Quote taken from "Past Present and how we can survive fo the Future in the beef cattle business by Benjamin C Roberts
The National Cattleman's Beef Association is controlled by the big packers. We certainly come full circle now, and the producers are still paying for advertisement and research for the packers. Although millions of dollars have been collected from the cattlemen to fund the check-off,there have been fewer than twelve months of profitability for producers since 1994. We have lost a large percentage of our cattlemen to bankruptcy and left them with a lot of debt. Evidently, the cattlemen thought the check-off dollars were spent advertising their product. If any other advertising agency were this successful, they would have gone out of business long before now. Considering past history, why in the world would cattlemen expent any kind of return on money they give to the big packers?"p 112
Much of this also applies to Canada. Cattlemen did not forget how to age verify their calves as the drop in numbers from 2006 to 2007 would indicate. They are merely stating that they need to be compensated for their efforts. By making this mandatory, we are merely assisting the packers in accessing markets for their profitability in a commodity market. The Ab government has spent 2 billion on the beef sector but until it realizes that we need to change the way we do business, no amount of money will fix the industry. They are merely listening to the lobby from the packers that animals killed relates directly to hook space without realizing that a true value chain actually spreads risk and reward from beginning to end and all the costs should not have to be carried by one sector namely the cow/calf producer. The ABP and the AB government have not realised THERE IS NO TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT. We as producers need to have direct influence in the development of our markets but under the current system, a true value chain cannot be developed. We need a directional check-off
The National Cattleman's Beef Association is controlled by the big packers. We certainly come full circle now, and the producers are still paying for advertisement and research for the packers. Although millions of dollars have been collected from the cattlemen to fund the check-off,there have been fewer than twelve months of profitability for producers since 1994. We have lost a large percentage of our cattlemen to bankruptcy and left them with a lot of debt. Evidently, the cattlemen thought the check-off dollars were spent advertising their product. If any other advertising agency were this successful, they would have gone out of business long before now. Considering past history, why in the world would cattlemen expent any kind of return on money they give to the big packers?"p 112
Much of this also applies to Canada. Cattlemen did not forget how to age verify their calves as the drop in numbers from 2006 to 2007 would indicate. They are merely stating that they need to be compensated for their efforts. By making this mandatory, we are merely assisting the packers in accessing markets for their profitability in a commodity market. The Ab government has spent 2 billion on the beef sector but until it realizes that we need to change the way we do business, no amount of money will fix the industry. They are merely listening to the lobby from the packers that animals killed relates directly to hook space without realizing that a true value chain actually spreads risk and reward from beginning to end and all the costs should not have to be carried by one sector namely the cow/calf producer. The ABP and the AB government have not realised THERE IS NO TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT. We as producers need to have direct influence in the development of our markets but under the current system, a true value chain cannot be developed. We need a directional check-off
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