Cart in front of horse | Cattle groups and producers say the industry must rebuild numbers before a plant is feasible
Less than two weeks after the XL Foods beef recall, the Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council announced it may soon break ground on $40 million slaughter plant in Winnipeg.
Assuming MCEC finalizes a couple of financial deals this fall, construction will begin shortly on a 250 to 500 head per day plant specializing in halal and kosher beef, the spokesperson told a Winnipeg radio station in early October.
While MCEC is still touting its slaughter plant, a project that has been stuck in neutral since 2008, leaders of Manitoba’s beef industry aren’t convinced the province needs a plant right now.
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“It’s not that we’re saying there shouldn’t be processing in Manitoba,” said Cam Dahl, Manitoba Beef Producers general manager.
“But there are some things that need to be done first in order to ensure that the production chain is viable.”
Ray Armbruster, a rancher from Rossburn, Man., and president of MBP, reiterated Dahl’s comments. He said the province’s beef industry must address other challenges before a large slaughter plant is constructed.
For instance, Manitoba needs to rebuild its cattle herd. As of July 2011, according to Statistics Canada, the provincial cow herd was 499,000, the lowest level since 1994.
“Sometimes you can’t force these things in. You have to build a vigorous, robust industry (first),” Armbruster said.
“Our backgrounding and feeding industry needs to improve in Manitoba. Those things have to be in place to have a cattle supply to support a facility.”
Further, the subject of MCEC and the voluntary $2 per head checkoff that funds the organization is a controversial topic among cattle producers in Manitoba.
The levy will definitely be discussed, at length, during cattle producer meetings this fall across Manitoba, Dahl said.
At its 2011 annual general meeting, the Manitoba Beef Producers passed a resolution to end the MCEC check-off. Cattle producers opposed to the $2 levy argued that MCEC had accomplished nothing since its inception and they were sick of the council wasting their check-off dollars.
Despite the opposition, the MCEC has said the resolution isn’t valid because most cattle producers support MCEC.
In a 2011 news release justifying that claim, the council said only 15 percent of cattle farms asked for a check-off refund in 2010.
However, according to the MCEC annual reports, the council returned 37 percent of the levy to cattle producers in 2009. In 2010 it refunded 32 percent of the levy and 31 percent of the checkoff in 2011.
On an anecdotal level, it’s hard to find a farmer who supports MCEC, said Jim Murray, a beef producer from Portage la Prairie.
“I haven’t talked to one (producer) who is happy with it (MCEC). And I spend a lot of time in the auction marts. I don’t know where they get their information that everybody is happy with it.”
Producers say the percentage of returned levy would probably increase if the six appointees to MCEC’s board and the organization’s three employees made it easier for them to get their money back.
Several people in Manitoba’s cattle industry said they have concerns about MCEC’s refund process.
It removed the refund application from its website for several months and the council sent the wrong application forms to producers, forcing cattle producers to ask for a refund more than once.
As well, a couple of producers said it can take six to 12 months to get a refund from MCEC.
While many cattle producers have lost faith in MCEC over its policies, lack of communication and unfilled promises, the more significant question is whether Manitoba’s cattle industry is ready for a 250 to 500 head per day plant, or if it is economically viable in the long run.
