Thank you.
The Alberta Cattle Feeders' Association is pleased to share our priorities for the 2026 federal budget.
Alberta Cattle Feeders' is the voice of Alberta cattle feeders—the beef farmers who bring calves into their farms and modify their diets from grass to high-energy feed to propel weight gain, thus using less land, less water and producing less methane over a shorter lifespan.
Feedlots vary in size, but they remain family operations. They provide significant economic benefits to rural communities, while making large-scale contributions to food security at home and around the globe. In Alberta alone, the economic output from cattle feeding is over $2.9 billion, and we employ over 20,000 people.
Over 70% of Canada's fed cattle production takes place in Alberta, and, in fact, 25% of Canada's production takes place in a 50-kilometre radius in southern Alberta.
With this context, I'm going to turn now to Curtis, who will outline three recommendations for the 2026 federal budget that can help Canadian farmers respond to evolving and difficult global realities.