A coalition of agricultural groups has banded together to demand $24 million annually in federal payments to packers to compensate for implementing Canada’s tough rules on removing specified risk material.
In a late-October letter to federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, the coalition said Canadian packing and rendering industries face costs their American competitors do not because the United States has not followed Canada’s strict post-BSE rules for disposing of SRMs that can transmit BSE.
A Canadian Meat Council calculation establishes the Canadian cost at $31.70 for each slaughtered animal older than 30 months (OTM).
The coalition of cattle producers, packers, renderers, Dairy Farmers of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture argue that because it is a federal regulation that requires strict disposal rules for SRM material, Ottawa should pay.
“With an estimated OTM slaughter of 750,000 head, the program would cost approximately $24 million per year,” said the letter.
Coalition members told Ritz that the money should go to packing plants facing higher costs to pay for SRM removal from animals older than 30 months. They repeated the plea at an appearance before the Commons agriculture committee Nov. 3.
CFA president Laurent Pellerin told MPs the Canadian packing industry could disappear without federal assistance. The disparity in costs is sending more Canadian cattle to U.S. plants and the result could be a disaster for Canada.
“I don’t know if you are aware, but we are at risk of losing this industry in this country,” he told MPs.
Pellerin and other farm leaders said Canadian farm policy must become more competitive with foreign competitor policies.
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Brad Wildeman said the best solution would be to work out similar rules in Canada and the U.S., but there is no prospect that will happen soon.
“It is obvious to us that while the policy track works toward restoring the competitive balance, immediate financial assistance is vital,” he said.
Graham Clarke from the Canadian Renderers’ Association said before 2003, rendering plants could earn $250 to $400 per tonne of SRM material by converting it into tallow and bone meal for sale. After Canada’s tougher SRM rules took effect in 2007, the profit disappeared and now it costs $60 per tonne to truck it to a landfill.
