Rally report

[grassfarmer]

Well our enthusiastic group made it up there OK, unfortunately producers shot themselves in the foot once again by not supporting the event more fully. We did all we set out to do but how much stronger a message it would have sent to have had 1000 people in the crowd -"western apathy" our biggest problem?
Anyway after the public rally 6 of us met with the Minister and had a reasonable discussion - he seemed prepared to discuss things with us and actively seeks the input of all farm groups in future. Our NFU leader was clearly the most knowledgable man in the room on agriculture which is a worry. Unfortunately our time was short and we only got to discuss 3 of the 11 topics we had but the others will all be presented in written form.
I actually kind of resented his minions trying to wind up the meeting as he was behind schedule - we were up feeding cows at 5.30am and then rushing up there before rushing home to feed before it was dark. It didn't look like anyone we saw would be breaking a sweat or working a long day yet their time is somehow infinately more valuable than ours.Doug Horner to his credit was keen to remain talking to us despite this breaking story from CFIA which was obviously happening while we were in there. Who's side are CFIA on again?

A few points the minister raised:
The Government's biggest problem with supporting new slaughter plants is a fear that the new plants will not be able to market product. (Since most are not seeking money merely expediated building permits and political help I don't see why that should be an issue?)
On the other hand he seems very keen on value adding and recognises that selling beef in the live, unprocessed form is not the way ahead.

He thinks CAIS is wonderful but producers make it complicated when a high % send in their forms on the last day - I pointed out that this was not purely a problem of farmers making but that accountants are even poorer than farmers at meeting deadlines.
For producers who are in dire straights (banks threatning to forclose etc)let them know and they will expediate payment. I guess their phones might start ringing busy tomorrow!

The media covered a reply given by the Minister regarding packer control of cattle which he is obviously against - we didn't get to discuss this with him.

As a final note I must agree with our leader when he said that the severity of the current situation is still not grasped - rumour on the bus was that a large Ponoka area feedlot operation went into receivership yesterday - 40 quarters of land 30(?),000 head and $36 million in the hole.

[cakadu]

Grassfarmer - it did make for a soundbite on several of the news stations, so you did get some coverage, which is never a bad thing.

The media did say something about packer owned cattle and the minister and I believe it was that he was not against the packers owning cattle, but I could be wrong about that - after all - it was about a minutes worth of coverage.

A question that I would have then, is the ABP against packer owned cattle and if they aren't, could that be where the minister is getting his signals? I've heard many of you say that the government tends to hold the ABP as the voice of the industry, so wouldn't their views become his views? Just curious.

Congratulations on a job well done. At least you tried and there is no shame in that.

[farmers_son]

I would echo Cakadu's remarks, and say you tried which is more than most do. I give you full credit.

[farmers_son]

I heard the news stories on both CFCW and CHED. I felt that the spokesperson for the group did an excellent job during the radio interviews. Congratulations to those who participated, and hopefully your momentum won't ebb.

[grassfarmer]

Cakadu, The ABP passed a resolution at their AGM calling for packer control to be limited to 10%. Of course the problem with this issue is policing - it's easy to say we only own 8% of what we slaughter but at the same time they can have some desperate feedlot feeding cattle for them on and conceal the true ownership - as happens with all the R-CALF fed cattle just now. The minister had looked at the issue in the US and reckoned it doesn't work. He thinks it will restrict buyers of cattle - but does that make any sense? They will get all the fats to kill in anycase do they need to own feeders too? - no, only to manipulate the price of all fat cattle to their benefit.

[pandiana]

I agree with grassfarmer in the sense that the biggest message sent was in fact the number of individuals that cared enough to get out. Their presence, without saying a word, speaks volumes. If you want the government to understand that this is a problem worth noting, people had better not wait for the leaders to do all the work. The spokespersons need support from the people in order to provide the energy needed to keep working on their behalf.

I can't help wonder if some of the people who didn't show up were worried about appearing to support the NFU? There should have been sheep people, buffalo people, feeder associations, etc represented or, is everybody doing much better than I thought?