Alberta Federation of Agriculture to look at how ownership contracts can be improved
BANFF, Alta. — The Alberta Federation of Agriculture will be taking a closer look at contracts for livestock sales in Alberta.
The issue of ownership, and when precisely it’s transferred, was raised Jan. 21 at the organization’s annual general meeting.
“We sent down some slaughter heifers. They were delivered to a slaughter facility on Sunday and were slaughtered on Monday, when the plant had taken possession of them,” said Grace MacGregor, who recounted an alleged bad deal with an Alberta meat packer.
“During the slaughter process, one of the heifers went down in the killing chute — this was after their first inspection — and was taken out of the line and was disposed of separately.”
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MacGregor, who operates a grain farm, cow-calf operation and small feedlot with her husband near Hughenden, said she was charged a disposal fee by the company, which she asked not be mentioned by name.
“It was clear to me that the plant owned these animals but we were not paid for that animal.”
MacGregor introduced a resolution at the meeting, which was passed, that asked the federation to talk with livestock producer groups and governments to determine if others have had similar problems.
The resolution also asked the federation to explore how the industry may pursue a standardized contract that would more clearly outline terms and conditions.
“What it does is it emphasizes the disparity between a multinational corporation and the lack of power of the individual producer,” said MacGregor.
The meeting was the federation’s first under its new name, which was changed from Wild Rose Agricultural Producers earlier this year.
Among the motions passed Jan 21 was one that eliminated “non-relevant resolutions” from the organization’s policy manual, including three notes regarding CWB.
“A lot of these apply to the old CWB and the old situation,” said president Lynn Jacobson. “They didn’t apply to the situation as it is now and we have policies on the books to apply to the new situation and what we’re urging the government to do,”
One resolution being removed states: “We support the goal to create a commercial, accountable and suitable grain handling and transportation system for the future. We also believe that the CWB must be a key participant in such a system.”
Added Jacobson: “We have another policy back in there saying that the CWB should be a viable player within the system. They don’t have to be the key individual anymore because basically they aren’t … but we want them to be a viable organization within this whole thing. The government made some promises when they changed the CWB that we think they should live up to. That’s what we are basing our policy on now.”
