http://alberta.ca/acn/200904/25814EE517C8E-0359-BD99-F64D42CCB3F44F63.html
The Government of the Province of Alberta has introduced Bill 43. Bill 43 takes away the ability of four producer groups to collect a non refundable checkoff… those groups being cattle, hogs, sheep and potatoes. Three of those groups would fall directly within the reaches of the ALMStrategy and ALMA.
Now I know there are contributors to Agri-ville that will be celebrating over that news that they can get their three bucks back. That $3 amounted to $.004 a pound on a 650 weight calf or less than ½ of 1 cent per pound. The issue is not the three bucks. The issue is the political clout that 3 bucks gave the average cow calf producer who, although individually small, together amounted to a lot of cattle, a lot of checkoff and a lot of political influence. There are mega feedlots and other lobby groups that were jealous of the political influence that checkoff gave the average cow calf producer and they have been working for some time to see that political influence reduced. Not to mention the government who viewed ABP as the only group that stood up to the ALMS strategy and as such ABP was opposition that needed to be squashed.
Predictably there are lobby groups, the National Farmers Union and others who will immediately start to fight over the scraps to see who gets to pick up the pieces of whatever political influence cow calf producers have left. Meanwhile the Alberta Government gets to stand back and do nothing about the crisis that is facing our livestock industry and thousands of men and women who make their living with cattle.
The sad part, and quite possibly the reason behind Bill 43, was that producer support of ABP was at an all time high. Had the producers been allowed to decide whether the checkoff should be refundable or not through a plebiscite vote the expected outcome was producers would vote in favour of the present checkoff structure. That clearly would not sit well with this Government who needed ABP out of the picture so that there was no opposition to ALMA. It is not just a cattle issue, the hog people are hit too. Any opposition to this Government from livestock producers has effectively been crushed.
The Government of the Province of Alberta has introduced Bill 43. Bill 43 takes away the ability of four producer groups to collect a non refundable checkoff… those groups being cattle, hogs, sheep and potatoes. Three of those groups would fall directly within the reaches of the ALMStrategy and ALMA.
Now I know there are contributors to Agri-ville that will be celebrating over that news that they can get their three bucks back. That $3 amounted to $.004 a pound on a 650 weight calf or less than ½ of 1 cent per pound. The issue is not the three bucks. The issue is the political clout that 3 bucks gave the average cow calf producer who, although individually small, together amounted to a lot of cattle, a lot of checkoff and a lot of political influence. There are mega feedlots and other lobby groups that were jealous of the political influence that checkoff gave the average cow calf producer and they have been working for some time to see that political influence reduced. Not to mention the government who viewed ABP as the only group that stood up to the ALMS strategy and as such ABP was opposition that needed to be squashed.
Predictably there are lobby groups, the National Farmers Union and others who will immediately start to fight over the scraps to see who gets to pick up the pieces of whatever political influence cow calf producers have left. Meanwhile the Alberta Government gets to stand back and do nothing about the crisis that is facing our livestock industry and thousands of men and women who make their living with cattle.
The sad part, and quite possibly the reason behind Bill 43, was that producer support of ABP was at an all time high. Had the producers been allowed to decide whether the checkoff should be refundable or not through a plebiscite vote the expected outcome was producers would vote in favour of the present checkoff structure. That clearly would not sit well with this Government who needed ABP out of the picture so that there was no opposition to ALMA. It is not just a cattle issue, the hog people are hit too. Any opposition to this Government from livestock producers has effectively been crushed.
Comment