Interesting news from BC

[per]

Struggling ranchers in British Columbia are considering a provincial beef marketing board as one way to halt a meltdown in the local cattle industry.

The idea of creating a board that would control beef production and set prices was discussed Wednesday at a meeting of the Kamloops Stockmen's Association.

Such a board would be the first of its kind in the country. In 1970, the B.C. beef industry rejected a marketing board.

However, beef producers have been struggling since 2004, when a case of mad cow diseases surfaced. Most ranchers thought the industry would bounce back but it hasn't yet.

"The dairy industry and the poultry industry are probably the two agricultural commodities in Canada that are doing OK," Peter Philip, president of the Kamloops Stockmen's Association, told CBC News. "The rest of us are not."

Besides being hurt by the cases of mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, beef producers have also been hit hard by falling commodity prices and skyrocketing costs for fuel and animal feed.

Rancher Dave Chutter, a former Liberal MLA, is among those who support a marketing board that would set beef prices.

Chutter says the beef market is so bad that most ranchers have given up on the idea of passing the family farm down to their kids.

"I know I will be selling because there's no funds for retirement and there's no way any of my kids can take it on and buy it out from me or buy it out from their brothers and sisters," said Chutter.

Chutter said he believes a beef marketing board could operate without provincial assistance.

Many marketing boards exist in Canada to help agricultural producers weather wild price fluctuations. Usually, producers are required to sell their product to the marketing board, which then sells the pool of product on the open market.

In November, the Conference Board of Canada issued a report that criticized the Dairy Farmers of Canada, which regulates the price of milk, saying regulations were restricting innovation within the dairy industry.

And the Canadian Wheat Board, which sets the price of wheat produced in Western Canada, is mired in controversy, with some farmers arguing they should have the right to sell their grains on the open world m



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/10/consumer-bc-beef.html#ixzz0fHMYYOHE

[grassfarmer]

It'll be a tough sell in Western Canada given the image the CWB has. Actually I don't think we need a marketing board to "set prices and control production" that gets into the territory of quotas, supply management etc. I think an easier option would be a straight forward marketing board - example the Northwest Consolidated Beef Producers model. If all the fed cattle had to go through this board the packers would have to bid on them honestly and it would help prices considerably. No captive supply cattle to hold the market down, no feedlots selling to the packer on the side when they get offered a higher price than the board price. You see the NWCBP story tells us quite a lot - it is working and working well because Nilssons feel the need to run them out of business. You saw the threat of offering higher prices used to break this marketing organisation. That is how marketing organisations get destroyed - it takes determination, co-operation and the ability to resist short term greed by underselling your neighbor to make it work. Could such a model work in Western Canada? It's an idea to think about.

[per]

I agree GF and am surprised at the lack of response to what our western neighbors are looking into. The bottom line is status quo has to go and all idea's are being explored. NWCB is a good outfit and you are right that they are a target of Neilsons because it is working.

[kato]

I think the argument put forward is that in order to have true supply management, you need to be able to control imports. The issue with that is that we have already got trade agreements in place that guarantee a certain amount of imports.

The ironic part of this is that of course, as usual, Canada stands alone in the fact that it tries to honour it's agreements, while our trading partners seem to get away with turning around and changing the rules after the fact to suit their wishes.

Seems to me that I remember we had such a central selling desk, government run, in Manitoba for a while. I'll have to do some digging into my old records to find some details. Anyone here remember the Manitoba Beef Commission? I can't remember why it was dismantled though.

Maybe someone here has a better memory than I do. Maybe? I bet for sure! LOL

[gcreekrch]

I fully agree with your post Grassfarmer. I also find it very ironic
that the generation now is wanting what the previous vehemently opposed. As a producer that has built what we have solely on our own I have to wonder how some of the group of inheritors have managed to become so financially strapped that they are even discussing this topic.
Some supply managed commodities have become successful but beef has too many variables to have a one shoe fits all production system.
Look how well supply management has worked for the pork industry.

[grassfarmer]

gcreekrch, "Look how well supply management has worked for the pork industry"?? I don't think they have supply management in the pork sector - perhaps that's why they are in the mess they are.
One point about a "beef marketing board" to elicit some competition on fat cattle. I can only see it being workable practically at the fat level -not feeder cattle and as such this would leave cow/calf producers at the mercy of the feedlots buying practices.
They survive at the moment by being margin players and/or captive supply feeding but if they were getting substantially more for their fat cattle due to increased competition could we be confident they would pass an acceptable amount of that on to the c/c sector? As always there are no easy solutions on an industry wide basis.

[kato]

I agree that fats would be the place for it. As people who backgrounds feeders as well as having a cow herd, we have found that for sure, if the fats are cheap, that discount will travel all the way back to the cow herd.

If the feedlots had the best possible opportunity to get a fair price for fats, that can only be good for the cow calf guys. Imagine if all the feedlots were making money, they might actually be able to bid against each other. Wouldn't that be nice for a change. Right now, price paid for a calf is based on price of fats, less feed, and overhead. There's no room to move when bidding on calves, so they can only go for so much,and the bidding will stop.

It's in all the cow calf producers' interests to see the feedlots doing well, because unlike the packers, they actually do have others to bid against.

[gcreekrch]

www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/16_109_80

This is an incomplete link Grassfarmer but there has been a half-hearted pork marketing board in BC for some time.