Budget

[kato]

Have you been listening to OT again? ;-)

What I've heard is that all the latest rulings have been put on hold, which is what normally happens in a change of administration. It's not like MCOOL has been singled out, which is what the boys at RCALF would like you to think. It's not necessarily true that it's on hold so it can be made worse for us, which is what they would also like you to think.

They're grasping at the fact that Obama signed a paper saying it needed to be more stringent, but we have to remember that he signed it in the middle of a political campaign. We all know how much weight something like that carries in the real world.

I've also read that the new administration has decided that unlike the old one, that it just might be a good idea to be nice to the neighbours. I guess we'll have to wait and see if this proposed more diplomatic approach is actually carried out. He seems to have integrity as a higher priority in his values than GW did, so who knows, maybe he'll decide his country should live up to the trade agreements it has signed? Maybe he would actually be embarrased by having his country being known as one that reneges on contracts.

It would be nice to settle this MCOOL thing once and for all, but in the long run we need a lot more to happen before we can get on with business. And before we can get the long term problems addressed we still need that market in the States, like it or not. As bad as things are, every extra bid on the cattle we do sell is a plus, no matter where that bid comes from.

Our first priority is to survive long enough to see a better structured industy develop.

[smcgrath76]

Actually the way I read the budget is that there is $50 million for livestock slaughter facilities. I am thinking the pork guys could sure use a plant about now. As well, I am somewhat cynical since I know that due to the Feds (CFIA) several producer plants were nearly double the original cost. Something about continually changing blueprints, and minds in the good old inspection agency. Basically the way I see it is that if used at all the 50 million will just barely cover the costs associated with servicing the CFIA "changes on the fly" food safety program, but maybe I am just a cynic.

[kato]

Or realistic........

[greybeard]

That’s the way I read that too Sean.We have to remember when they say livestock that means a lot more than cow/calf.
Most of that money will be used to ensure compliance of some of the tough to swallow regulatory issues being jammed up the small operators a$$.
Most of those small outfits that Kato speaks of are profitable due to the efficiencies of being owner/operators. Working through a snowstorm of new paperwork with no obvious benefit to your business is hard to put a priority on when you have operated for years without it.
I expect to see less competition there, as regulation is designed to favor large corporate operations. You can’t have all those small fly by niters destabilizing the marketplace!
I think Joel Salatin wrote a book about his battles withs inspectors and beurocrats.

[kato]

It's the under the radar part that is the strength of the small operators.

There is right now the beginnings of a potentially major change in the consumer culture of this country. It's the trend to buying local, and we should not underestimate it. The mass produced industrial style food system that we have in place right now is losing favour with every recall and every outbreak of food related illness.

I believe that in the next few years this will only gain strength. Who better to step in and fill this potential consumer demand than the small local operators? It's a totally different type of culture, and it's not one that big corporations fit into.

I would bet that if someone did a consumer survey and asked people if they would prefer to buy locally produced meat products from local sources, that they would say yes. I bet they would also say that they don't know where to find them.

I sell vegetables at the local farmer's market, and last summer I watched a young couple sell enough local pork and lamb from a deep freeze in the back of their half ton truck to make a living. They use the market to make contacts with consumers, and then they deliver pork to town all winter to the same people. They are getting by on a fraction of the numbers of livestock that the guys with the big million dollar barns are raising. I bought a few chops myself, and they were the best pork chops I'd had since we used to raise our own pigs.

This market may seem small now, and everyone may think that there aren't enough consumers to go around, but just think what would happen if the same people who buy at the grocery store every week switched to buying from their local farmer instead? The market is there, we just have to find a way to take part in it. Changes in culture take some time, but they are real, and I think this one is happening right now.

This is the kind of thing that the 50 million needs to be spent on.

[grassfarmer]

I think if the $50 million was spent getting rid of CFIA and replacing it with a new, sensible organization that does not have an agenda to close down small plants, stop offshore exports etc the money would be well spent.

[kato]

Or maybe figure out who's setting the agenda, and get rid of them. It would be very interesting to know who's coming up with all the bright ideas........

[grassfarmer]

Oh that's the easy part Kato, the agenda is set by those who stand to prosper from it - Cargill, Tyson et all. Now will you send me at least part of the $50 million?