International Trade committee  We do rely a lot on what we call the trickle-down effect, where that top filters down to our bottom guys and our grassroots people. The trickle-down effect may be best explained by the fact that if it's cold outside, and you're wearing wool underwear and wool socks, and you wet y

International Trade committee  I think it's imperative that we have, especially.... For us, the crown jewel has to be Japan; we know that. If we do not enter into TPP, or if TPP does not come out at all, we think that government needs to be taking secondary steps to do a bilateral deal right now with Japan. Th

International Trade committee  I'll comment briefly on that. I can't really give you an answer on what effect it's going to have. The one thing I can say about the dairy industry is that 20% of our beef comes from dairy cows once they're retired from producing milk. There is a definite advantage to that hitti

International Trade committee  I certainly have. One of the things I think we have really concentrated on is cutability, and making the best use out of a carcass. That entails getting the right trading partner for it. The trading partners are right here in Canada, as well. One of our big setbacks here in B.C

International Trade committee  Absolutely we do. We've already started taking some steps towards seeing this by doing a viability study. Our cattle industry is virtually moving north in the province. Population is pushing us to the north, to the Prince George-Vanderhoof area and up to the Peace. The ability to

International Trade committee  From the British Columbia Cattlemen's Association's point of view, this would be the first time, but our Canadian affiliate group has certainly been in touch and has been talking with the current government on the importance of this trade deal.

International Trade committee  As I alluded to, we are very much dependent on trade, but it comes down to the fact that matching the product with the country or with the consumer is huge to us. Some of the countries will prefer organ meat, for example, that we would typically put into our ground or get very li

International Trade committee  Our herd is poised for regrowth. Right now we're looking for the signals. We've seen the price of cattle just about double over the last three years, so those producers who have have made that infrastructure and that investment over the past 10 years of BSE are getting that paid

International Trade committee  We're about 5% of the country's production.

International Trade committee  Currently about 15% of the province is suitable for agriculture. Of the 15% of the land base that is suitable, about 85% of it is utilized by the cattle industry. That is because of our topography. We farm the valleys and the lowlands. With the sides of the mountains, we're able

International Trade committee  We have recently done a viability study on some of the packing and processing industry, and we very much see the opportunity to get ourselves up to that 250,000 head. That's about where we average out between the deals. You can quite easily say that we could gain another 20% very

International Trade committee  A lot here are grass fed because of the mountain range, but grass only grows for five or six months of the year, so we still do the grain production. Grain finishing also gives us consistency and a high quality product, which is what exports well. Corn is grown a lot here, especi

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to come and present on behalf of the cattlemen here in B.C., and really of the cattlemen in Canada, as we are very much a national industry. B.C. Cattlemen's Association represent nearly 1,200 producers, which raise more than 75% of the ca

International Trade committee  They are voluntary. If a country signs on, we follow that code of conduct and those standards and practices, and that's part of our trading capacity. Some countries do not. They're not signed onto the OIE, so as a result, they don't necessarily follow those same practices.

International Trade committee  I think one of the big things.... Money always helps, but it's our money we're asking to get back. We're talking about taxpayers' dollars, so when we ask for that we have to make darned sure we're able to return that investment. It is extremely important for us to be able to make