Thank you.
On behalf of the National Cattle Feeders' Association, we're pleased to share our perspective on business risk management programs in Canada, programs that now must be responsive to profoundly different realities, including changes in geopolitics, global trade, costs, risks and innovation.
NCFA is the voice of Canada's cattle feeders. These are beef farmers who bring calves on to their farms and modify their diets from grass to a high-energy feed to propel weight gain, thus using less water and producing less methane over a shorter period of time. Feedlots vary in size, but they remain family operations. They often involve multiple family members and generations. Feedlots provide significant economic benefit to the communities across Canada while making large-scale contributions to food security at home and around the globe.
Today we look forward to discussing how BRM programs work for feedlots and to highlighting the profound impact that a catastrophic event, such as a foreign animal disease outbreak or climate event, would have on producers and consumers. Cattle feeding operations are located across Canada, but a large portion of them are concentrated in Alberta, where the economic output from cattle feeding is $1.8 billion. For example, if foot-and-mouth disease hit a concentrated area in southern Alberta, such as Picture Butte, we could see almost 25% of beef production taken out of Canada. This would have a profound impact on producers, processors and consumers.
Foreign animal diseases and plant diseases loom closer while natural disasters, including floods, drought and wildfire, are landing more consistently on our farmers' doorsteps. Input costs and risks have grown significantly. We need our BRM programs to keep pace with this reality now, not when a crisis hits.