SASKATOON – The Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association does not advocate supply management for the beef industry, said chair Jack Hextall.
Several producers attending the SCA’s annual meeting last month said they were concerned about the organization’s policy statement, developed a year ago, which listed protection of the existing cow herd and feeding infrastructure as a priority.
“My belief is, that priority and policy cannot be interpreted as anything but a form of supply management and I’m not in favour,” said Rockglen producer and Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association president Calvin Knoss.
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Mark Elford of McCord echoed those comments.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one that would want to maintain the existing cow herd,” he said. “Maybe that should go up, maybe it should go down. The market needs to drive that but it’s really a mistake to put that kind of sentence in policy.”
Hextall said there is no plan to manage supply and there never was.
Bruce Holmquist, an SCA director from Kinistino who was policy chair when the document was developed, said the policy helped the industry get $40 per cow from the provincial government.
“We were trying to save it,” he said of the cow herd.
Hextall added the Saskatchewan cow herd should grow and that’s what all producers want.
“Alberta, sorry, you’re going to lose out,” he said. “The cheap land is here, the resources are here.”
