From the Alberta Farm Express.
Pilot projects to revisit interprovincial meat trade
Staff
7/12/2010 6:27:00 PM
With provincially-inspected abattoirs now unable to sell into some domestic markets just minutes away, Canada's ag ministers have pledged to work toward creating pilot projects toward freer interprovincial trade in meat.
The pledge came out of last week's official communique from the federal/provincial agriculture ministers' meeting in Saskatoon, "as part of the ongoing work to create market opportunities for producers."
This initiative, the ministers said, "will increase processors' ability to move product across the country in keeping with Canada's high domestic standard."
Such pilot projects would be "an important step in maintaining the competitiveness of the beef business in Canada," the Canadian Cattlemen's Association said in a separate release Friday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture already made such changes last year to allow interstate trade of state-inspected beef, the CCA noted.
Such pilot projects, along with funding announced last week to help beef packers offset the costs of specified risk material (SRM) removal and disposal, "should help to ensure meat processors continue to choose to process cattle in Canada," CCA president Travis Toews of Beaverlodge, Alta. said.
Federal meat inspection legislation now prohibits provincially-inspected meat plants from selling meat in Canada beyond the borders of a plant's home province. Federally-inspected plants may ship meat anywhere within Canada as well as for export.
The concept of allowing provincially-inspected plants to sell their products in other provinces has been discussed for years but has yet to gain traction.
"Feather"
Toews and the CCA also hailed last week's announcement of $450 million in AgriRecovery funds to address the "unprecedented" rains in the Prairie provinces, saying they're "pleased that AgriRecovery is working quickly and look forward to further details."
Towes called the government's speed of response "impressive," adding that if the provinces can ensure late seeding is not discouraged and that hayland and pasture are treated equitably, "this will be a feather in the caps of all the ministers involved."
The CCA earlier had asked the ministers to ensure AgriRecovery and other available programs "do not discourage seeding of late crops to be used as livestock feed."
Manitoba Cattle Producers Association president Major Jay Fox on Monday said that while the AgriRecovery response appears encouraging for grain growers, "many of our producers are also going through a terrible time and suffering through extreme weather and flooding conditions on their pasture and hayland."
The ministers, whose next scheduled meeting will be in New Brunswick in July 2011, said last week they also recognize that "current (business risk management) programs are not intended to address long-term farm income declines," and "industry and governments agree that smart investments will help producers create new market opportunities."
Quoted last Thursday in the Ontario farm journal Better Farming, that province's ag minister Carol Mitchell said her "first order of business was to have a recognition that (AgriStability) in fact was not working."
Pilot projects to revisit interprovincial meat trade
Staff
7/12/2010 6:27:00 PM
With provincially-inspected abattoirs now unable to sell into some domestic markets just minutes away, Canada's ag ministers have pledged to work toward creating pilot projects toward freer interprovincial trade in meat.
The pledge came out of last week's official communique from the federal/provincial agriculture ministers' meeting in Saskatoon, "as part of the ongoing work to create market opportunities for producers."
This initiative, the ministers said, "will increase processors' ability to move product across the country in keeping with Canada's high domestic standard."
Such pilot projects would be "an important step in maintaining the competitiveness of the beef business in Canada," the Canadian Cattlemen's Association said in a separate release Friday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture already made such changes last year to allow interstate trade of state-inspected beef, the CCA noted.
Such pilot projects, along with funding announced last week to help beef packers offset the costs of specified risk material (SRM) removal and disposal, "should help to ensure meat processors continue to choose to process cattle in Canada," CCA president Travis Toews of Beaverlodge, Alta. said.
Federal meat inspection legislation now prohibits provincially-inspected meat plants from selling meat in Canada beyond the borders of a plant's home province. Federally-inspected plants may ship meat anywhere within Canada as well as for export.
The concept of allowing provincially-inspected plants to sell their products in other provinces has been discussed for years but has yet to gain traction.
"Feather"
Toews and the CCA also hailed last week's announcement of $450 million in AgriRecovery funds to address the "unprecedented" rains in the Prairie provinces, saying they're "pleased that AgriRecovery is working quickly and look forward to further details."
Towes called the government's speed of response "impressive," adding that if the provinces can ensure late seeding is not discouraged and that hayland and pasture are treated equitably, "this will be a feather in the caps of all the ministers involved."
The CCA earlier had asked the ministers to ensure AgriRecovery and other available programs "do not discourage seeding of late crops to be used as livestock feed."
Manitoba Cattle Producers Association president Major Jay Fox on Monday said that while the AgriRecovery response appears encouraging for grain growers, "many of our producers are also going through a terrible time and suffering through extreme weather and flooding conditions on their pasture and hayland."
The ministers, whose next scheduled meeting will be in New Brunswick in July 2011, said last week they also recognize that "current (business risk management) programs are not intended to address long-term farm income declines," and "industry and governments agree that smart investments will help producers create new market opportunities."
Quoted last Thursday in the Ontario farm journal Better Farming, that province's ag minister Carol Mitchell said her "first order of business was to have a recognition that (AgriStability) in fact was not working."