check off increase

[cowman]

A quote from the Red Deer Advocate "Albertas hard hit cattle producers have unanimously agreed to pay an extra dollar for ever animal sold to help promote and rebuild markets in the wake of the mad cow crisis."
Now doesn't unanimously mean everyone? I guess they should have wrote "have unanimously agreed, except for one ornery old cowman near Red Deer!" because I sure as hell never agreed!!!
And maybe they should have wrote that the extra buck was for their operating expenses??? I understand their income is way down due to a lack of sales. Did they ever consider cutting back on staff? Or skip the little perks? Or pack it in? After all isn't that what happens when a private business can't cut it?
As far as I'm concerned this is just another gouge by a group that hasn't done very much for me. And our politicians just go with the flow.

[Bruce14]

WHOAAAAA...... Who is they? Is this an Alberta initiative? Is it CCA or CBEF?

Who is driving the cart on this one?

[ValueChainFX]

Bruce14 ???? Does it really matter WHO they is? How many primary producers do you think were actually asked if they would like to donate another $1.00 in check-off money for the marketers, processors and retails. In reality the Canadian consumer has already given us their vote that they want to support the industry. But I would be interested in knowing if anyone that is online here was asked directly if they should raise the check-off?

Anyone get a letter, a phone call or a knock at the door? Maybe went to a meeting and did a show of hands even?

The fact is there are several groups that take the check off money and use it in ways MAYBE some of us don't agree with. MAYBE, some of the people that use this money should have their wages directly tied to farm incomes?

Sorry for the little rant!!! I'll be OK, There really are some good people in some of these groups, but really don't you think many of these groups have lost touch with the real world?

[rusty1]

cowman - iwas up in you're neck of the woods during Farm Show, and went out to Spruce View to listen to the Alta Beef Prod. meeting. There was sure a good debate about the $1.00. That's (as I understand it) we'all had a chance to become part of the issue or solution.
What really tick me off is the some of the check off dollars are spent through the BIC , and Canadian Export Federation to "aid in marketing" and "help find new markets". I asked "so these people that are hired to run around the world marketing our Alta Beef - do they get commission from Cargil, IBP, or Nelsons when and if they develope new markets. 3 guess and the first 2 don't count. So here we are running around the world marketing our beef for the corporate crooks. That sounds like cowboy logic.

[cowman]

Bruce 14: It was the ACC or whatever they call themselves these days...different leash, same old dog!
They stated further that they hoped all the other provincial associations would climb on board!
A few years ago the checkoff was challenged in Alberta. The government ordered a plebicite. I worked pretty hard with a group of dissidents to get it scrapped! 12% of eligible producers voted and of that number 51% voted to keep the checkoff. The ACC promptly raised the checkoff to $2 from a buck. And now they raise it to $3! I guess when that 6% majority won the plebicite it was written in stone that they had the right to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted! Apathy is a wonderful thing!
They used to send out this little propaganda thing every couple of months or so but after about a dozen nasty phone calls they don't send it to me anymore! I guess they finally got the message that I was some sort of reactionary or something and was not really with the program! They continued to send the pamphlet to my father who had been dead for 15 years, until I finally got it through their thick heads that he was dead and they needed to send it to the cemetary! Are they efficient or what?

[Bruce14]

Thanks for the clarification cowman.

Yes Valuechain it does make a difference to me who THEY are, that's why I asked the question.

[smcgrath76]

Interesting debate.
The increase in the checkoff was proposed by the Alberta Beef Producers organization, and was discussed and voted on at their fall producer meetings around the province. My understanding is that it was passed at every meeting, except one in the Gem Alberta country.
The turnout to our local meeting was quite high and the debate over the $1 took up most of the evening.
There are different structures in each of the provinces for dealing with Checkoff. In MB the provincial portion is refundable. In SK the Stockgrowers are funded by voluntary memberships.
Of the $3, $1 goes to CCA, the remainder (less commission for collecting the fee and some transfer to CCA, etc.) is to go to the ABP group.
They have pretty good details on how it is to be allocated on their website.
www.albertabeef.org
Personally I don't begrudge the extra $1, although I do have some questions about efficiency. When you look at what other commodities (eg: milk) spend on advertising, and what % of their gross income companies like Coca-Cola spend on marketing $3 seems like a bit of a pitiful investment.
Glad to hear the feedback on this one...

[ValueChainFX]

The check off issue is an interesting one for sure. If the check off were balanced throughout the supply chain to support weak links in the supply chain we may still end up doing the advertising or more advertising for the product. These bridges (CCA, CBEF, etc.) are needed in the industry but there needs to be a choice and some checks and balances in place so guys like cowman can run there own business without some group double dipping on him! The services these groups provide must serve their customers / members and not pick the winners and losers. There are some real needs in the industry today and I don't see them being addressed. We can all point out some good each of these groups have done so this is not the issue! The issues around this are these groups do not represent the whole industry! These groups have not dealt with some real grass roots issues, it's about time we looked at these groups and find a way to address some of these challenges! CCIA is one of those up and coming groups that will pick the winners and losers in the days ahead! You know how much I promote strong trace back, but I don't support any group including the CCIA that picks the winners and the losers and starts to recognize specific interest groups as a total sector industry representative! That is not what they were set up to do, it does not follow their mandate to provide a secure, reliable, proprietary, data collection center!

Are they yet again another group picking our pockets under what maybe considered false pretense? When I say this I am really saying that the mandate of a producer group should be clearly stated and followed because they make sense. Is the issue clear no, but discussion is a start!

[cowman]

Sean: In the Red Deer Advocate they clearly state that of the current $2 checkoff $1.15 already goes to the CCA. So I have to assume that now with a $3 dollar checkoff the CCA is going to get 15 cents less??? So in other words where is the extra $2 going to go?
I'm not against some of the things the ABP is trying to do, but can't they at least be upfront about it? I don't believe guys like Neil Janke and Arno Doerkson don't have all our best interests at heart! The fact is they have a shortfall in revenues and they don't need to feed us all this drivel about "international markets" and "promotion"! The fact is they need to pay the bills! I think we are all aware of how that goes! But please don't feed us BS...we get enough of that from our various forms of government???

[smcgrath76]

Previously...
$2 total
$1.15 to CCA
$0.85 to ABP
Now...
$3 total
$1.15 still goes to CCA
$1.85 goes to ABP
Some of these additional funds are targeted to be spent by ABP through the Beef information centre, and CBEF as well as some additional projects.

[Bruce14]

Thanks for the info Sean. Good to see there were some producer meetings explaining things.

Beef promotion and finding new markets (we are far too dependant on the U.S. market) is a necessity. Of course nobody wants that money to come out of their own pocket.

[cowman]

My main problem with the ABP or the CCA is this: They are not working for the whole industry on a lot of things! I do understand that in this day and age we need a strong lobby group as that is how politics works these days.
The grazing leases are one area where they have waded in when they should have stayed out of it. How fair is it when one group is being paid to pasture their cattle on the public domain? How do you compete with that?
Another thing that bugs me is the blatent support for our big feeders over the cow/calf sector. Bring in diseases that do nothing for the cow/calf sector, bring in a ID system that the cow/calf sector pays for entirely?
And now they have brought in the cattle buyers, the auction marts and the packing houses. All part of the ABP now! Maybe its time we had a group just for the cow/calf sector? And that group could collect the $3 to lobby the government to keep out blue tongue etc.?

[Bruce14]

Cowman: "Bring in diseases that do nothing for the cow/calf sector, bring in a ID system that the cow/calf sector pays for entirely?"

I agree with you on anaplas. and bluetongue but explain to me how the cow/calf sector pays for the ID system in its entirety.

[cowman]

Bruce: Lets see... I pay for the tag. I put it in. Everyone else benifits from the added safety factor. The feeder, the packer, the retailer, the consumer, the government! This isn't rocket science?

[Bruce14]

So cowman you think the entire cost of the ID system is the tag and the bit of time it takes to put it in?

That is being simplistic.