The Big Lie

[Smithy]

There is another poll this morning at the Globe and Mail:


Do you consider Canadian beef safe to eat?


Yes
7210 votes (77 %)

No
2196 votes (23 %)


Total Votes: 9406


It is at: www.theglobeandmail.com

[intr3est]

Just wanted to add a few more stats concerning beef trade.

Canadian trade surplus in Beef 2002:
$3.2 Billion 2002
US trade surplus in Beef 1998:
$900 million (haven't found more recent number for the US, yet)

Links to these numbers:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/11-621-MIE/11-621-MIE2003005.pdf

http://www.fas.usda.gov/dlp/Canada/questions.htm

[intr3est]

Found a more recent number for US trade surplus in 2001

2001 Imports $2.5 Billion
2001 Exports $2.5 Billion

No trade surplus or deficit!

[Freesaw]

beef should only leave canada in a box.

[Cattleman]

Our imports are in Eastern Canada, it is very expensive to beef out east, therefore, you are looking at a quite a reduction to the ALberta price to be competitive out there. That is why we shipped beef south because the return was so much higher. There will be a market, but will there be any profit?????

[farmers_son]

pr_fire: You said "The primary sources of these high imports were beef products from the European Union, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil—countries all subject to the TRQ." You might want to recheck your information. No beef entered Canada from the European Union in 2003 or in the past decade. In 2003, the countries who imported beef into Canada under the TRQ and supplementary permits were Australia 30.3%, New Zealand 36.9%, Uruguay 32.8%.

[pr_fire]

I just got in and will comment on all the posts today in time.

I would like to start with Farmers_Son. All of my comments are based on fact from the Canadian government. Your comment about no beef entering Canada from the European union in the past decade is false. No live cattle have entered, but beef products are still imported today. Every thing I post is backed by statscan reports.

Cowman: your comment about imports going mainly to the east is true. Most of the Canadian beef imports go into the central Ontario market. 95% of my beef sales go into Central Ontario, mainly Tornoto and the Niagra region. The demand out there is so great, I have another 7 large cow/calf operations joining us for 2005. The beef is sold under the brand name "Dougherty Ranchmen's Select" in Ontario.

Randy: We have broke into the pet food market for our cull cows and bulls. We currently sell direct to smaller pet food processing plants around western Canada. We plan to have our own plant up and running by fall of 2005. I will post a full cooment on your post later, altough I would like to talk with you one on one as well. I have your numbers and would like to call you if its ok.

[intr3est]

pr_fire, I wouldn't mind talking to you about what you're doing in Ontario, if you're interested email me at murgen_89@hotmail.com thanks and looking forward to hearing from you

[intr3est]

Freesaw, I agree totally with you, except for the purebred business and dairy markets. Why is it as Canadians we insist on shipping raw product and purchase processed or finished product back. Wheat, lumber are two examples, why don't we ship noodles instead, they are definitely covered under free trade.

[kpb]

rkaiser and everyone else who thinks the border should remain closed--before you guys jump on pr_fire's bandwagon about closing off our biggest customer (pre-BSE) I would suggest you look again at intr3est's numbers.
As intr3est said in his post we are not going to eat our way out of this problem. Unless you guys are now in favor of a dramatic downsizing of our domestic herd? And, don't forget we have more beef than ever now.
We must be the only business in the world that is contemplating shutting out our largest, by far, customer and trying to make it sound like the right thing to do. Does this sound logical and reasonable to all of you?
rkaiser, you've always struck me as a reasoned person and, although we've sometimes disagreed, you seem thoughtful. Tell me again, are you saying we should turn our back on our largest customer? And do what with all this beef we've got kicking around in this country? I agree we need to process more beef domestically and develop more international markets. But I don't see either of those things happening soon. And an open border to our largest customer is something that we should be striving for and working towards--then we can work towards the other goals. If we don't get the border open our industry will continue to languish--look at intr3est's numbers a few posts up and consider our domestic production vs. demand and imports. I think it's a pretty simple calculation.