|
The state of the Canadian cattle industry is no laughing matter
Susan Thompson
for Smoky River Express
The expression “where’s the beef” used to be a joke.
It’s just not very funny anymore, considering there’s almost no beef left in our province. At least not the kind that still walks around on four legs.
The Alberta government announced last Thursday that Alberta’s beef cattle herd has shrunk an estimated 25 per cent from where it was a year ago. Our collective herd is down to an estimated 1.36 million head.
That’s the lowest it’s been since the 70’s.
Things just haven’t gotten any better since the BSE crisis.
Ranchers have faced U.S. country-of-origin labeling, high feed costs, a high Canadian dollar and an overall recession since then. Prices have tanked.
But the death knell’s been the recent drought, which left dried up pastures in its wake. Some ranchers are planning on selling their entire herds in the spring. Many have already reduced their herds.
It’s a sad state of affairs. The family farm is already well on its way to disappearing, and this will hardly help. That’s bad news for small agricultural communities like ours.
Canada, frankly, may not have a domestic beef supply anymore in the very near future.
Years ago we decided to feed the world, focusing on exports. The same is true in the hog industry.
But what about feeding ourselves? We have a domestic market. Everyone in Canada needs to eat. It seems we’ve forgotten that.
The government’s answer so far has been a tax deferral on herds reduced more than 15 per cent. In other words, the government solution seems to be to encourage farmers to sell off more of their livestock.
I just don’t understand how it makes sense to sell off more breeding livestock when Canada’s herd is shrinking so rapidly.
What about helping farmers with the costs of feed instead, so they can afford to keep their cattle? A healthy rebate might be a good idea. Help with trucking costs might be another one.
The real problem is that by focusing on exports we seem to have created a crisis in our livestock industry, and it’s just not getting better. It’s getting worse.
Oh, the joys of free trade.
Meanwhile, most Canadians seem blissfully unaware of the state of the beef industry, and the pork industry, for that matter.
Who can really blame them? You certainly don’t see lower beef prices at the grocery store, no matter how low actual beef prices go. Somebody’s making a nice profit, you can be sure.
Unfortunately, it’s just not the hardworking Albertans who actually raise the cattle.
< Previous
Home
Next >
|
