASRG]

Or we could just say:
You screwed up the cattle industry! Wheres my f***ing money!

[smcgrath76]

Sorry Kato. Although I like your vision,
I think that is the question I would put
to Ritz and press for a non BS answer.
The hard direction he wants to go will
drive people in or out of this business
whether we like it or not.

[kato]

I'm being polite on the outside, but on the inside, I'm pretty much saying what ASRG said.

I also don't think it's asking too much for our government to quit being just another hazard we need to deal with. We've got enough on our plates already. After all, we hired them. That indicates a responsibility to at the very least "do no harm."

Doesn't anyone else find it ironic that we've been done more damage by our own elected officials, than by RCalf and their never ending campaign against us?

[sumdumguy]

Maybe not as important, but what about the
Indian Head tree farm?

[wmoebis]

This came up at coffee shop the other day!

If you had a one to one with Ritz and could ask him ONE question, what would it be?

One guy quickly said "Do you want me to call you an anbulance?"

[grassfarmer]

On blaming the Government for BSE - it's all very
convenient with the benefit of hindsight to attach
blame but where were you guys in the 90s when
Canadian ranchers were importing cattle from the UK
if you think that was the cause? Given the first cases
were in 85/86 and people like the Germans ceased to
import UK cattle in '89 because of BSE. Shouldn't
there have been any precautionary principle exercised
by Canadian ranchers themselves given that the UK
was getting 20,000 -30,000 cases a year at that time?
What about the great cattle organisations like CCA
and it's provincial counterparts? did none of them
think it might be wise to consider not importing UK
cattle?

If you think it's the Governments role to be the nanny
state, to look after you and always know better then
you need to quit bitching about their other attempts
to do so like animal identification. You can't have it
both ways.