FARGO, N.D. – Marsha Cannon arrived at last week’s Northern Plains Producer Conference hoping that American and Canadian cattle producers could settle some of their differences.
She left with dashed hopes and a sense of disappointment.
“We came down hoping for dialogue and got less than we hoped for,” said Cannon, a director for the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association.
“I expected misunderstanding and misconceptions, but not to the level that exists.”
The conference, held Nov. 15-17, was meant to build better relations between producers from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.
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But during a session among cattle producers, Canadian delegates found themselves on the defensive.
Ranchers from the Dakotas alleged that Canada uses animal health issues to slow the import of U.S. cattle. And there was resentment against the volume of Canadian cattle moving across the border.
“We don’t have control of our industry like we did years ago,” said Wade Moser of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association.
“Maybe world trade isn’t as great as we hoped it would be.”
Moser said Canada uses animal health issues such as tuberculosis as artificial trade barriers. There was also frustration with the protocols for shipping American cattle across the 49th parallel.
“We have to jump through more hoops to get north than they (Canadian producers) do to get south.”
Moser’s association supported the actions of the Ranchers’ Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, a group of American cattle producers that alleged Canada was dumping cattle into the U.S. at below production cost. Canadian cattle producers spent millions of dollars defending themselves during an investigation that sided with Canada.
Cannon said she favors the movement of American cattle into Canada, noting there is a shortage of animals for feedlots in Saskatchewan and Alberta. However, she insisted that Canada’s standards for animal health should not be compromised.
“We want uniform regulations, but we’re not going to lower our standards. We’re not going to allow diseases in that we’ve eradicated or minimized.”
She pointed to the Northwest Cattle Project as an example of Canada’s willingness to accept more U.S. cattle. Implemented in 1997, the pilot project is meant to ease restrictions on American feeder cattle shipped to Canada.
Producers in North Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii now are eligible to export feeder cattle to Canada through the project. Montana leads the way in those exports.
Despite the tensions, last week’s conference drew several ideas for improved cross-border trade.
During their discussions, there was talk of harmonizing health and transportation rules for the cross-border shipment of cattle.
Other ideas included a beef quality assurance program for the Northern Plains region and the creation of a fund aimed at developing new products and markets.
Brian Brockel, vice-president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, supported the idea of creating a regional brand of beef.
He also pondered the idea of having a producer-owned packing plant to process that beef.
Producers now are at the mercy of large, corporate owned packing plants, he said.
Northern Plains Premium Beef, a new generation co-operative, wanted to establish a packing plant in the region but failed to raise the capital needed to continue its efforts.
