The Rural Voice, 2003-11, Page 50BRUCE
Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca
website: www.ofa.on.ca/bruce
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1 P9
519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
• The Rural Voice is provided to
OFA members by the BCFA.
Canadian beef farmers have deserved better!
As I write this article American fed
cattle are quoted at $110 to $115 per
hundred U.S. dollars translating to
$155 to $160 per hundredweight
Canadian.
The bulk of Canadian fed cattle are
trading at $60 Cdn. to $70 Cdn. per
hundredweight at our local markets.
Calf markets are under severe pressure
at the auctions with some good single
calves selling as low as 50 cents per
pound. It's a totally depressing
situation for the cow/calf producer to
be facing.
The province of Alberta has just
added another $100 million to help
their producers, and the beat goes on.
At our July Board meeting the
Bruce County Federation of
Agriculture passed a motion
unanimously encouraging the Canadian
Cattlemen's Association (CCA) "to
actively investigate adjusting Canadian
beef production to match domestic
consumption, in a fair and equitable
manner to all parties involved". We
further stated that the cost of
production and beef imports also
needed to be addressed. Our letter was
sent to CCA with copies sent to
appropriate authorities. However, to
this date BCFA has not received a reply
to our communication with the CCA.
From what I am told by more than
one hardworking local beef farmer in
my area, just reopening the border isn't
the total answer as in their words "the
industry really wasn't worth a diddle
prior to May 19".
Young farmers are discouraged and
disgusted, and rightly so. They feel
totally abandoned by the political and
farm leaders. It has become
increasingly clear that CCA on behalf
of producers is only a lobby group
without the power to correct unfair
market situations on behalf of their
producers. Current information has at
times been lacking as well.
Most politicians and some farm
leaders seem to have been in hiding or
spinning their wheels on what needs to
be done. When we see certain
provinces kicking in $100 million at a
46 THE RURAL VOICE
time and the federal government
seeming to blackmail certain provinces
to sign on to the Agricultural Policy
Framework (APF) or else, it will lead,
at the end of the day, to certain
provinces having a viable industry and
others, due to political decisions left in
the dust.
In my opinion one of two things
needs to happen quickly.
1. All segments of the industry get
together and improve the existing
situation for our basic producers
pronto; or
2. Adjust domestic supply to domestic
consumption and concentrate on getting
the border open both ways for breeding
stock and dairy heifers.
I also believe that all farm
organizations should be more unified
and work together better than they have
been, as part of the solution.
One of our very capable BCFA
members contributed his suggestion
that "Canada should have a Crisis
Centre for Agriculture ".
Purpose: To effectively manage crisis
situations that threaten agriculture,
similar to the current BSE event.
Organization: Should be managed by a
permanent group of four or five people
who have the authority to act swiftly
and with knowledge on behalf of all
entities of government and agriculture.
These people could have other jobs, but
when a crisis hits, they come together
and take control, and have the authority
to make things happen.
Mandate: The Crisis Centre mandate is
to help lessen the economic and health
blow to the primary producer, and
related industries.
An example of how a body like this
would work in the current BSE crisis
could go something like this:
When this event was announced last
May, the Crisis Centre would have
decided if it was a legitimate disaster in
the making, and then take over
management of the crisis. That means
that all affected bodies would report to
the centre: in the current BSE event -
all the provincial/national
cattlemen/sheep etc. organizations,
CFIA etc.
When it was clear that beef was not
going to be allowed out of the country,
the crisis centre would have the
authority to suspend beef imports into
the country, level out compensation
negotiations between provinces, and
generally take control of the situation
while letting bodies like CFIA, and
others do their job. They could initiate
a formal complaint to NAFTA for the
U.S. keeping the border closed after
they have agreed there is no health risk.
They could demand that the U.S. allow
the CFIA into Montana, where the
tracing of the BSE infected cow had to
stop (U.S. would not allow the CFIA
into Montana to trace the suspected
cow).
There are probably some "holes" in
the above request. but it may be a start
to launch a debate into refining
something, so there will never be a
"next time" where the Canadian farmer
and the Canadian agri-industry is drop-
kicked by non-functioning government
bodies. Agriculture is too precious to
allow this to happen again, and too
important for Canada's future to let it
be bungled by government agencies
that, for whatever reason, have their
minds in neutral, or are not up to
handling the task.0
— Robert Emerson, 1st Vice -President
Bruce County Federation of
Agriculture
DIRECTORS' MEETING
Monday, November 17, 2003
8:00 p.m.
Sprucedale Agromart
25th sideroad Brant
(north off of former Bruce County #4
- East of Walkerton)
MEMBERS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND
Note: Meeting date change
due to OFA Convention
November 24, 25