Changes are Needed

[cakadu]

In order to go down a path that will help us to dig our way out of this crisis, we need some real leadership to come to the fore and do what needs to be done. We have to quit running back and forth to see who is going to give us the biggest bailout because that won't work.

First and foremost we have to have a total and complete ban on using rendered animals in any type of feed that could possibly end up in the food chain at some point. Adopting the EU guidelines comes to mind.

Let's face it - more and more consumers are telling us what they want and what they are willing to pay for. They DON'T want to see hormones continued to be used in food animals, they don't want rendered animal parts ending up in animal food that will eventually become part of the human food chain.

How do you feel about adopting strong legislation for contaminating the food supply?

What else would you see being an assist in our attempt to become world leaders in how we treat our food?

[charliep]

Cakadu

Not critism but a question of competitivess when Canada could potentially be asked to live by a different set of rules than the US. The Canadian meat industry tries to capture value out of everything in an animal but the moo. What happens when byproducts that have value are converted into something that may have to be cost to dispose of? Will the consumer pay more? Are there alternative non food uses?

[Smithy]

The problem I see with using rendered carcasses in animal food is that we are using it for animals that are commonly fed with ruminants. Dogs and chickens, for instance, are frequently fed in areas cows share. Maybe we should limit by products that could be dangerous for ruminants to fish food.

[ValueChainFX]

charliep your point is well taken, however Canada is in a position right this minute that our product value less than desirable. As an exporting country and an innovative country we best look at all the alternatives we can. There are technologies out there that are being developed successfully to change waste into energy. Processing plant wastes are being converted into barrels of oil on a daily basis at a ratio of 85% return. Many projects are underway to do just this such as a $20ML project in conjunction with a poultry processing plant that will produce 600 barrels of oil daily.

Yes we need changes and we need to do a better job in the industry to meet the changes in the market place. You and I both know that as industry leaders we need to focus on this issue put something in place. Make sure it works and than share it with the rest of the industry.

These things are happening right now in Canada as well. They don't fit the standard funding we have in the industry today and therefore we need some innovative financing to make this happen. But it will happen and we are the ones that will make it happen. The industry leaders that are still looking for who is to blame can keep looking the rest of us best pull our resources together and put the components in place to fix this mess.

[ALICIA]

Good news, our top beef eaters I was told are stocking up on the cheep beef because they know this is going to pass and beef is going back to the top.
Just a little smile, oka.

[cakadu]

Charlie - what would prevent us from adopting practices that put us light years ahead of our US counterparts? That would put COOL in a totally different light, wouldn't it?

I don't see it as a criticism of what we do; rather it is a chance to expand on what we are already doing. In light of the fact that the APF is looking for us to Brand Canada, wouldn't that be a particularly good thing to use in order to brand ourselves?

In terms of needing to use everything but the moo in order to make money, doesn't that speak volumes in and of itself? In relative terms, are we making anything in a cow/calf operation anymore or when we compare it to say 20 or 30 years ago? This mad rush to go global may be hurting us bigtime.

This is where I see the real leadership coming from.

Your thoughts?

[jensend]

Cakadu: I guess where the major difference between your point of view and mine lies is that you look down the road and say this is how it should be whereas many producers are saying that's fine but we have to survive economically from one year to the next and if you want a particular situation you will have to pay for it in order for it to be sustained. I would prefer to farm with less chemical fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides but in order to be around next year I have to do the things that will allow me to be here then. You have a (many) vision(s) of how things should be but as we all know just wanting something is the first step. Your biggest job will be to convince consumers because it appears to me that by doing the economically expedient thing I am giving the consumer what they want: cheap food.
Very few see any further than that.

[ALICIA]

Your right. All they want is cheap food,and they think its there right because its a necessity.
But they will pay the big bucks to eat in a fancy restraint

[charliep]

Does the whole industry have to change or is their room for more branded/specialty products?

I watch my brother and there are definitely niche markets in urban communities for home raised beef (closed herd, no hormones, treated humanely, feed purchased from known sources, anti biotics only when required/records kept, owner trusted, etc.). A part of this program could extend to how by products are handled (not returned to animal food chain).

It is there today but still tough to make a buck given required smaller size/extra work.

[cakadu]

I've given it some thought jensend and you're right - we need short term solutions right now - I'm not sure if loans to producers etc. are the way to go because it has been my experience that you cannot borrow your way out of trouble. I also have problems with the proposed bailout package if it has too many strings attached to it i.e. signing up for the national disaster program. I'm kind of at a loss to understand why SARS got all this help and yet the ruminant industry, which adds a significant amount not only to Alberta's but Canada's GDP, has been slow in coming. We also have to remember that while much smaller the sheep industry has been hit hard by all of this as well because nothing they produce can go across the border either.

Charlie, the whole industry just might have to change. In looking at things over the past 10 years or so, agriculture as we know it has changed and is continuing to change. Look at the growing demand for products that have no hormones, anti-microbials etc. and it makes you wonder how long we can continue to go at the pace that we have been.

Where is the 20% increase in beef production going to go? Is that even a path that we should be continuing to go down, given recent events - and I'm talking more than just the BSE thing, the drought, higher feed prices etc. We haven't even begun to look at the impact that COOL will have on us, nor are we too willing to look at the fact that when countries like Brazil, who are purported to have 160 million cattle are able to export to some of those we export to and the impact that will have on us.

Yes, we have the safest, best product in the world, but if other countries are willing to give customers what they want i.e. hormone free beef, then how are we going to compete. Just in costs of production alone, we cannot compete with countries that do not have to feed for about 200 days of the year - in a good year.

What if we were to adopt stricter practices such as no rendered animals in any animal that makes it inot the human food chain, or horomones or anti-microbials, what markets would that open up for us?

One of the major reasons animals have to be given anti-microbials in their feed is to prevent disease and keep the gut flora in check because animals that were designed to eat grass do not have the digestive systems to be able to handle all of the grains etc. that are poured to them in the feed lots.

I keep thinking of the potential if we are just able to shift our focus away from current practices. If you look at things over the last 40 or 50 years when we went to confined feeding operations, how have incomes fared. We know that margins are razor thin, which is why they have to sell everything in order to make even the smallest of margins. What are we doing that for? What can we do to change that? I'm kind of curious to know.