The Alberta government will not invest in packing plants to salvage its livestock industry struggling through an 11th month of BSE market sanctions.
“It will be an initiative of the private sector,” said Alberta agriculture minister Shirley McClellan.
The province plans to work with the industry while it waits for an announcement on when the U.S. border will reopen to live cattle from Canada.
McClellan said she expects an announcement soon.
Canada needs more processing capacity to meet increased demand for boneless or boxed beef, which is allowed into the United States.
“We need to continue to value-add. That isn’t contradictory to needing the border opened to live cattle, but I don’t believe anything should leave our province that isn’t in a box,” she told reporters at the Alberta Beef Producers office in Calgary.
That can only be accomplished by increasing slaughter capacity and processing facilities for meat from mature animals, she said.
