Agriculture Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 21 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

Before we continue, I'd like to ask all in-person participants to consult the guidelines written on the cards on the table. These measures are in place to help prevent audio feedback incidents and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including our interpreters. You'll also notice a QR code on the card, which links to a short awareness video.

I'd like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and the members.

Please wait until I recognize you or you're asked a question directed by a member before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mic. Please mute yourself when you're not speaking. For those on Zoom, at the bottom of your screen, you can select the appropriate channel for interpretation: floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.

As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair. For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, September 18, 2025, the committee is resuming its study on reference prices in the beef and pork supply chains.

I'd like to welcome our witnesses. Thank you so much for joining us here today.

First, from Beretta Farms, we have Thomas Beretta, who is the general manager. From True North Foods, we have Calvin Vaags, president and chief executive officer. From Viandes Lafrance, we have Indira Moudi, chief executive officer.

Thank you for joining us here today. I know many people travel far to be here. Thank you for your support for the agriculture sector.

Each witness will be given five minutes to speak. When there are 30 seconds left, I'll give you a quick, gentle warning.

We'll start with Mr. Beretta for five minutes.

[Thomas Beretta, General Manager, Beretta Farms]

Good day, all.

Mr. Chair, thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to appear today before the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

My name is Thomas Beretta. I'm the general manager of Beretta Farms, which is a multi-generational Canadian family-owned and operated meat business. Founded by my parents in southwestern Ontario, Beretta Farms' roots are grounded in the traditional methods of cattle farming through organically raising our animals and offering Canadians and the world a premium option for their protein needs. Today, with operations across the country, we are proud to be Canada's leading meat provider in the organic and antibiotic and hormone-free categories and Canada's largest exporter of beef into Europe. We take pride in our niche branding and abilities to grow, process and market Canada's premium beef and bison.

Our federal slaughter facility is located in the small rural town of Lacombe, Alberta, and is approved to process beef, bison and elk. We are eligible to export to markets such as Europe, the U.S., Japan, Korea, the U.A.E. and China. Our volumes put us at the small processor level, but our role in the food supply chain is essential. Not only does our plant market our product, but it also offers processing solutions for other, third party meat brands looking to market meat in local and national markets. This gives our business a unique perspective on some of the government's current policies.

As you may be aware, small meat processors in Canada's beef sector are currently operating under a series of regulatory and market pressures that limit our ability to compete and serve consumers effectively. With our facility being in a rural town in central Alberta, access to skilled labour in the meat-processing industry is extremely limited. We rely on temporary foreign labour to fill in critical positions that are nearly impossible to hire for in the domestic labour market.

The closure of the agri-food pilot in 2025 has created an overwhelming sense of uncertainty for both the company and our workers. We are currently operating in an unknown period when our foreign staff are either being refused PR status or stuck in limbo—not able to work and waiting for a decision. We are forced to renew the temporary status of individuals and cannot grow our labour force as we must adhere to a 20% cap on foreign workers. Without an extension or a clear pathway to move temporary foreign workers into permanent residence status, we risk losing skilled workers who cannot be replaced locally. This directly undermines food security and production capacity initiatives and puts small meat processors in rural areas under unnecessary pressures to operate efficiently.

The current permanent residency options for temporary workers are not good enough and will continue to put a strain on our business operations if no improvements are made. We stand by the Canadian Meat Council's request for the government's amendments, and I strongly recommend following through with the request for extending the labour market impact assessment from one year to two years, improving the support of the provincial nominee programs and creating a sector-specific immigration stream to ensure that food processors get the staff they need.

The last topic I would like to touch on involves the closure of the Lacombe Research and Development Centre. Being a meat processor in the town of Lacombe, we have always worked very closely with and have had an invaluable resource in this government branch of research and development. With the announcement by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the news comes as a sad blow to the country's ability to continue to excel in the meat-processing and agricultural development sectors. The value of the relationships and resources built with our close ally at the LRDC is hard to put into words.

I ask the committee, if we want to remain competitive with other beef-producing countries, how will we do it without government support to develop the best food production practices, both at the farm and at the processing levels?

In closing, I would like to say that Beretta Farms is committed to providing Canadians and the world with the very best beef and bison products this country has to offer. We feel strongly about our role in the food system, and we need the government's support to improve our current labour and immigration systems in order to produce the high-quality products that our customers expect to receive.

Thank you for the opportunity to share our experiences. I welcome any questions you have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Next, we'll go to True North Foods for five minutes.

[Calvin Vaags, President and Chief Executive Officer, True North Foods]

I'd like to thank the chair and the members for asking us to participate in this meeting. It's a privilege, and I thank you very much.

My name is Calvin Vaags, and I am here representing True North Foods, a federally inspected packing plant in the middle of the country. We are right in Manitoba. Our closest federal beef-packing plant to the west is in Brooks, and our closest one to the east is in Guelph, so we cover a wide geographical area. We employ, right now, about 160 people and we process about 180 animals per week. We're a relatively small plant, but I feel we are very important geographically and as a foundation to our industry within Canada.

Here is a little bit more background on myself. I also farm, and I have extensive experience right through the beef value chain: from cow-calf to feeding cattle, finishing cattle and retail and wholesale. I have a pretty well-rounded view of the entire beef value chain in Canada and globally.

The topic you asked us to speak on was beef reference pricing as it pertains to the U.S. As everybody knows, it is very true, both in pork and in beef—I'm going to talk primarily about beef, of course—that our pricing does start in the U.S., and there's a reason for that. We work in a global market. Canada produces more beef and more animals than we consume ourselves; the U.S. is our closest market, and it becomes a release valve.

We have free and open trade with the U.S., and it's very important that we keep that trade going. If you remember BSE in 2003, that border was closed for a period of time, and it was devastating to our beef prices and our beef industry within Canada. Yes, our prices do start out in price discovery through the U.S. market. That's not a bad thing.

Having said that, when it comes and gets converted to a Canadian price, there are basis considerations with freight, regulation and many things there. Those are things, perhaps, we could look at to get better transparency for the Canadian consumer, better transparency for government and better transparency and competitiveness for some of the smaller processors that don't have that insight into that market.

I'd like to talk a little bit about some of those things. The key point, though, is that U.S. reference pricing should not be considered the enemy, but it is incomplete when we apply it to Canada without adjustments.

I suspect that part of the reason this committee has been convened is to look at and address why our beef price is so high. I'd like to talk about that a little bit. Really, the reason we have such high beef prices in Canada and in the U.S. is not necessarily just a cyclical market but more coming from a structure that is not performing the way it should.

What I'm getting at here is that over the last 20 years, our primary producers—our cow-calf industry—have not made enough money, have not been profitable or prosperous enough and have not had the motivation to reinvest in the industry. What has happened is that our supply of cattle has shrunk more than it should have to stimulate new supply. Normally, when the supply goes down, demand goes up, and we get higher prices that stimulate rebuilding of the herd, but that is taking too long. The reason is that these guys haven't made enough money. They haven't had enough support over the last 20 years, and now we have a critical supply shortage.

It's going to take some very deliberate action to try to get that supply back. That is one thing I'd really like to drive home. The beef prices are not high because of artificial doings or things like that. They're really high—

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

You have 30 seconds.

[Calvin Vaags]

Oh boy. That went pretty quickly.

The other thing I'd like to talk about is the plight of the small beef packer, who is going to be in the same situation that the cow-calf industry is in if we don't do something with it pretty soon. We need support for the 15% of the beef-processing industry that is not getting support now. If we don't do something with that, we're going to have the same effect we had with cow-calf producers not building enough supply.

I think my 30 seconds are probably up now. I'm really happy to answer questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

There will be lots of questions.

[Calvin Vaags]

I do far better with questions than rambling on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Ms. Moudi, you have five minutes.

[Indira Moudi, Chief Executive Officer, Viandes Lafrance]

Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to appear before you today.

My name is Indira Moudi. I am the president and chief executive officer of Viandes Lafrance, an independent, federally inspected slaughterhouse and meat processor, not vertically integrated into a farm, and based in Quebec. We employ approximately 40 people and work with close to 40 family farms across Quebec.

Founded in 1929, our company has weathered wars, recessions and major crises, including the COVID period, during which most large slaughterhouses and protein processors in North America shut down. Meanwhile, our local facilities remained operational 365 days a year—ensuring continuity of regional food supply and contributing to food sovereignty.

Today, what weakens small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, like ours is not a one-off shock, but a structural imbalance in the Canadian beef system, which has led, between 2019 and today, to a decline of more than 35% in the number of cattle slaughtered at our facility. For details, see the brief I submitted to the committee.

As we know, in the beef sector, 85% of processing capacity is controlled by two major companies, Cargill and JBS. The remaining 15% is shared among eight to nine independent, federally inspected slaughterhouses, including ours.

In the context of your study on reference prices, my message is straightforward: the reference price, as it is currently used, does not reflect the economic realities of independent Canadian processors. Rather, it has become a benchmark that effectively excludes SMEs, even when they are compliant, efficient and locally rooted.

For example, three months ago, we were approached by a major retail banner seeking to offer Quebec beef, identified under the Aliments du Québec designation, across nearly 200 stores. From a technical standpoint, we met all requirements: federal inspection, quality standards, traceability and production capacity. Yet we were unable to submit a bid. Why?

First, our pricing was benchmarked against Canadian beef processed in the United States, within cost structures and volumes that bear no resemblance to those of an independent Canadian SME.

Second, supplying such volumes requires significant working capital at a time when cattle prices are at historic highs—a pressure further amplified by reference prices that fail to account for the realities of Canadian processing.

This case reflects a well-documented reality, notably explored in the Front de bœuf podcast, which I strongly encourage committee members to consider as part of this study and which I reference in the brief submitted in support of my testimony.

The conclusion is clear: Demand for local product exists, retailers are ready, farms have the animals and slaughterhouses have the capacity—yet the current economic mechanics prevent local supply from meeting the market.

Over the long term, Canada's food security and sovereignty, and the resilience of its beef system depend on diversification; support for producers and independent processors; and a coordinated, concerted effort among public and private stakeholders at both the federal and provincial levels.

In this context, a Canadian official price publication based on actual transactions would contribute to transparency that is better aligned with the realities of Canadian beef processing. It is against this backdrop that, in collaboration with the eight to nine independent federally inspected beef processors, and with the support of the Canadian Meat Council and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada—before whom we have presented these issues—we have submitted a structured, collective solution, which I have also attached.

The proposed solution is built around a targeted safety net, triggered when margins fall below a historical threshold, along with temporary liquidity-support mechanisms, to stabilize independent processors without distorting the market. This would help protect employment, national capacity and food security.

I will conclude by saying that Canada must ask itself three fundamental questions.

First, do current rules genuinely allow independent slaughterhouses to play their strategic role?

Second, is economic risk fairly shared across the supply chain or concentrated on its most vulnerable links?

Third, do we want our beef processing capacity to rest in the hands of a few dominant players or on a local infrastructure network capable of absorbing shocks?

Thank you for your attention. I would be pleased to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

Thank you to all of our witnesses.

We'll start with the Conservatives.

Mr. Epp, go ahead for six minutes.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for appearing.

This is the agriculture and agri-food committee, so I think we share two goals. One is that we're all trying, particularly in today's context, to look for ways to lower food prices for Canadians, but we're also looking for transparency and fairness in our value system, Canadian-based or wherever it fits in the world. To that end, we've studied the grocery code of conduct and a whole bunch of other things that lead to that.

Mr. Vaags, your testimony is exactly where my head is, because I come from two spaces experientially. One is within the grain sector, so I'm familiar with how that's marketed off a U.S. reference price: the Chicago Board of Trade and local basis. The other one is within the vegetable sector, which California often dominates, and this is processing. I've negotiated contracts with roughly the same framework. It's not as transparent, but basically, the U.S. dominates worldwide pricing there, on basis California, and then we negotiate what the basis values are. We know what it would exchange. We can find that information. My brain followed your testimony around how that goes.

What's missing in the beef trade to bring that basis negotiation more transparency? Can you comment?

I'm going to go to both of the other witnesses as well.

[Calvin Vaags]

I think there are a lot of things in your comments to unpack. If I pinpoint it down to the one thing that we don't have in Canada and that is really missing, it's mandatory pricing. In the U.S., since the USDA was created, you can get a price twice a day on every single commodity—

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

I'm sorry. Is that mandatory pricing or mandatory price reporting?

[Calvin Vaags]

I'm sorry. It's mandatory price reporting. Thanks for the correction.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

There's a difference.

[Calvin Vaags]

That's a big difference, yes.

That is one thing we really lack in Canada. We have no visibility into any kind of commodity trade on what's happening in Canada. The only thing we can do is pull up a USDA sheet and take the Canadian exchange. That's our starting point. From there, we go to the market and we negotiate.

It's okay if you're a big enough player, because you have visibility into a lot of things that the smaller producers don't have, but you mentioned fairness. That's where we, as small packers, can really struggle. We start out with what we think is a fair price, but we do not see what the large players are doing, and the large players are on both the buy side and the sell side. In essence, that's the one thing that really makes a difference.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

I have one follow-up before I go to the other two witnesses.

Did you mean mandatory price reporting both on the buy side and on the sell side?

[Calvin Vaags]

Are you talking about cattle?

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Yes.

[Calvin Vaags]

On cattle, we actually have it better. We actually get good information, because you get auction market reporting. You get direct bids out of Alberta and you have pretty current, up-to-date information on your purchasing side, but it's really on the sell side. On the product side—

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

It's not on the product side.

Thank you.

Mr. Beretta can comment, please.

[Thomas Beretta]

Yes, I'd have to agree with what Calvin said. If we want transparency, we need to cut ties and look at commodity pricing with what's being sold and bought in Canada. In order to do that, you need to report on the pricing and have visibility. I'm repeating Calvin's words here, but he nailed it on the head.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Moudi.

[Indira Moudi]

As for the question of whether the current pricing mechanism supports or undermines the resilience of the beef production system in Canada, my answer is clear: in its current form, the mechanism contributes to undermining the system's resilience, not intentionally, but as a result. We thus recognize that it is important to have a report on Canadian pricing, both upstream and downstream.

Furthermore, our consumers want to purchase Canadian products. They want to consume a product from their province, but we do not have the opportunity to show the real price of the product. When we price, our products are compared with others that are priced according to U.S. standards. It makes a difference, and we cannot get off the ground.

Today, the nine federally inspected beef slaughterhouses can take on more capacity in a single shift. Imagine if we had two shifts. We could produce more Canadian products at home and better feed our consumers.