Open letter to cattle producers re: ALMS

[grassfarmer]

Unfortunately ABP/CCA think "leadership" means leading the P & M especially if someone else comes up with an idea.
Yes any superior markets we can access should be prepared to pay for our efforts BUT that does NOT mean we sit on our backsides and wait until we get a guaranteed price advantage before we do the work. To do so lets our competitors get ahead of us. We must produce the product to the higher standard first and then market it. At least the Canada Gold people realise this concept and are taking the bull by the horns and producing the product and marketing it. Too many producers/ producer groups get bogged down by sitting around doing nothing but talk about producing a better product and getting a premium for it. That's not how the market works - you have to get in and work your way to the top.
I predict the ABP Fall producer meeting will be a circus this year - ABP leading the P&M campaign telling everyone we have the best beef in the world, we don't need to age verify or track cattle etc etc. Well how has that attitude been working for us up to now?
Sad thing is a lot of producers will buy into this train of thought and another year will pass with no leadership. Unfortunately ABP/CCA think "leadership" means leading the P & M. I hear they were even proposing to sue the Alberta Government, using our levy money, to stop them implementing this program. Now there is progressive leadership for you!

[kato]

One more time.. What happens outside Alberta if/when a tariff goes on Canadian beef? Who pays? Why should it be us?

The rest of Canada took it on the chin over the BSE thing, even though the hot spot was Alberta. No one jumped on Alberta over it, they just accepted the fact that this is one country, and we are all in this together.

So now Alberta goes it alone with no regard to neighbours who have paid a large price for the events of the past six years. No regard for those outside the province who stand to pay dearly again if there is trade action over this.

Nice way to treat a neighbour eh?

The federal government should be ashamed of themselves.

[grassfarmer]

Kato, I hear your concern for cattle producers outwith Alberta and I don't know how it will settle out eventually.
As far as tariff goes I think that's a bit of a red herring thrown in by detractors of the program. It is clearly spelled out in the ALMS that the program was designed to be non-tariff and I believe the AB Government will have done their due diligence on this. Sure, some R-CLOWN types might get upset but what's new? It's not like US producers don't get blatant hand outs.
I note your displeasure with Alberta over BSE but to be fair a lot of the way Canada was treated was decided by international bodies rather than Canadian. If the Feds had said isolate Alberta but continue shipping beef from the rest of the country which could retain it's BSE free status it would have been laughed at(and turned down) by the international authorities. I haven't had BSE on my place so why would my cattle be banned from export and yours not? Where would you kill your BSE free cattle if Alberta was segregated from the rest of Canada in status?
Both BC and Saskatchewan have had their finger in the BSE pie to so it wasn't only Alberta either.
When you conclude that the Federal Government should be ashamed of themselves re moving the industry ahead - I think you are pointing your finger at the correct guilty party.

[per]

Kato, your neighbor is trying to improve its lot. That is not unusual among neighborhoods. None of this has been a secret from you or your government and if it is something that appeals then see what you can do to get on board. If our southern neighbor is interested in countervail they will find an excuse anyway. Having stress over maybes is a waste of stress. As far a what does this mean to your cattle especially if they come to Alberta, join up with Canada Gold. Their protocols meet the criteria anyway and participate to the end of the chain. Progressive thinkers like you would be a real assets to the Canada Gold Brand.

[Sawbones]

Kato, I appreciate your concern but you may have the advantage in Manitoba. With Natural Prairie and the producer plant that is supported by your government, you at least will have an opportunity to develop your own value chains. For the rest of you look close at Canada Gold. There are only 2,000,000 shars and those could be controlled by 20 people. The rest of you will be merely signing a deliovery contract

[kato]

Cattle producers in the Interlake area were shown on the news tonight. They were having a meeting organized to call attention to the total devastation they have suffered due to flooding. They've had an amazing amount of rain this summer, and lots have virutally no feed put up. The hayfields are still under water, winter is coming, and they have no money. It's a mess, to put it mildly, and it looks like the grain growers are soon to be in the same trouble, so they don't even have access to straw.

What is the province's response? They are going to help subsidize freight. One producer on the news said "We don't need assistance to haul feed, we need assistance to buy feed."

The province's response to that? "The federal government frowns upon provinces forming their own policies to assist agriculture, so we will not give any help." An interesting comment considering the federal governmnet's response to non-Alberta producers concerns with the Alberta program was to tell cattle producers in other provinces that they should lobby their provincial governments to match the Alberta program themeselves.

Producers in the Interlake are threatening to just sell off all their cattle and get it over with. If the Manitoba government doesn't think this situation requires any input from them, then they are obviously not going to get involved with any type of general assistance that even begins to come close to what Alberta is doing.

Pass the buck. That's the name of the game.

[kato]

Oh yea, and as for Natural Prairie, it's a touchy subject in our neighbourhood. Don't get me started. For our neighbours it's been one big horror story.

[per]

Kato, tell the Natural story on a new post so others can avoid it.

[per]

Avoid the bad experience, not the post. I am curious.