RED DEER – After a month on the job, Alberta agriculture minister Jack Hayden has delivered a no-nonsense message to the province’s beef industry.
He said he expects the members of various groups within the industry to work through their differences and speak with unity.
“The biggest challenge that I see is the dysfunctional relationship between agricultural groups,” he told the Alberta Beef Industry Conference held in Red Deer Feb. 17-19.
He said it is difficult to take agriculture’s position to cabinet when there is so much disagreement among the groups.
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“Get together, give me a message and bring a united front to me,” he told the conference that included the Western Stock Growers Association, Alberta Beef Producers, Alberta Cattle Feeders Association, Alberta Auction Markets Association and Alberta Livestock Dealers and Order Buyers Association.
“We are losing a lot of people in the ag business and we are losing a lot of people in the beef business. Our breeding cow numbers are down and they are trending into a very dangerous area and I do not want to see that happen,” Hayden said.
“We are in a situation right now where this business is too important for us to piss it out the window because we can’t get along.”
A major controversy continues to rage over the province’s mandatory $3 checkoff charged on every animal sold. The checkoff, administered by Alberta Beef Producers, becomes refundable upon request April 1.
A dollar of that levy is forwarded to the national checkoff agency to fund the Beef Information Centre, Canada Beef Export Federation and the Beef Cattle Research Committee.
Alberta Beef Producers receives the other $2.
The refundable check-off legislation originally covered the entire $3, but Hayden said the government plans to change the legislation so that the $1 committed to national programs is nonrefundable.
He said the provincial government caucus was initially divided over the check-off issue, but consensus was reached.
He expects the beef groups to do the same and promised to push for more Alberta influence at the national level because the province contributes about half the funding.
“Folks, it is time for a bloody olive branch in this industry and this may be an opportunity to do that.”
The stock growers board had earlier passed a motion to keep the entire $3 levy refundable.
“The feeling at our board table was that it is premature to be talking about changing it back (because) we haven’t had a chance for the refundable to work,” said past-president Russel Pickett.
ABP chair Chuck McLean said people may disagree with the handling of the checkoff because they do not see the benefits of BIC or CBEF. He sits on the CBEF executive.
“All of that money gets leveraged. By the time it reaches CBEF or BIC, it is leveraged at eight or nine to one,” he said. “Industry at the cow-calf level doesn’t necessarily see any return on their investment.… I see a lot of value in what they do.”
