The Rural Voice, 2002-03, Page 50Ag News
Global world changing farming, says Donald Shaver
Globalization is changing farming
including cattle production. Donald
Shaver told the Beef Day audience at
Grey -Bruce Farmers' Week in
January.
The Newton -area breeder. who
has travelled the world marketing his
Shaverblend line of cattle. said global
thinking and Targe multi -national
companies are changing the
economic landscape for farmers
around the world.
"The reality is, folks, we're living
on earth and no matter what happens
in Brazil or elsewhere you can't get
away from it."
World-wide, consumer opinions
about food are being shaped by the
horrible happenings in Europe.
"What the English have had to go
through in the last 15 years is awful,"
he said of British farmers who have
suffered through both mad cow
disease and hoof and mouth. "The
entire industry has been turned
upside down."
In addition, the Chernobyl
explosion in the former Soviet Union
contaminated vast areas of land with
millions of cattle affected.
These happenings have meant that
40 countries will not accept beef
from Europe, opening up markets for
Australia and New Zealand, and
indirectly for North American cattle
producers by taking some of the beef
from these two countries out of the
market here.
Consumers have been sensitized
by these events and there will be food
safety demands put on farmers that
will be costly to meet, he said.
Biosecurity is going to become more
and more important, he predicted.
Coming from a poultry breeding
background, Shaver said he grew up
with biosecurity and finds it no
trouble but some people don't like
the idea of farmers having signs
prohibiting admittance.
Globalization is also delivering
more power into the hands of big
companies, a trend that worries
Shaver.
"We're a bunch of little guys
doing business with some really big
guys," Shaver said. He has heard, for
instance, that the major food chains
in Canada have a plan in place that if
demand takes off for organic beef,
they have thousands of acres
available in Brazil that can quickly
be designated organic for production.
In a global world, food production
can move to where it is cheapest, he
said. One respected observer said all
beef should be produced in those
areas of the world where cattle can be
on pasture 12 months a year. In
Canada, farmers are using $100,000
tractors and $300,000 combines to
harvest crops to feed to livestock, he
said while in these areas the cattle do
the harvesting.
Shaver said he has nothing against
factory farms but a country needs to
be able to decide how it wants its
food produced."I see banks and
government coming down very
strongly on the side of factory
farming," he said. "They're proud to
be involved in this kind of farming."
He worries that the situation in
Canada could go the way it has in the
southern U.S. where chicken farmers
"might as well be working in a
factory."
In Missouri there are only 120
turkey producers and 150 chicken
producers left and the large
companies like Tyson and Cargill
aim to knock off the bottom five
producers each year and replace them
with the others who are waiting to
step in.
"I hope your sons don't end up
being part of this kind of situation:"
Shaver said. The marketing boards
that are preventing similar
developments in Canada are not
getting enough support in
international trade negotiations and
could be on their way out, he said.
But beef farmers can learn from
chicken and pork producers, Shaver
said. They figured out the ideal body
size for their animals 40 years ago
while beef producers are still
arguing.
But there are advances in beef
marketing such as the certified Angus
program, he said. Restaurants are
clamoring to be able to say they're
serving angus beef. The black Angus
program is a shining example of what
can be done to improve sales. "I
remember when you could hardly
give away black calves," he said. The
lesson is for producers not to worry
too much if their cattle are out of
fashion, he said.
People are increasing
consumption of beef because they
like it, Shaver said but he predicted
the need for identity preserved
products.
"Don't you think people are going
to be more concerned about where
their food comes from and who
produced it?"0
CFIA should spend money catching imported diseases — Schlegel
Continued from page 45
biosecur.ity to prevent diseases
entering Canada from other countries
with problems.
The medicated feed issue would be
better handled by the Canadian
Quality Assurance program, Schlegel
said. With the feed mill legislation
and livestock medicines regulations,
farmers could have to deal with five
to seven quality assurance programs,
he said.
46 THE RURAL VOICE
Only farmers using concentrated
antibiotics should be subject to the
regulations, he argued, not those who
are using supplements and premixes.
Guest speaker at the meeting was
Jim Romahn, Ontario Farmer writer,
who said the only reason poultry and
pork processing companies went into
primary production was to be
competitive. He said he thought
Maple Leaf Packers might have
stayed out of producing pigs if they
could have got the hogs they wanted
elsewhere. In the U.S. where there
has been much more integration, he
said, the integrators eventually
wanted to sell the farms back to
producers.
While he wouldn't recommend
farmers get rid of their marketing
board, he said, "you might want to
question whether they should have a
great deal of power over marketing
your pork."0