CANADA-REGULATING BEEF.
Canadian consumers who love a good piece of steak to throw on the barbecue are being asked to join farmers in a fight to bring tougher regulations to the country’s beef industry before it is totally dominated by the big meat packers and retailers.
"There’s no reason that people buying beef should pay any more than they are right now," says Darrin Qualman, director of research for the National Farmers Union of Canada. "The time is right to change the way the beef system is going, or in the future we won’t have any say into how it is produced or where it comes from."
Qualman, of Saskatoon, was in Moncton yesterday to speak about the report he wrote entitled "The Farm Crisis and the Cattle Sector: Toward a New Analysis and New Solutions." He presented his findings during a meeting last night in Moncton.
Basically, the report says that beef processors have grown to the point where they can dominate the buying and selling of cattle in many markets, which means farmers aren’t getting paid as much as they should. He also says consumers are paying more than they should be for beef, which means the processors and retailers are walking away with the big share of the profits.
Qualman said a package of ground beef is selling for about $4.57 per pound while the farmer is getting about 40 cents a pound.
"The retail value of a steer is about $8,000. Of that, the farmer gets $1,200 and the packers and retailers get $6,700. The packers and the retailers are pushing up the price to the consumer and pushing down the price for the producer, and taking all that money in between."
Qualman said the biggest problem is "captive supply" of animals to market. He explained that the beef industry in Canada is basically controlled by three companies, and that number could soon shrink to two if a corporate takeover is permitted to go through.
He said the big packing companies control the auctions where cattle are bought and sold. If prices go up at the auctions, the companies will pull out and rely on their own supply of cattle.
The National Farmers Union says this is anti-competitive because it keeps the prices paid to farmers artificially low.
As a result, farmers aren’t getting fair prices and the small family beef farms are going out of business. The farmers union says many beef farmers already rely on outside sources of income – like driving trucks or school buses –but it seems like only a matter of time before they are driven out of business.
Qualman says family farms deserve to be able to make a living by raising and selling beef cattle and he is worried about the future. He says a reduction in the Canadian herd could result in imports of cattle from South America, New Zealand and Australia.
Qualman says the situation is similar in the United States and Mexico as family farms struggle to survive. He says new U.S. President Barack Obama wants to introduce legislation that would regulate the practice of captive ownership, which gives him hope that Canada may follow suit.
Betty Brown, who operates a family farm in Summerfield and serves as a New Brunswick representative for the National Farmers Union, attended last Wednesday’s meeting in Moncton. She too welcomes President Obama’s pledge to regulate captive ownership and expressed hope the Canadian government would follow the American lead.
Without a change in attitude on the federal level, she said, the future of the family farm is in jeopardy. The beef issue will be among those discussed this week when Brown attends the National Farmers Union’s national conference in Saskatoon.
Brown said the beef crisis affects not only farmers, but consumers. Qualman agreed, noting New Brunswick consumers currently enjoy good beef but that could change over time if the current situation continues.
New Brunswick Agriculture Minister Ronald Ouellette said yesterday his department recognizes that cattle producers in this province have faced their share of challenges over the last year and offers several business risk programs to help them through the hard times.
The province has also supported genetic research to enhance cattle grown in New Brunswick and recently committed $2 million toward the Atlantic Beef Products operation, which was recognized as an important asset to Maritime beef farmers.
The minister said he was scheduled to meet with the New Brunswick Cattle Agency on Thursday to discuss this and other issues.