More Aid

[SASH]

I guess its better than a kick in the a$$ but I would've preferred to see that money go for slaughter capacity. It would just be better to be getting a fair price for what we produce rather than these welfare cheques the government keeps sending out.

[mb_rancher]

Your right on the money Sash! These small cheques don't come close to replacing the price we used to receive for cattle.

[pandiana]

The federal government announced a $1 billion general agriculture payment this morning. Cattle producers will be eligible to receive about $305 million of that total. It will be distributed based on the same criteria used for last year’s Transitional Industry Support Program (TISP). Producers who participated in that program will not need to reapply and will automatically receive the payment. Producers who were eligible for the TISP program but did not apply can apply this program – forms will be available shortly.



We will send more information about the program when it is available.



Thanks,



Ron Glaser

Public Affairs Manager

Alberta Beef Producers

#320, 6715 - 8th Street NE

Calgary, AB T2E 7H7

P: (403) 275-4400

F: (403) 274-0007

www.albertabeef.org

rong@albertabeef.org

[pandiana]

I would think that Canadian owned packing facilities would make a lot more sense than welfare checks. If the previous 400M had been directed to this we would be up and running.

As Ted Haney also annouced this morning on CBC, it would appear that we have a good shot at re-establishing the Japanese market. The Japanese have agreed that testing of under 21 months cattle will not longer be required. Haney is optimistic that as Japan has treated our market as part of the North American market, negotiations have been ongoing with both Canada and US. He suggests this could happen within 4 months or at least by fall.

He reiterates that with Canada's more advanced ID, traceback and recordable birth dates we may even expect resuming trade ahead of US. I think he said that we could probably supply enough beef as things stand to match our previous exports. If something happened to our box beef exports to US we would have 400M kg of beef to export to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea etc. If these markets are realistically attainable, all the more reason that we should be increasing our own packing capacity.

As we have seen before, however, we won't bet the bank on it.

[grassfarmer]

What a joke.... another bailout. Stan Eby and Bob Friesen welcoming it are showing their stupidity and should be fired from their posts as they obviously have no clue what is going on.
Look at the situation - there has been very little decline in the amount of value in the beef production since BSE began. The change has all been in the distribution of the proceeds. This wealth movement from primary producers to corporate bank accounts and ongoing negative farm income scenario was predicted 5 years ago by organisations like the NFU. Ostercamp produced a document that outlined the same things yet our industry organisations and governments still can't see it or choose to ignore it.

It gives me another question to ask of the ABP tonight - "will the ABP condemn the announcement today of a further aid package as it clearly does not target the real causes of the current farm crisis and is such is an unacceptable waste of taxpayer money. Given that it is only (partially) replacing money removed from the beef production chain unethically by the transnational corporations monopoly of the slaughter capacity of this country"

[farmers_son]

I would point out that until we get more packing capacity in this country there is no direct benefit to Canadian producers if trade between Canada and Japan resumes.

However since it appears the U.S. is going to continue to block imports of live Canadian cattle until such time as the U.S. market to Japan is restored we would receive a benefit through the back door.

Those TISP cheques are not always small. According to public documents filed in Court of Queens Bench regarding the Bonnet Farm bankruptcy, just one TISP cheque was in excess of $318,000. One of the most significant changes to Canada's ag policy in the last few years was the removal of caps on subsidies to mega farms, such as Lakeside Farms and Cargill. The bulk of the $300 million the government has announced today under the TISP program for beef producers will go to a handful of mega-farms.

It is little wonder then that the mega farms can afford to invest $100,000 in a producer packing plant but the majority of producers cannot.

[pandiana]

I got to thinking about this, packer thing. I can't help but wonder how many producers would be willing to re-direct this payment to build packing facilities?

Unless the government would be willing to pick a winner, we would be in the same boat as previously. Which project do we want to support? Also, what happens to those investors who have picked their 'winner' and expect to see construction start soon. Would it be fair to support competition?.

[farmers_son]

Regarding government picking winners and is it fair to others.

A perfect example is the Alberta government's policy towards irrigation in this province. Those few producers lucky enough to have government subsidized irrigation near their land receive the benefit at taxpayer expense. They then produce forages, grains and other produce in direct competition to dryland producers. The government justifies, and I believe rightly so, that the bang received for the buck spent justifies the program.

Given the magnitude of producer losses due to insufficient packer capacity in this country a similar bank for the buck would be realized from policies and programs designed to speed development of producer packing plants.

The Irrigation Districts provide a good working model on how these plants could be owned and managed by producers with government support. The model is there and it is working.

And yes these plants would operate in competition with other plants with more traditional ownership/management but no different than scores of Irrigation Districts in this province operate in competition with dryland producers.

To be clear, I am in no way criticizing Irrigation Districts, just pointing out what worked there could be applied to packing plants.

[grassfarmer]

Pandiana, I certainly would not spend any aid money I receive in a packing plant UNDER THE CURRENT CONDITIONS. It is clear that the monopoly position of the big 2 will made it difficult, if not impossible for new plants to succeed. Until we tackle the monopoly we go nowhere. As farmers_son says any opening of the Japanese market to Canadian beef will not benefit Canadian producers under the current monopoly position. Reality is these transnationals have gained so much additional control over our industry since BSE that it will,in my mind, be very difficult for producers to get a fair return for their product regardless of what import bans are lifted. We need 8-10 companies competing for cattle in Western Canada to secure a future.

[farmers_son]

I am curious why you think a producer packing plant cannot succeed under the current conditions.

Is it because the packer monopoly are paying us too much for our live cattle. Or that there is no market for our beef, I believe there is.

Obviously any packer is a money making venture at the moment. I think a producer packing plant is viable even under the real challenge facing packers, what happens when the border opens to live cattle. Sure the big 2 enjoy some economy of scale but they are not passing it down to producers anyway so that does not impact the viability of a producer packing plant. A producer packing plant does not have to make as much money as Tyson and Cargill, just realize higher returns that the producer is now.

The concern amongst producers is that the packers will artificially inflate the price of live cattle to break the new market entrants. Gee, we bitch that the packers are not paying us enough and then we bitch that they are going to pay us too much. Producers may never intend to market all their cattle through a producer packing plant but such a plant provides an alternative. That alternative effectively provides competition. That competition is needed.

Producers need to look further down the road than the live cattle price. The future is in value adding and moving closer to the consumer. Time to forget the live price, it is not real, whether it is too low or too high. Either way it is a trap. The boxed beef market is much more stable, less subject to trade actions and more profitable. It is the place to be.