Alberta Beef Producers Town Hall Meeting

[rkaiser]

I believe that farmer_son has hit the nail on the head this time. Who needs a resolution. This is a meeting and minutes will be taken. I will be drafting a question that I will put to those in attendence and would hope that someone there wil assist in counting the 98% of producers that I expect to favor the question.

[grassfarmer]

who needs a resolution rkaiser? I think we do. Solidly backed resolutions are one step further than an answered question, they carry more weight and are more formal.
I think it is a poor decision that these meetings are not deemed to be "special" meetings. We are in a desperate situation and that needs desperate actions. It is too easy to give a pep talk on what has been happening (or not as the case may be)but where is our opportunity as producers to send a message to ABP leadership in a meaningful way? Emrald is maybe happy to go listen to a talk but I'm not - I want a chance to propose solutions and express views that many in the industry hold but don't bother to express. It is too easy for ABP in it's current set up to disregard views from producers that don't agree with their own agenda. Last years AGM showed that. We need to be able to make changes if this thing is going to improve.

[grassfarmer]

grassfarmer, to clarify my comments. Hearing what ABP has to say prior to proposing solutions would likely be the best way for the evening to proceed.

[farmers_son]

The agenda for the meeting is outlined in the first post in this thread.

Adrienne Waller speaking on legal action, the latest on RFID tagging,
information on CCA activities (bluetongue, anaplasmosis, CCA jaunts to the NCBA convention in Texas), brief reports on committee activities like GPS pasture tracking systems, tweaking Grass Routes, results of food service initiates in Alberta and so forth.

What the producers want to hear is updates on new packer capacity being built in the province, how producers can participate in the packing plants and progress on new packer proposals the ABP/CCA is spearheading. That is noticeably absent from the agenda.

If this meeting was being held in Quebec, Atlantic Canada, B.C. or Manitoba packing plants would be first on the list. While increased packing capacity is given lip service by the Alberta industry reps, in reality it is not even on the radar screen as the ABP focuses on legal action in their never ending quest to open the border to live cattle.

Legal action is a low percentage game in my opinion as it has to be played on the American’s home turf with American judges. The Americans are very good at litigation, in fact they invented the game and the rules. The Americans will open the border to live cattle when it suits the Americans, not before, and time has shown there is little we can do to influence that.

Building packing plant capacity is something that we can do here at home in Canada. There is nothing the Americans can do to stop it, we are in control. The benefits are long term, costs are minor compared to other solutions like subsidies. And while I have heard remarks to the effect that as soon as we get the packing plants built the Americans will open the border I say great. If that is what it takes lets get right on it. If the alternative is ongoing legal challenges that are forecast to drag out for 9 to 18 months and possibly longer then the obvious course is not legal action but immediate action on packing capacity.

But our industry cannot bury its head in the sand and expect the free market will achieve its goals for it. We are in a non-functioning market, the free market is not working. That non functioning market is controlled by American interests, even caused by American interests. In Canada, where we have seen action on the packer front, the respective provinces and their industry leaders have taken a proactive stance to seeing real action take place. If we don't step out of the box in Alberta and take decisive steps to do the same we cannot expect that enough progress will take place soon enough to prevent widespread producer collapse.

And while I think the meeting should be orderly, it is understandable if producers present are impatient as they are sitting through a presentation on RFID tags when they are wondering where is the packing plant that is going to take their cows and pay them a fair price.

It is high time Alberta got past the ideology and saw the immediate need for dramatic action on the packing plant front.

[grassfarmer]

Well said Farmers_son! I am aware of the current state of RFID tagging etc and don't need to sit through a long talk on that. Kind of like the endless presentations of the CAIS program we saw last year - slow, dull presentations that could have been over in half the time - these are the kind of things that ensure empty seats at future meetings.

[kpb]

farmers son, you are exactly right and it is oh so typical of ABP to be shuffling the deck chairs while the Titanic goes down--who cares what they think about pastures or tags or any of the other endless drivel that they will want to talk about instead of the only issues that matter at this time. I said earlier and I say it again if no producers at all showed up--not one--at any of these meetings the politicos would wonder just how representative a group ABP is. And that would be a step towards getting this irrelevant group out of our pockets. If you guys hope to change anything with the entrenched members of ABP I think you're dreaming. How long will it take and how much of your own money wasted on ABP's trivial pursuits before you realize that these guys don't care what you think? The only issue that should matter to ABP right now, as farmers son has pointed out, should be encouraging in any fashion they can think of, the increasing of packer capacity in this province.
To say, as some of you have, that they are waiting to make up their minds what to do, or to seek direction from producers is almost diabolical. Two years have gone by--do you think any other executive group in any other business would get away with saying we can't make up our minds what to do or we're looking for grassroots direction after two years of futility?


kpb

[pandiana]

Good post, farmers_son. Your point about taking charge of our industry where we could have some control is important. I hope it isn't another elusion.

[pandiana]

The second of the ABP Town Hall meetings is April 2, 10:00 AM at Hall D, Northlands Agricom for any of you that aren't able to get to the one in Rimbey on the 29th.

Interesting that none are scheduled for the southern part of the province.