Interesting information

[cowman]

good comments cowman.

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, wasn't it the southern Alberta feedlots who were buying in the cheap US corn a couple of years ago rather than the Canadian Government?
Isn't this the kind of free enterprise you usually are a champion of?
Why would you be against Canadian producers making money in this way when you are happy to see Cargill and IBP getting on with their "right and proper business" by screwing Canadian cattle producers?

[cowman]

Of course it was the feedlots buying the corn, but the government violated its own rules by allowing it in. The number one rule they violated was the Pest Control Act. That was the provincial government?
The federal government could have stood up and challenged the subsidized corn as being dumped into the Canadian market? It was a complicated subsidy program and probably would have passed as "green" in the WTO but still the Canadian government could have challenged it...sort of like the US routinely does when they want to restrict trade?
Bottom line was the Canadian grain farmer saw a major price reduction for his feed grain? Both the province and the feds once again sacrificed the Canadian grain farmer for the sake of the livestock industry. It just wasn't fair.

[cowman]

Agricultural Service Boards across the province put forward resolutions to the provincial government to ban importation of corn due to fusarium, but it did no good.

[BFW]

Would you guys like a little cheese with your "whine"? When you have cattle on full feed you have to have the assurance that there will be barley in bin in sufficient quantity to feed the cattle for more than a few days at a time. (The cattle have a tendency to get a little anxious when their breakfast isn't delivered.) The fact is that this assured supply was not available at hardly any price so in came the corn. There was little or no saving by doing this but the cattle got fed and slaughtered here rather than exported (which probably made most sense economically.) Bottom line was prairie farmers either could not or would not service the feed grain market that year.

[cowman]

Western Feedlots had no problem finding barley. The hog farms had no problem?
There was no problem with the calf market? A good lot of them went south to the US?
The point was barley was undercut by a subsidized product that was dumped into Alberta. How would the feedlots squawk if American steers were dumped into Alberta at half the cost? It just was not fair.

[BFW]

We only fed barley in our yard as well. Point is, if that corn had not come in feeder prices would have been much lower to account for the higher feed costs or the cattle would have left the country resulting in lower demand yet for local feed grains. The only thing unfair about the whole affair is that Western Canadian growers do not have the ability to take advantage of market opportuniies in a similar fashion because of the Canadian Wheat Board.

[cowman]

No argument here about the CWB! We really need to see the end of this organization. However I doubt I'll ever see it.

[cowman]

If I recall correctly the corn was brought in due to drought conditions here and the fear that here would not be ample supplies of barley to feed the industry.