Selling beef to the world is going to be a tall order for the Canadian
Cattlemen’s Association national checkoff agency.
The CCA hopes to have the national agency running by next summer and
already anticipates a cash crunch as it attempts to fulfill the demands
of domestic and international beef programs.
The $1 per animal levy collected by the provinces and forwarded to the
national agency ensures funding for promotion, export development and
research. The agency expects annual revenues between $8 million and $10
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million.
“We’ll also pursue other sources of funding. We would like to raise
another $2 million if we could,” said CCA president John Morrison.
Part of the shortfall came when the national-provincial beef industry
development fund ended. The fund provided about $21 million for product
development, marketing and research over five years.
The money came from a government fund set aside for the tripartite
stabilization program. The subsidy was eliminated before its expiration
date due to concerns over retaliation from trading partners. Remaining
money in the fund went to industry development.
Cattle producers created a global marketing strategy with the Beef
Information Centre, Canada Beef Export Federation and Beef Marketing
Services International under one umbrella to share funding, expertise
and lower costs.
The beef marketing service was created to develop a Canadian branded
product that could be sold in the United States. The CCA and exporters
want more customers to protect themselves against periodic trade
actions launched from the U.S.
“We have to be less reliant on Canada unbranded product going down to
the States,” said Morrison.
Canada exports more than half of what it produces in the form of live
cattle and beef products. Of that amount, 75 percent is sold to the U.S.
