CARTWRIGHT, Man. – Scott Snowdon sat on a chair with the back broken off while listening to officials talk about the crisis caused by bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
The broken chair was the only one the cow-calf producer could find, due to the large crowd that turned out for the evening meeting in this town’s community hall on Aug. 6.
Earlier in the day, the provincial government had announced a $100 million loan program to help producers of ruminant animals cope with the crisis. When producers were given a chance to speak, their disappointment with the loan program quickly became evident.
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Rising briefly from his broken chair, Snowdon summed up what had become the main criticism of the program: it would add more debt to cow-calf operations that already are grappling with depressed prices for their livestock, looming feed shortages and uncertainty about the industry’s future.
“It’s not going to do me any good. I already have payments. I don’t need more,” said Snowdon, who farms near Altamont, Man. “I need someone to buy my damn cattle.”
In an interview, Snowdon worried that he won’t be able to make payments on existing loans or pay his land taxes if he can’t sell his calves.
The meeting in Cartwright came two days before the United States announced it will reopen its border to boneless, boxed Canadian beef. Live cattle still are not able to cross.
Because Manitoba has only a small cattle packing industry, the ability to export live cattle to the U.S. is critical.
Manitoba’s loan program will let producers of ruminants, which include cattle, bison, sheep and goats, apply for loans of up to $50,000 at a reduced interest rate of 3.25 percent. Eligible producers younger than 40 could get an interest rate of 2.25 percent. Manitoba Agricultural Credit Corp. will administer the program.
When she announced the program Aug. 6, Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk described it as “significant” support for the province’s producers. However, her enthusiasm for the program was not as compelling when she rose to defend it that evening during the meeting in Cartwright. She said it would help “some producers,” particularly with cash flow.
“I don’t think it’s an insult,” she said, replying to criticism from one producer in the crowd who had called it that.
Manitoba Cattle Producers Association president Betty Green said the loan program fell short of what the province’s cow-calf producers need. Among other things, her association was hoping the government would deliver an interest-free cash advance to producers that possibly could be forgiven if the border did not reopen within a year.
“A loan program really is not what the producers need right now,” said Green, a cattle producer from Fisher Branch, Man. “They don’t need more debt.”
While there could be further program changes made in Manitoba to help producers cope with the BSE crisis, Wowchuk offered no hint last week that an interest-free cash advance might be implemented. The greatest priority remained reopening the border, she said.
During the meeting, ideas were floated about how to get more cattle slaughtered in Manitoba, including the possibility of converting the Springhill hog slaughter plant at Neepawa into a cattle processor. The possibility of canning more beef for export to countries that don’t have a ban on Canadian beef was also mentioned.
Randy Pawich, a local auctioneer and producer, tried to inject some optimism into the meeting. He expected the border to reopen eventually due to American demand for the quality of beef produced in Canada.
“The U.S. may not love us, we know that. But they love our beef.”
