Open letter from Rick Paskal

[ASRG]

I've always had a high regard for Rick, so maybe I am a bit biased.I think he usually has a very good take on the situation?
I'm not much of a fan of NB, but at the end of the day we have to realize they were the only game in town....when Tyson wanted to close Lakeside down?
Yea I know it was kind of a sleazy deal and between them and their evil sister, Cargill, they probably tanked the Rockyview plant with predatory practices......but what is the alternative today?
Close the plant and put them out of business? Build a bunch of smaller plants?
The smaller plants of the past went out of business for a reason....they never made enough money!
If one big packer becomes the reality...we can kiss our big feed lots good bye, and the whole system that fed that food chain? If that is the ideal we don't need all the cow/calf outfits that rely on selling calves or yearlings to those big lots?
Maybe the average/to poor person needs to quit eating beef?

[kato]

My read on it is that Rick is expressing what we cattle producers of all types have known for a long time. That is, we cannot trust the Canadian government to have our backs. The best interests of everyone in the beef business is NOT on the government radar. I think that's another reason the industry in general is contracting.

Trust has been lost.

Whether it's misguided priorities, misguided funding, under funding, overwhelming red tape and regulations, or a total lack of support, it doesn't matter. Pretty much everyone who's raising, feeding, or processing cattle has come to the conclusion that they're on their own.

We'll all come at this with our own biases, depending what where our own operations are, but the bottom line is that nobody has one solution that will fit all. We do have one objective though. That's to have an industry that works. One where there's enough profit in it to keep all the players in business, rather than one having to bankrupt the other to survive.

We need a re-invention here. It has to start with consumer confidence, that's the basis it all rests on. With the big processing plants comes great power. But with great power comes great responsibility. Which has not been lived up to, and not taken seriously enough.

Now we need XL, CCA, ABP, all the other cattle organizations, CFIA, and the government to take their share of the responsibility and get things working.

[SheriMonk]

You can reinvent all the confidence you want, but
that's going to be tough without that plant.

Here's an article I just posted today:
http://www.albertafarmexpress.ca/news/hang-on-all-
things-will-pass-xl-chief-nilsson/1001762914/

An op-ed to follow shortly.

[ASRG]

Thanks for posting that article Sheri.
Lee Nilsson makes some good points about the inadequate CFIA system!
At the end of the day the plant will be up and running more safely....but the CFIA beuracracy and the incompetent Ag minister will still be in charge! He bungled the Maple Leaf listeria outbreak......he bungled this ecoli outbreak.....what's next?
Obviously Gerry Ritz just isn't up to the job of cleaning up the CFIA gong show? Primeminister Harper should can him!

[SheriMonk]

Perhaps the USDA is stepping in for Ritz:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/
10/12/calgary-us-audit-cfia.html?cmp=rss

[kato]

Well, finally, we hear from a real person!

Good for you, Sheri. That's the story we've been waiting for. The first step to that needed confidence building is to have a face attached to the story, not an impersonal company name. When no one steps in and tells their story, everybody will just fill in the blanks. And that can get out of hand pretty quick. ;-)

[wilagro]

Sheri that URL didn't wrap correctly.

Here is one that works for me.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/10/12/calgary-us-audit-cfia.html?

[grassfarmer]

So what? - one of the directors actually does an
interview a month later and all is forgiven?

But lets back up a little - ASRG - I don't think NB were
the only game in town when Tyson wanted to sell
Lakeside - there were rumours of Swift, now JBS,
interest. Allowing NB to buy it then allowing them to
close XL Calgary and Moose Jaw was a disasterous
decision and the NFU was telling everyone that at the
time. I believe we were the only cattle organisation to
raise this issue with the competition bureau.
XL and Cargill putting Ranchers out of business was a
disgrace and I don't think either should be forgiven or
forgotten for that.
Maybe the smaller plants of the past wouldn't have
gone out of business if they weren't competing with
the chosen two Government backed, Government
subsidised mega processors? Maybe new smaller
plants today would do just fine if they were given the
same level of Government backing and financial bail-
outs?
If only one big packer is left why does that spell the
end of the feedlot and cow/calf sectors? Cargill could
ramp up to capacity, cattle can be shipped south in
greater numbers - sure these things would result in
reduced prices but they would have to fall quite a bit
from present levels to get back to 2009 levels.

Bailing out NB (again) at the threat of them closing
Lakeside would be a big mistake, just as it was a
mistake to encourage their purchase of it initially to
prevent it from closing. Let them crash if they can't
make it. Maybe out of the ashes we can build a better
and brighter future?

[SheriMonk]

Wait.
One packer is ok?
When we were going from three down to two, a lot
of people spoke out - myself included.

Why on Earth wouldn't we speak out now when we
go from an oligopoly to a certified monopoly?

And do you think that Cargill can ramp up
production enough at High River to make up for
what XL was slaughtering?

There is a lot more to come out from this story. A
lot more. And I will get it.

[grassfarmer]

Competition with less than 10 bidders, certainly less
than 5 is very poor in any case so I'm not convinced
going from 2 to 1 would be that much worse. But of
course there wouldn't really be just 1, just as there
aren't really only 2 now - the US plants could still bid,
maybe a bit more actively than they do now. Tyson,
JBS, XL in Nebraska. All I'm saying is I don't think we
should bail this shower out again because we so
desperately need them, or we couldn't manage
without them. They are bottom feeders with no
ambition to market a quality Canadian product and
without them maybe, just maybe, we have a chance to
build something better.

[ALLFARMER]

We already are down to one plant (basically).

How much competition do you think XL and
Cargill are for each other?? With their horizontal
intigration and captive supply?

I bet XL and Cargill never bump into each other at
the golf coarse. (sark). Ha ha

[ALLFARMER]

The only reason we have good calf prices is
because of competition from the grains and
oilseed sector. If XL and Cargill want to be in the
meat business they better keep calf prices
reasonable and stable, and they already long now
this. 2 years ago NBI was worried about the
number of guys quitting. If prices would have
dropped big time over this current mess hundreds
of more cattle producers would have left. With
$14 canola maybe myself included.