Impact of the EU - Canada Free Trade Agreement on Canadian Beef - Ted Haney, CBEF

[shaney]

Canada has been working at increasing the access of Canadian beef into Europe for quite some time. If the EU / Canada free trade agreement is ratified later this year the benefits will be very positive for Canadian beef producers. Gaining access for hormone free beef into Europe will have large benefits for the industry provided that the meat packing industry provides programs and incentives to producers.

[URL="http://realagriculture.com/tag/ted-haney/"]Ted Haney[/URL] is the President of the Beef Export Federation and is very involved in the trade of Canadian Beef internationally and this agreement. Ted gives us an idea of how this agreement will benefit Canadian beef producers and the industry as a whole. I personally find some of the trade information confusing so getting the information directly from people like Ted is critical to understanding what is happening.

If you cannot see the below embedded video,<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEtD-yj79GM"> click here</a>

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[charliep]

Good interview.

I note the comments on malt barley and potential for increases. A frustration is the link between the malt barley cash plus and the malt barley PRO. On a go forward basis, which way (cash plus or pool) will selectors/the CWB go if they need additional supplies? How much more barley will be selected given the crappy quality of this years malt barley crop? Some indication that the only malt barley business that will be done in the next 9 months is to domestic maltsters and the only pricing to be done from there will be that to the domestic brewers.

My standard question - is anyone getting cash plus malt barley bids? How much? Any new crop?

[grassfarmer]

Ah, the naivety of Canadian trade negotiators!! "Everyone exporting product will benefit...90% of agri-food exports will receive duty free access and the remaining 10% will receive tariffed access... the tariff free beef deregulation will apply to Canada only....there won't be any losers"

The phrase "If it sounds to good to be true it probably is" comes to mind.

Just think about it for a minute - do you think the Europeans are completely stupid? why would they open up their markets to free access from Canada with no benefit to themselves? Do they need Canadian beef? No, not particularly - they import from all over the globe at the moment - Canada doesn't even have the product they want. Most is hormone implanted and this would need to change - once you get over that hurdle you will discover that the majority EU beef demand is for Laura's Lean type specification cattle not marbled, heavy fat Angus type cattle.

Before we get too excited about signing a great trade deal maybe you should look under the table and see what is being taken away in return? Or will it be signed in blind faith the same as NAFTA was only to discover you are on the receiving end of unfair trade practices which your Government willingly signed you up for.

I'll relay a conversation a friend of mine had with two EU farm trade negotiators whom he bumped into at an airport a couple of years ago.
When they got to discussing farm politics the two EU guys were just shaking their heads at how amateur Canada is in these matters. "In the EU they make no bones about it - they subsidise their agriculture and farmers and always will - no question that will ever be abolished in a trade agreement. The Americans are different - they preach free global trade but when it doesn't work for their farmers they subsidise them under various schemes to bail them out.
Canada on the other hand echoes the American way and preaches free trade but when it fails our farmers - tough - they tighten their belts or go out of business."

It's all a political game - one that Canada seemingly fails to understand.

[kato]

Canada is also the only one that seems to follow the rules set out in these FTA's. We take the "high road", and honour our agreements, while our trading partners consider them more as guidelines.

For example, we jump right in there and drop subsidies, while everyone else says they will, and DO NOT. We sign away our rights in NAFTA, while the Americans pick and choose which parts they'll honour.

How many times do we sign a trade agreement, only to have the other parties ignore it before we wake up?

[wilagro]

The Americans will have a shitfit if Canada signs this treaty and repercussions will ensue with our main trader. Mark my words, this is not going to work. The Americans will use NAFTA to get even and we'll be worse off than before any treaty with the EU. Stockwell Day started these negotiations with the EU and HE IS AN IDIOT imho.
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