The Canadian beef industry could be just weeks or months away from becoming the first agricultural sector authorized by government to collect levies on product imports.
The levies on beef imports from the United States could be worth as much as $1 million annually, Ron Glaser, Canada Beef Inc. vice-president for corporate affairs and operations, said in a March 25 interview from Calgary.
“After five or six years of working for this, we are close to achieving it,” he said. “As to when the money flows, that is a moving target but I think within the next half year, we will be collecting it.”
Read Also
Key actions identified to address canola tariffs
Federal and Saskatchewan governments discuss next steps with industry on Chinese tariffs
The money will be used for promotion, market development and research.
Canada Beef Inc. already collects approximately $7 million annually in national checkoffs on domestic sales.
The ability to apply the equivalent of a $1 per head levy on imported beef equivalent to the national checkoff comes from 1993 amendments to the Farm Products Agencies Act.
Farm Products Council of Canada chair Laurent Pellerin has been urging other farm sectors to take advantage of the legislation that allows levies on imports. The FPCC oversees the program.
During a speech last week to Chicken Farmers of Canada in Ottawa, he said it is a golden opportunity for Canadian sectors to raise funds for research, market development and promotion.
Beef will be the template, he said.
“We are very close to the first collection of levies under Section 3 of the act, perhaps weeks away,” he said. “It will be very interesting.”
