This is for Sean

[per]

Maybe you can reply to this thread.

[smcgrath76]

Gracias per. The rain must be confusing
everything...
What I tried to post were some ideas
that government could work on that might
have some positive effects and be cost
effective. I was thinking in the
context of the useless ALMA program (did
I say that?)...
1. offer easily accessible/affordable
contracts to hedge the Canadian dollar
through AFSC (or other). This would
immediately remove a large portion of
the risk faced by cow/calf producers who
wish to remain in the mainstream
commodity business as well as others
pursuing international trade.
2. work with other provinces and federal
government to streamline interprovincial
beef trade. This would immediately open
up available processing space and the
ability to develop domestic/local niche
marketing programs for producers.
3. work with provinces and federal
government to streamline regulations and
reform CFIA. this would immediately
reduce costs and eliminate many stupid
regulations that have no bearing on food
safety and interfere with trade.
4. invest in basic, trade intelligence
and end product research. This would
have long term payoffs. Eg: could
include doubling annual crop yields,
improving forage varieties, exploring
genome research, novel feedstuffs,
understanding consumer needs/wants, new
markets for byproducts.
5. work with other provinces and federal
to offer affordable, accessible
certification services that satisfy
trade requirements (eg: certified
organic, hormone free, etc.)
6. work to require full price disclosure
from federally inspected processors
(self explanatory benefits)
7. establish a federally inspected pilot
plant to help grow international
marketing programs (eg: hormone free,
Canada Gold, etc.) The streamlining of
provincial trade would mean that
domestic programs would not require the
pilot plant as a lot of existing
capacity would be available.
8. others?

This is a quick bit of thought, I am
pretty interested to hear other
good/affordable ideas that might
actually add value for those with some
initiative.

[smcgrath76]

Gracias per. The rain must be confusing
everything...
What I tried to post were some ideas
that government could work on that might
have some positive effects and be cost
effective. I was thinking in the
context of the useless ALMA program (did
I say that?)...
1. offer easily accessible/affordable
contracts to hedge the Canadian dollar
through AFSC (or other). This would
immediately remove a large portion of
the risk faced by cow/calf producers who
wish to remain in the mainstream
commodity business as well as others
pursuing international trade.
2. work with other provinces and federal
government to streamline interprovincial
beef trade. This would immediately open
up available processing space and the
ability to develop domestic/local niche
marketing programs for producers.
3. work with provinces and federal
government to streamline regulations and
reform CFIA. this would immediately
reduce costs and eliminate many stupid
regulations that have no bearing on food
safety and interfere with trade.
4. invest in basic, trade intelligence
and end product research. This would
have long term payoffs. Eg: could
include doubling annual crop yields,
improving forage varieties, exploring
genome research, novel feedstuffs,
understanding consumer needs/wants, new
markets for byproducts.
5. work with other provinces and federal
to offer affordable, accessible
certification services that satisfy
trade requirements (eg: certified
organic, hormone free, etc.)
6. work to require full price disclosure
from federally inspected processors
(self explanatory benefits)
7. establish a federally inspected pilot
plant to help grow international
marketing programs (eg: hormone free,
Canada Gold, etc.) The streamlining of
provincial trade would mean that
domestic programs would not require the
pilot plant as a lot of existing
capacity would be available.
8. others?

This is a quick bit of thought, I am
pretty interested to hear other
good/affordable ideas that might
actually add value for those with some
initiative.

[kato]

I would add this one.

Invest some (or all) of that 50 million that they keep talking about into upgrading provincial plants to federal or even international status.

The big boys don't need any more money. The existing provincial plants have the expertise to grow at a sustainable rate and who knows, one of them may just succeed and become a major player someday.

The existing Quality Assurance program could be tweaked to be used as a platform for accessing markets needing specific standards. eg Europe, Asia, etc...

[smcgrath76]

I am sure another double reply...
I forgot to add, put a CVS carcass grading
system in every plant (since we already
paid to develop it and it is being used in
plants all over NA)

[smcgrath76]

I am sure another double reply...
I forgot to add, put a CVS carcass grading
system in every plant (since we already
paid to develop it and it is being used in
plants all over NA)