NEWS
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association President’s Report Reg Schellenberg
Being elected President of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) at our Annual General Meeting, on March 25, was an honour. It’s a role that I do not take lightly and since joining CCA’s Board in 2010, I have seen firsthand the commitment and hard work put in by past CCA Presidents. I am proud of our organization’s rich history, and will look to our past successes and how we overcame past challenges to guide our industry to new heights. On behalf of the CCA Board, tremendous gratitude goes out to Bob Lowe for his leadership and dedication over the past two years. You have led our industry through very challenging times and despite limitations on travel, you have strengthened our relationships with policymakers, Parliamentarians, and industry stakeholders, for the benefit of cattle producers across the country. Thank you Bob. I look forward to continuing to work with you over the next two years in your new roles as CCA Past President and Chair of the Public and Stakeholder Engagement (PSE) program. As CCA President, my goals are centred in my passion to leave a vibrant industry for the next generation. Being a part of a multigenerational ranching operation near Beechy, Saskatchewan, I understand and appreciate the succession challenges facing ranching and farm families, and much of my past efforts as a CCA Board Member focused on initiatives to protect and preserve our industry for the next generation. An important way to protect our industry is by being vigilant when it comes to animal health and care. An outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a very real threat to Canada’s livestock sector with a 60
potential $50 to $60 billion financial impact to the Canadian economy. Investing in a Canadian FMD vaccine bank would help prevent catastrophic losses. We continue to advocate the Government of Canada to establish a vaccine bank of 30 million doses, consisting of 2.5 million doses each of twelve different FMD vaccine concentrates. This is a key priority for Canadian beef producers to ensure economic viability in the future. Enhancements to the current suite of Business Risk Management (BRM) programs and critical infrastructure can help cattle producers from across Canada manage risk, particularly during uncertain times. In 2021, we saw extreme drought and wildfires directly impact beef producers from British Columbia to Ontario, and the consequences will be felt by the entire industry for years to come. CCA’s BRM recommendations to Government focus on helping producers make economically viable decisions and become more resilient to the climate, market, and production risks. For example, making Livestock Price Insurance (LPI) a permanent program will help producers better manage price risk and will ultimately benefit young producers, who don’t have the equity to fall back on. CCA continues to ask for LPI to be made available to cattle producers in the Maritimes as they’re currently without LPI or any similar program. Another way that LPI can be enhanced is by having the Government as partner to cost-share the premiums. This would result in higher enrollment in the program and would put cattle producers on a level-playing field with Canadian crop producers and their American counterparts. Innovation is a key factor to ensuring a strong and vibrant beef Charolais Banner • May 2022
industry. We have the opportunity, and demonstrated ability, to continually improve our productivity and environmental performance, to better protect and preserve our air, water, and soil resources. To help meet our productivity and environmental goals, increases to Government core funding for research are needed. In recent years, trade has been a real success story for our industry. For the sixth straight year, export values of Canadian beef hit record highs reaching almost $5.5 billion in 2021. CCA will continue to focus efforts on securing access for Canadian beef in world markets. In recent years, we have seen improved trade through the implementation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, CanadaKorea Free Trade Agreement, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Partnership (CPTPP), and we strongly support the expansion of free trade. To help grow our export markets, we continue to share our priorities with the Government of Canada when it comes to the current trade negotiations underway with the United Kingdom and the Association of Southeast Asian Countries, as well as the benefit of exploring CPTPP expansion. While we are fortunate to have many free trade agreements that have lowered tariffs on Canadian beef, many non-tariff trade barriers remain – even in markets where agreements are in place. These trade challenges need to be addressed to ensure Canadian beef producers have equal opportunity to benefit from these negotiated agreements as their counterparts. This is the case when it comes to trade with the European Union, and we are continuing to see a growing trade imbalance with Canadian beef producers unable to have the equivalent access into
