Sunterra

[jebbesen]

Thank you, cowman! I have a number that just came to me from the City of Red Deer for a Miles Kliner, so I will ask him about it. I don't know... might be a dead end, but I am interested. Perhaps it makes more sense to build a new plant... but I don't know what obstacles Sunterra was weighing when it looked at the plant in Red Deer. Perhaps it was proximity... perhaps it was funding. Perhaps it is more expensive to bring up to spec... but I will ask. Thanks... love to know your thoughts on it.

[magpie]

From what everyone’s thoughts are on this topic I get the impression we are on the same page. I think if we constructed a plant of very significant stature it would require involvement of all stakeholders from three provinces. This BSE problem affects a lot of business in every town. If there is a silver lining in this whole mess, it might be a packing plant that enables ranchers, farmers an opportunity to share in the success or not, rather than have the profits flowing south never again to be spent in our town and villages. “crawling up the food chain”. Some one is making a lot of profit as we see prices have not come down at meat counters. Like Greybeard said government is already involved and with an election possibly on horizon, maybe with some spin doctoring we might take this idea to a political platform, I’m not sure. A packing plant that is directed from the bottom up and not top down would be I think more responsive to producers. A facility that is able to mass supply along with accommodating some of the niche markets.With the ID program, this could I’m sure be accomplished, not unlike US without national program.I feel that Canada will be a dominant player in niche marketing in the future because we will have stiff completion from ag powerhouses like Brazil. Soybeans are just that example.
Just to throw out something at the politicians to get their ear. How do they plan to supposedly cut emissions in the koyoto deal? Does not a strong vibrant cattle industry contribute to thousands if not millions of carbon sequestering acres of forages and pastures? Some governments are pushing ethanol production, So what are they going to feed the by product to?

[cowman]

jebbesen: Miles Kliner was the last manager of the CP plant. I believe they keep him on to take care of the plant.
If it is feasable the old CP plant would make an excellent cow plant as there is basically no market for cull cows in central/north Alberta. The plant has a CPR rail line right beside the plant and at one time just about all the dressed beef went by rail to Montreal. The Olymel hog plant is right across the road.
It just seems to me that it should make sense that a person should be able to refit this plant cheaper than building from the ground up. In early January a lot of the equipment was hauled out to a local scrap company. I suspect it had become rusty and seized up. Some people say the rail is still there while others say it was removed. Have a look and keep us posted.

[ValueChainFX]

Cow,am to refit plant would be fine for the short term, but the costs to bring them up to date and allow you to meet new regulations is to high! I still wonder how these folks intend to build a big plant and find the help needed to make it happen. The small plants around Alberta make more sense in the long term for all of us (the old egg in a basket thing) We need to train people and go into the value added product to produce a return that will actually work for you. Many a cooperative plant has gone under by trying to do business as usual and the new gen coop model allows you to go beyond that!

[cowman]

Valuechain: I totally agree with you about the small plants. What good does another Cargill/IBP clone in Calgary do me? Give me a small local plant that will process my cows, bulls, open heifers! Build twenty small plants across the west and give farmers a market, the counties a tax base, and provide some good jobs for the locals(I mean isn't this what saving the rural areas is all about?)! Further the massive government investment needed in this Sunterra thing gives me a queasy feeling. The Alberta government did the same thing back in the 80s...that is how we ended up with two dominant American Packers and one(XL) so deep into the governments pocket they couldn't let it go down.
But I'll bet you dollars for doughnuts that old Ralph and Shirley will be lining up to pass out the money to Sunterra or Ranchers Inc. or whatever they call themselves? They never seem to learn from their past mistakes?
It seems to me it would make more sense if they would do everything possible to facilitate these smaller new gen co-ops and pass some laws to protect them from the big Packer predators?

[ValueChainFX]

It is a surprise to me that the government has their paws in this as deep as they seem to! Since the new gen coops are designed for the producer, and you can bet each of these new groups has gone to the government why they wouldn't have them all working in the same direction. It seems like a divide and conquer strategy for the government!

[cowman]

Whoever brings out the most grandiose plan will probably get the government backing! Alberta Tories like "big"? No time to be bothered with the little guys even though it might make more sense? In fact it almost seems they do everything to discourage the small entrepreneur? Maybe they don't want any real competition to their big buddies?
Well they have a pretty poor track record at picking winners and I suspect you can bet they'll continue that dreary record?

[boone]

Cowman: your getting cynical, are you sure you haven't been getting bottled water out of Sask.

[ebby7]

cynical perhaps, but not fundimentally incorrect. The entire basis of politics is to appeal to the masses, and if there is a plan that is turnkey, supported by corporates that are less likely to allow it to fail, and reads well in three paragraphs or less on a front page daily, it is going to get the attention needed. We can fault gov. for not representing the average producer, but we can also fault the plan for not appealing to the gov. my opinion of course, and I may very well be cynical... but I prefer to call it... realistic