Rally discussion topics

[grassfarmer]

Some of the solutions to the beef crisis to be discussed with the Agriculture Minister tomorrow.

1.Bring farmers in Alberta on par with farmers in Quebec in terms of cull cow prices as a short term measure until we get sufficient slaughter capacity built to ensure realistic returns to producers.

2.Allow and facilitate testing for BSE, if that opens markets, regardless of other processors not wanting to do that.

3.Actively support all small and larger initiatives to create new slaughter capacity and allow for diversity in market developments and show leadership. By catering to diverse markets we reduce our vulnerability and open new markets and opportunities.

4.Reduce the packer ownership or the captive supply through contracts of feeder cattle to a limited percentage of processing capacity.

5.New slaughter capacity and marketing enterprises will face aggressive, unfair competition from existing big processors, as soon as balance in processing capacity and slaughter cattle is restored. We need to have government commitment to be a referee in the market place to give a fair chance to new initiatives so they are not destroyed by predatory pricing or hostile take over.

6. The government needs to create fairness in measures taken for quality control and meat inspection, in such a way that smaller processors are not unfairly effected or disadvantaged.

7. Large retailers are likely even more powerful than large meatpackers. If government doesn’t want to regulate, they need to at least enforce and/or expand the competition act.

I realise these will now be the target of ridicule by some but I personally feel they are topics that would be supported by the average Alberta producer. We don't profess to know all the answers but at least we will keep the issues alive with the Alberta government. The new minister is perhaps more open to discussion than his predecessor as I learn he has also agreed to meet (finally)with the BIG-C leadership on a seperate date.

[cowman]

The only one that I would have a problem with is actively supporting all large and small proposed slaughter facilities. I think that the ones that deserve support are the ones that have a producer buyin and have a workable business plan in place. The mere fact that someone wants to build a slaughter facility should not guarantee it support until it has all the ducks in a row.

[Horse]

I have a problem with the new Minister I dont think the Horner family ever made a dollar off farming Hugh Horner made his money off Dr,ing and the provincial govmt mabey some off land speculatoin and then we as tax payers had to bail him out on the land in the end, so if you figure on any knowlege of agriculture from the new minister I think you will be sadly disapointed .
Sure hope I am wrong but I lived near the Horners for 25 yr.
Brother Jack lived off Fed politics and welfare cows at provincial exp.

[farmers_son]

Rather than respond directly to your list for fear my comments would be taken as NFU bashing I thought instead just what would I ask for if I were talking to the Minister of Agriculture.

1. Look at the problem of low CAIS reference margins for those producers who have either lost most of their reference margin or are about to as a result of too few good years (result of drought and BSE) in the past five.

2. Set up a task force to examine ways of implementing producer owned packing plants. There is acknowledgement that more capacity without competition will not offer solutions. Offering producers the alternative of pricing their beef at the boxed beef level and participating in value adding creates a level playing field. The equivalent of grain producers being able to load producer cars if elevator charges get too high. Alternative marketing options by definition create competition. Set up a group to see how best to make it happen.

3. Create basis risk insurance on feedlot cattle similar to crop insurance so feedlots can hedge confidently on U.S. futures. Feedlots need more immediate, short term risk management tools other than CAIS.

4. Recognize the problem of rural depopulation and seek solutions.

5. Remove education tax from farm land.

6. Offer the option of deferring CAIS and other safety net payments.

7. Encourage carcass feedback and seek other ways to add value to the producer to new RFID tags.

8. Ensure that the source of future BSE positives remain confidential and is not provided to media e.g. Peaster.

[cowman]

Well I won't rip the NFU agenda, but I do wonder if they are taking these concerns to the wrong person? I don't think the Alberta Ag minister can do much about any of these proposals? Mostly federal responsibilities?

[Horse]

I hear the minister asked that they leave the cow at home and he will meet with them He would probably be embarased that he wouldnt know whitch end to put the feed in.

[kato]

Too bad Andy Mitchell wouldn't be there too.

The feds have dropped the ball in Manitoba. From one side of their mouths they spout rhetoric about supporting producer owned plants, and being behind the farmer all the way, and from the other side they tell Rancher's Choice and the Manitoba government that they want nothing to do with them.

It's getting very tiresome being used as a PR tool to make the government look good.

As for putting Alberta on par with Quebec for cull cow prices, that doesn't do much for Manitoba either. Make it national, or else the distortions in the market are just going to get bigger and bigger. That would be another case of the Federal government not behaving like a 'federal' government.

[farmers_son]

Grassfarmer: You made the news. See:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/12/16/785857-cp.html

...About 65 farmers, wives and children, members of the National Farmers Union, rallied on the steps of the legislature after Jay Slomp herded a dairy cow now ready for slaughter and a sheep into a pen on the legislature lawn...

Jan Slomp, an NFU official who met with Agriculture Minister Doug Horner following the rally, said packing plants should be restricted from owning more than 10 per cent of the cattle they process annually....Doug Horner said he has looked at regulations in some U.S. states that limit the amount of cattle packing plants can own, but he feared similar rules here would chase the packers away.

"My real concern would be that I don't want to limit the number of buyers that are out there in the marketplace," he said. "That may do us more damage than good."

He also didn't think a provincially regulated floor price for cattle was the answer.

"It would certainly have to be a national program, and the industry would have to come to us and say that's what they want," he said.

So far the majority of farmers don't want to see a regulated price, he said.

Liberal agriculture critic Hugh MacDonald called on the province to give farmers money to set up a farmer-owned and operated co-operative slaughterhouse.