Thank you.
My name is Major Jay Fox and I am a cattle producer from Eddystone, Manitoba. My wife and I own and operate Steadfast Ranch, a cow-calf operation based in the heart of Manitoba's cattle country. I am a proud fourth-generation cattle producer. My history and my legacy to the fifth generation of the Fox family are my ultimate motivation.
That said, my motivation is also for the cattle industry. If the industry as a whole is suffering, my own individual efforts are defeated. For our industry to be sustainable moving forward, cattle producers are in desperate need of programs that work, regulations that are properly addressed, and new markets that are developed both locally and globally.
I'd like to address a number of these issues today.
Concerning business risk management programs, Manitoba cattle producers are pleased that we were able to receive agricultural funding in the recent years, but through that exercise, we discovered that many producers who needed assistance were not eligible. It became apparent that some were not eligible due to their political location, even though they were faced with extreme moisture or drought conditions.
I have also personally seen producers who were eligible and able to take advantage of the interim advance through AgriStability and then receive funds for AgriRecovery. But their dollars were clawed back when they did their AgriStability forms the following year.
Because of this, the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association, our provincial association, has worked on developing two different programs with our national outfit here, the CCA, to address this need: hay and pasture insurance and cattle insurance. These two programs are bankable. They are based on your individual IPI. If structured properly, in consultation with industry, we would have the right programs in place for people who need them.
Manitoba cattle producers are clearly in support of market access for our producers. The more options we have to sell, the higher the rate of return and profitability. One challenge we see for trade, however, is how the cost of SRM disposal has hurt our industry. while producing little additional market access. We are not harmonized with the U.S., and it's costing us more money. When it costs more money, it comes right out of the grassroots producers' pockets.
Historically in Manitoba, before SRM regulations, dead stock would be picked up by private companies and rendered at no charge to producers because they had a value for that product. Now they no longer pick up dead stock and no rendering whatsoever takes place. Abattoirs have to pay extra funds for handling and disposing at landfills. Because dead stock is no longer picked up from producers, one of the side effects we're seeing across the country is an increase in problem predators.
Producers are continuously given a discourse on biosecurity: food safety and traceability issues and the like. We take all of these issues seriously, but all these issues have costs. Producers do not have the equity to fund all of these issues. We have a CCIA system that is internationally recognized, which industry both participates in and supports. If more producer data is needed or required, then the government and the public should be willing to pay for it. Producers are doing their share.
With regard to traceability, any traceability systems must be on a national level, for provinces should not be allowed to implement their own provincial traceability systems or food safety systems because it is counterproductive. We need to have a national herd, not a collection of provincial herds; therefore, the federal government needs to take the lead.
We have been living with TB in the wild elk herd in Manitoba's Riding Mountain National Park for over 20 years. It should have been stamped out years ago, but political inaction allows the disease to persist while cattle producers operating around the borders of the park are relentlessly asked to test and implement management practices. There must be a clear eradication strategy for eliminating TB in Riding Mountain National Park before government can realistically expect producers to consider any other new regulatory initiatives.
Producers are natural environmental stewards because being so is necessary for us to sustain our business; without grass and forages, we wouldn't survive, because we wouldn't have feed. It is also something that cattle producers take great pride in, yet now we're being advised that in order to be recognized as environmental stewards, we must adhere to government-imposed mandates and potentially face new carbon taxes.
It is frustrating when we do all the right things yet the benefits the public is already receiving due to our environmental stewardship are not recognized. Worse yet is when we are incorrectly viewed as part of the problem--for example, in campaigns such as “Meatless Mondays”.
In the absence of national programs, our provincial government has begun a pilot project on hay and pasture insurance. It is of the utmost importance to have something in place on this and on cattle price insurance for this fall. These are tools that producers need to provide some predictability to our business.
To close, on behalf of the cattle producers of Manitoba, I want to emphasize that even those of us who have survived the last several unprofitable years are constantly having to decide whether to stick with it or not. We are committed to ensuring the sustainability and advancement of agriculture in our province and our country, but the bottom line is that unless government controls and regulations come hand in hand with government responsibility, then fewer and fewer of us will choose to mitigate the risk of ranching in Canada.
Thank you.