How will the new ALMA CEO do?

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New leadership moves Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency forward

Edmonton… An accomplished leader in the private and public agriculture industry with diverse experience in the agri-food business has been named the new President and CEO of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA).
Gordon Cove will help ALMA achieve its mandate as a catalyst for innovation and competitiveness in the agriculture industry, under the auspices of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy (ALMS).
“We developed ALMS to move us from the status quo,” said George Groeneveld, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD). “As ALMA’s new leader, Gordon will help drive that strategy forward, strengthening our livestock and meat industry on a global scale.”
In his previous role with ALMA, Cove helped develop and implement the ALMS. With his past private sector experience, he was instrumental in developing ALMA programs and was a vital link to the meat industry.
“With Gordon’s experience in the livestock and meat sector, he can hit the ground running,” said Joe Makowecki, ALMA Board Chair. “His strong industry knowledge and tremendous private and public sector skills will help guide our board and lead ALMA staff.”
Cove has worked for ARD since 2003, moving to ALMA in 2009. His private sector experience includes 21 years in management roles with Olymel/Premium Brands Inc. (formerly Fletcher’s Fine Foods Ltd.) in Red Deer.
ALMA is a catalyst organization working towards an internationally respected, competitive and profitable livestock and meat industry.
For more information on ALMA, visit www.alma.alberta.ca.

[SASKFARMER3]

yes i hope he do better when he was working for the hog killing plant !
the government wants every pig operation go under !
no help like the feedlot people got when B-S-E hit.
Now did not hear mutch good about ALMA ! ONLY ANGUS CATTLE!!!!!!
have to be a share holder in this special group of feedlot people ,and
i hear not getting any exstra for there
beef not B-S-E TESTED and still inplant
growth hormone.
No wonder EUROPA NEVER NEVER wants our
over fat beef, with hormone ,s
we need one more product to confuse our meat offering differ than the U-S-A
Was this an Alberta Agr -Minister push???
Let us talk federal and think wise as an CANADIAN .
Why did AB spent over 50 million on this small splinter group of cattleman??
Let us hear from the rest of cattle people across Canada
people in eastern Canada are wondering
why Aberta AG Minister promoting and has big support for this kind of beef
promotion .

[shaney]

I will be interviewing the new ALMA CEO, Gordon Cove
next week, do you have any questions that you would
like me to ask him.

[mcfarms]

Ask him how soon we can expect to see a checkoff that we can Ill afford to pay for George's flight of fancy and what his bonus structure is? wonder what his bonus will be if the Ab herd drops another 25% like it did this year?

[perfecho]

I would like to know, why, as producers we are mandated to age verify, premise ID and yet, as a consumer, I have no idea where my beef comes from or how old it is. This gives the processors the ultimate power to export, at a premium, our age verified animals and allows imports of lesser quality beef to be distributed in our grocery stores and the consumer has no choice in who to support. To me, ALMA is totally to increase packer margins. We, producers, are mandated, but no one else in the chain is....? Sounds like a wonderful way to instill buy in from producers....not!
Please post your interview, many of us would be interested.

[PureCountry]

Couldn't agree more with perfecho. Where's the incentive for producers to buy into the system, when everyone knows full well that Age Verification helps nobody but the packers. If producers were exporting it may be a benefit, but they're not. They are pawns/slaves producing a product for the packers to market and sell.

If it was going to have any benefit for producers, what would it be? I've watched Age Verified calves sell for 2-4 cents/lb more than non-verified calves. That sounds good, but when that 4 cent difference is 84 cents as opposed to 80 cents for 6wt heifers, it's little consolation. At the end of the day, producers are not paid enough to make a living off of their cattle.

[grassfarmer]

Perfecho, Government isn't going to fight this battle for producers - if we want to pressure retailers to import less product we will have to find out who is selling what and make it known to consumers.
Here is how it works in Scotland at the moment - the NBA makes it their business to monitor this issue and have been very successful.


SUPERMARKET GIANTS Asda and Sainsbury's have been accused of using Irish beef imports to hold down the UK beef market.

According to the National Beef Association, both retailers have been bulking up' supplies with cheap meat sourced through Anglo-Irish owned processing companies.
Quoting the latest country-of-origin figures from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the NBA this week heaped praise on several supermarkets which had shown loyalty' to UK-produced beef, particularly the Co-op, Lidl, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Budgens, and Waitrose, all of which sourced 100% of their fresh beef domestically.
The same AHDB figures, however, showed that Asda and Sainsburys were less discriminating, with Sainsbury's carrying 68% fresh British beef, and Asda 45%.

I agree with the point PureCountry probably unintentionally made - relative to the chronically low prices for all categories of cattle ALMA/ mandatory etc is irrelevant - we have far bigger issues to worry about.

[Kathy]

Shaney, ask Mr. Cove this question:

Since the Alberta government appears to have "mandated" Premise Identification via legislation (in particular via regulation), for producers of the 28 listed species used for agricultural purposes, what is the difference between being forced to obtain a premise ID for your property and a licence to raise these animals?

Since when does the AB government have the right and authority to, in essence, licence ranchers.

Also, ask him, won't all lands have to be associated with a premise id under their communist system? Not just the home quarter (as they claim now)?

Isn't premise identification just an easy way to put handcuffs on primary agriculture producers - thus LIMITING AND RESTRICTING their abilities to survive? (ie: survive in a business that has never been restricted before).

Who will decide, present and in the future, who gets and who DOESN'T get to continue to possess, or obtain, a premise id? (ie: Licence) ?

It is obscene and grotesque that ranchers are putting up with this complete take-over of their operations and their lives.

"Agenda 21 protocol" to completely and utterly control and dominate food production (putting that control in the hands of a few multi-national corporations)... that is what ALMA is for.

[perfecho]

, I am not asking the gov to fight this battle for us....I have a hard time with a system that forces me to do something for the benefit of packers and yet as a consumer I cannot obtain that info on my purchases. I do not need yo know where the rest comes from, just what is produced here and what age. As a consumer I should have that info, especially since it is mandated at the production end. Makes no sense not too! Any program should have some sort of win for those that are forced to a procedure....unless the mandators only initiative is to help processors......