Plan B

[pandiana]

rsomer..what is a RAB certified ISO 9000 lead auditor.

[rsomer]

If a company wishes to be registered to ISO 9000 standard, their quality system must be audited. Auditors will go through the company's quality system manual and the actual practices of the company to make sure that the company says what it does and does what it says.

Auditors will have passed a Quality System training course, have at last four full time years in a technical, professional or management positon of accountability involving the exercise of judgement and at least two years relevant work experience in the implementation and/or operation of quality systems.

RAB stands for Registrar Accrediation Board. A lead auditor is qualifed to supervise the audit process and is responsible to manage as well as perform the quality system audit and submitting the audit report.

[rusty1]

A correction may be in order. If I remember right the Lakeside operations have never been wholy owned by Canadians. I believe in the early days Germans had a large protion of the equity and later there was some strong Japaneze ownership.

[rsomer]

It was my understanding that Lakeside was started by Tor Wigemyr and a partner whose name I can’t recall. Lakeside would have been much smaller when it started in 1966, the name Lakeside Farm Industries didn’t come until 1969. The ownership of Lakeside after that may be the subject of rumor but Lakeside did vertically integrate into the packing business in 1974 and 20 years later sold its packing operations to IBP in 1994. I have enclosed a link to the Lakeside Story
http://www.lakesidepackers.com/history.htm

A correction might be in order when I referred to the USDA inspector as Howard Lyman. My memory could be wrong. I believe the problems with inspections at the Canada U.S. border did cease once Lakeside sold to American owned IBP. It’s only ten years ago since this happened, seems like longer. So much has happened in the beef industry since then.

[rsomer]

To confirm just how bad my memory is I believe Tor Wigemyr's partner was Garnet Altwasser.

[cowman]

Rsomer: If you are a qualified auditor do you do any work at it? Or would you if you became qualified?
This definitely is an up and coming thing and I would think a growing opportunity for a career. I imagine the pay would be pretty decent? Might make more sense than running a bunch of 10 cent cows?
In regards to IBP. They have a long history of being a pretty sleazy outfit! Many times accused and found guilty of predatory business practices, violations of workers health and safety, and unsanitary conditions. Lakeside wasn't much better! And leopards don't usually change their spots!
Meat packing is a pretty dirty business! If most people could see what goes on they would be shocked!

[pandiana]

I read the article you referred to above, and yes it was quite enlightening. However, it still does not explain your statement ". Canada cannot easily duplicate the trading relationships these competitors have in the global marketplace. What I am suggesting is if you wish to export beef products to Japan, China, South Korea you will be more successful if you are based in the United States, rather than Canada." What is so special about Australian trade relations with the world that we cannot pursue similar avenues?

[rsomer]

Life’s journey takes us down many paths. If the farming thing doesn’t work out I need a Plan B that involves off farm work. As I tend to doze off if driving long distances driving a truck is not an option for me. Auditing, land agent work, management consulting are some things I have got lined up if it comes to that. As well, if my son or daughters decided to farm it might help if I can step aside and do something else if it means they can farm. I nearly ended up taking courses in the U.S. to be a Certified Organic Inspector but the courses got canceled and it never happened. So one never knows.

Running a bunch of 10 cent cows lets me be home with my family. So far farming has kept us fed and clothed.

My wife once had a job inspecting boxes of beef livers being loaded out of Lakeside destined for Peru. She got to tour the plant and see everything but the slaughter floor. Some of the remarkable things she saw were the "head table" where people were removing the insides of the heads and barrels of pickled anal sphincters. Everything from blood to guts was gathered and prepared for sale. She mentioned workers on platforms that moved sideways and up and down cutting the carcasses in half as they moved down the line. Lots and lots of government inspectors everywhere and everything was very clean.

I would expect the business side of the packing industry is very cut throat, to use a bad pun.

[rsomer]

pandiana: You are correct. The article, although interesting would not explain my observations on international trade. My observations suggest international trade revolves around give and take rather than being simply a matter of marketing. I look at Japan and see Japan supplies 3% of Canada’s imports at the same time as 2.2% of Canada’s exports go to Japan where Canada has about 2-3% share of total Japanese beef imports and I see a connection. Likewise the United States is Japan’s number one export partner and when the U.S. threatens retaliatory action against Japan if Japan doesn’t accept more U.S. beef, suddenly the U.S. has 50% of Japans beef imports. I look at Australia and see 19.7% of Australia’s exports are destined for Japan while 13% of its imports come from Japan, and Australia has the other 50% of beef imports. I see a correlation.

Canada is tied into NAFTA. NAFTA is our trading relationship. Canada cannot just change this relationship to have 13-20% or more of our trade with Japan instead of 2-3% even though doing so would probably open opportunities for more beef exports to that country. Because we are in a NAFTA trading relationship with the U.S., that pretty much fills our import market. 2.2% of Canada’s exports go to the EU and 3.2% of Canada’s imports come from the EU. We do not have the room in our economy to go out and import additional goods from Europe to match the 21% EU exports that Australia accepts although doing so would probably give us leverage when it came to exporting our beef to the EU.

What is special with Australia’s trading relationship is they have more trade with more countries while Canada which trades mostly with one country. Our trading relationship with the U.S. should have given us an advantage when it came to exporting beef into that country, but we are constantly getting the message that the U.S. doesn’t really want our beef and Canada should go hunting for markets globally. The only way I see for this to be successful is if Canada breaks away from NAFTA and starts trading with the world again, for instance like Australia does. Because trade is not just about exports, it is about imports too. Until Canada breaks away from NAFTA, Canada must defend our NAFTA right to export our beef and live cattle into the U.S. Producers need to be aware that Canada’s ability to export beef into the world markets is hampered by our NAFTA relationship with the United States. My opinion.

FYI my numbers on trade come from the Central Intelligence Agency web site at http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

[ValueChainFX]

It's fine to take into account any of the traditional values and avenues of marketing. It's fine to say governments control global marketing and we must have the US as our strongest partner. My suggestions here are for each of you to take the (your) thoughts and ideas to a new level. Go beyond the traditional and find the possibilities! New and successful marketing comes from thought process and we all have the seeds for this process in our background and knowledge base. I never suggested I have all the answers, in fact I suggest "You" have most of the answers. When I say "YOU" that means a combination of many people putting their thoughts together in an aligned process.

We Can market our product anywhere we want to! If the conditions are right and we are able to meet those conditions, if not we look elsewhere. We can never neglect partners such as the US, but if we can't get into the US we don't just close our eyes lay down and wet on ourselves.

I do talk to as many people as I can, I try to use my experience in the industry and come up with a path to follow. I take an action component and do hands on work to reach the goals I set. These goals are based on the needs (as I see them) of the industry as a whole, understanding that a long-term plan needs the support of the industry. Duplication of success is not a bad thing, duplication of the short falls in the industry is. If we think for a second any plan "B" will take on the big guys and yield success we are fooling ourselves. The present plan I am working on, builds infrastructure back into some of the rural communities, is designed to put skilled labor back into the industry, put extra dollars into the jeans of the primary producer, and supply products and services that are in demand around the world to partner consumers. I for one don't see this as a bad thing!! I have many guru's that have made light of some parts of the plan but on the same note have had those same guru's that have taken the time to study the plan come back and ask to become partners with input and involvement. Any long-term solution will take time to put in place, and there will be challenges. But another day in paradise molds a flexible set of choices into something that can benefit us all.

I just believe that rather than spend time looking for all the bad points of a plan we should recognize the plans challenges and make it better, work on the good points and help implement them. Use your energy to make things better rather than saying it won't work and justifying your position of why it won't work!