? for the Manitobans here.

[kato]

I'm not sure how many others from Manitoba come here, but for those who do, I have a question.

I've been thinking a lot lately about our whole situation, and keep going back to an idea that's been lurking around in my head for a long time now. It's about all that money the feds promised for expanding meat processing in this country, and which I have heard no news about any being spent yet.

Should we be lobbying for that money to go to provincially inspected local abbatoirs who would like to expand to federal inspection status?

Just think about all the big plants that have tried to start up since BSE, only to bog down under cashflow issues, management issues, and restrictions which I'm sure have the backing of the big plants. They tried to jump in at the deep end, and that just doesn't work.

On the other hand, there are literally hundreds of small local abbatoirs in this country. Virtually every cattle producer in this country has a face to face long term relationship with the operators of these abbatoirs, since virtually every cattle producer has his own beef processed. I don't know one single person in this business who does not have a freezer full of their own beef. So you already have an established network of producers and processors in place.

What is missing? These processors do not have the resources to take it to the next level and expand in a logical sustainable way. They cannot export even to other provinces, let alone other countries. They cannot even sell to the local grocery store.

Local food is the way of the future, IMO. People want local food, and it's sometimes not easy to find. Lots of people who would not take an extra drive to the local butcher shop would very likely grab local first if they found it in the grocery store.

Not all plants would be interested in growing more, but then again, some would. These would be the ones that will succeed before any other packing scheme would. Before corporations got the stranglehold on the market this is the way all businesses came about. The local market is one that the bigger plants just don't have the time for, and this whole scheme would be under their radar.

Every extra bidder on the market is good for us.

The reason I'm asking this question of Manitobans is that right now the MCPA is holding local meetings all over the province, and will be collecting resolutions for the annual meeting.

Opinions please................????

[topper]

I think it would make more sense to use that money to buy an existing american plant and dedicate it to only manitoba beef. Then for sure it would be a small player not worthy of attention from the big boys. Of coarse the politicians would never let this happen.

[kato]

Government money would only be spent in Canada, so even though that's a good idea, I don't think they'd go for it. Maybe though, some successful upstart Canadian packer who benefitted from a Federal upgrade could do it some day.

[grassfarmer]

If you'll permit an Alberta point of view Kato mine would be this. Don't know there is really much to be gained by provincial plants going federal. Small local plants upgrading to federal status would allow what? Manitobans to sell meat into Toronto maybe but then it's not local food. There would be little point in anyone in the prairie provinces or BC selling meat into the next door province - where is the advantage? If it's about getting a little bigger so you can sell to the Co-Op chains etc I think that the big two have already their eye on you - you are competition.

The one success story out here has been the Canadian Premium Meats at Lacombe. This is a purely custom kill operation to Federal standards and I think they now have approval to ship to the US and Europe. I believe they cut things to primals, don't dry age and don't cut and wrap. The CEO has lots of experience as he originally set up the smaller provincial plant where we get our beef processed - his wife now runs that plant. These are good people who know the business well and I think the key to their plant at Lacombe is that they only do custom so they technically are not in competition with the big packers as they don't sell beef. Mr Kaiser could tell you more about the Lacombe plant as he works more with them.
We used to try and pass resolutions at ABP meetings to help fascilitate provincial plants going federal but I don't know that many of them really want to - and if they do - they can. It's a free enterprise solution I guess.

[kato]

I'm not necessarily saying a plant would want to sell to the Co-ops, but there are still independent grocers out there who would love to be able to source local beef. It would be a competitive edge for them as well as us, as they are also in a tough position dealing with the big grocery chains.

Does anyone know what it would cost to upgrade the average provincial type abbatoir, and what is involved? I have always understood that it is an expensive process.

I can see a place for a custom kill operation that would facilitate direct sales from producers. That fellow had a good idea. This way producers who want to pursue things like internet sales, and such have a way to do it.

I guess my basic idea is that if the government is going to spend so many millions on expanding packing facilities, it would be a far better use of the funds to give it to people like the fellow in Lacombe than to the two big packers. Giving more money to Cargill is not going to make Canadian cattle producers one cent more than they're getting now. Better to spend it somewhere that has a chance of doing some benefit to people like all of us here.

[kato]

How's this for timing? Now I'll go and look up what the guidelines are... stay tuned. LOL

This is from the Winnipeg Free Press

Cattle producers remain sitting ducks

By: Neil Van Ryssel

5/10/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

We're blessed in Manitoba with some of the best agricultural land in the world. We have wide open spaces, clean air and plenty of fresh water. We also have a history of being a centre of excellence in the agricultural world.

In short, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place on the planet for a cattle industry to thrive. We're working hard to help the industry turn itself around and become a success story for primary food production, not just in Manitoba, but in all of the world. Make no mistake: to do that, we need federally inspected beef slaughtering and processing plants back in this province.

Right now, our producers load their cattle onto trucks to be bounced across provincial and often national borders in one direction or another only to have the beef bounce back on other trucks to be sold in our grocery stores.

While we have a number of fine, established provincially inspected abattoirs and processors, they can accept only a tiny fraction of our provincial herd. They can't sell outside of the province and they're shut out of the major supermarket chains. That makes us sitting ducks.

With rising feed and transportation costs, it is becoming increasingly imperative for our province to develop federally inspected beef-plant capacity. This designation from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is needed for beef products to be exported. The old model of shipping our cattle long distances is barely, if at all, viable for producers (not to mention being bad for the environment).

That is why the Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council was pleased to see the federal government's recently released guidelines for its $50-million slaughter improvement program emphasized boosting regional plant capacity.

We're working hard to bring new beef plant capacity to Manitoba. We believe our provincial industry needs to transform itself from being nothing more than a "branch plant" into being a leading exporter of premium beef products to niche markets around the world.

We know, for example, that demand for high-quality beef products is growing in Asian countries including China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. At the same time, North American markets for kosher, halal, organic and hormone-free natural beef are expanding too.

Manitoba has a high-quality provincial herd, raised by experienced producers. Our geographic location also gives us a natural competitive advantage when it comes to shipping our products across North America and to the rest of the world. We will all benefit from increased value-added agricultural production. It means more jobs, more tax revenues, more spin-off benefits and a diversified, healthy economy in both rural and urban locations.

As we work with the federal government to steer funding here, we urge all Manitobans to speak up and ask for quality, Manitoba beef at their stores, in their restaurants and to serve it proudly in their homes.

Neil Van Ryssel was appointed chairman of the Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council in spring 2009. He operates a dairy farm near Winnipeg.