Although costs ranging from feed to fuel "are going through the roof," producers aren't seeing any increases in cattle prices, said Melanie Wowk, chair of Alberta Beef Producers.
She pointed to JBS and Cargill which have 80 per cent market share in Alberta and questioned why there is such a wide spread between cattle and beef prices.
Wouk said "what's going to end up happening is this is just going to put more and more people out of business and shrink our cattle herd even more in Canada."
The sector was hard hit by heat waves and drought that affected much of Western Canada this summer, causing shortages of feed that forced many producers to downsize their herds.
Wowk said retail beef prices have doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic began, citing $9-per-pound hamburger at a Co-op store in northeastern Alberta compared with $3 to $5 before the pandemic.
She wants to know that farmers are not behind the increases.
Cargill said in a statement Nov. 22 that current prices in the beef market are ultimately the result of supply and demand.
"In part due to a shortage of labour, the industry is not currently able to process as many cattle as ranchers are able to produce.
“This, when combined with other backups of cattle due to COVID/weather events, plus an increase in demand for beef, accounts for the disconnect between live cattle prices and wholesale beef prices."
Matters could become worse because Cargill’s workers have given their contract negotiators a strike mandate.
