Alberta squeeze threatens Canadian Cattlemen’s Association

 A funding squeeze at Alberta Beef Producers threatens to spread to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association because Alberta may not be able to meet its commitments to the national organization.

The problem is the offer of a rebate of $2 of the $4.50 fee collected on the sale of cattle.

Too many feedlots are filing for the refund and have drained about $3 million a year from the Alberta Beef Producers organization.

It has cut its operating budget, reduced staff and reduced funding for smaller organizations, dipped into its reserves and how may cut funding for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association by as much as $1 million a year. It has been allocating 53 cents per head to the CCA.

The organization is trying to convince its 18,000 members to stop requesting refunds, according to a report in the Alberta Farmer Express.

WTO reaches last-minute deal

The 164 nations negotiating thorny issues have reached a last-minute deal for the World Trade Organization.

It includes a commitment to allow food exports for humanitarian aid and to facilitate trade in food and agriculture inputs.

The thornier issues were on fishing quotas and intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccine production. Deals were reached on both of those.

But an impasse remains in the disputes-settling system because the United States continues to block appointment of people to sit in judgement on the appeals court.

Fourteen Canadian farm organizations, including the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Canadian Pork Council, joined like-minded farm organizations from many other countries to urge the negotiators to strengthen and improve the World Trade Organization.

The issue on allowing food exports speaks to moves by some countries to try to preserve food for domestic consumption.

Tariff on Russian fertilizer to remain

The federal government is refusing to relent on its 35 per cent tariff on fertilizer imported from Russia, much of it nitrogen and ordered before the tariff was announced.

Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow said Canada is the only G7 country that imposed fertilizer tariffs.

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said she increased the limit on advance payments so farmers can better afford sky-rocketing input costs.

Conservative Richard Lehoux said the tariff does not hurt Russia, but does hurt farmers and is increasing the cost of producing food.

Paul Samson, associate deputy minister of agriculture, told the Commons agriculture committee that companies are seeking alternatives to Russia for future supplies. 

“There are also plans being looked at as to how we could increase production in the eastern part of Canada or transport additional fertilizer from the western part of the country,” he said.

Grain Farmers of Ontario was one of the farm organizations that lobbied for the tariff to be lifted.

U.S. Air Force cost family their dairy farm

 Highland Dairy of Clovis, New Mexico, has been put out of business because a fire retardant used by a nearby United States Air Force base contaminated well water.

The well water and milk have been deemed unfit for consumption, yet the Air Force failed to notify the Art Schaap family for more than a decade after it first had suspicions about the contamination and ordered an inspection.

That was 2009, but it took until 2017 for air force scientists to identify the contamination. It informed New Mexico’s environmental officials, but not the Schaaps or local residents.

After one of the wells tested at 171 times the government’s limits for the contaminants, the business began dumping 7,000 gallons of milk per day, then euthanized 3,665 cattle. 

Their costs and losses, not counting composting of euthanized animals, exceed $6.5 million Canadian.

Even the meat from the herd is deemed unfit for consumption and questions remain about crops grown on the farm. 

There are also concerns, now, that other wells serving residents in Clovis might be contaminated.

The Air Force is trying to shift cleanup costs to the state of New Mexico.

James Kenney, who is head of New Mexico’s Department of the Environment, said “The Department of Defense poisoned Highland Dairy’s cows and the loss is devastating and heart-breaking.

“Rather than take responsibility for its PFAS pollution, the Department of Defense put a family farm out of business and has the audacity to continue its litigation against New Mexico, forcing New Mexicans to pay for the clean-up and legal costs.”

The department estimates it has spent about $7 million Canadian to try to protect communities.

It seems the U.S. Air Force has identified the Schaaps and state government as enemies.

Costco shareholders file welfare challenge

Two shareholders in Costco Wholesale Corp. have filed a legal complaint over the way the company produces its rotisserie chickens.

They complain that the birds are bred to grow too fast for their own wellbeing and that many of them are unable to access food or water.

Their claims are backed by undercover video gathered by Mercy for Animals, an animal activist group that has covertly shot a number of videos documenting animal abuse, including at a British Columbia dairy farm.

The shareholder derivative action, filed in King County Superior Court in Washington State, claims that Costco executives guided the company to violate laws against livestock neglect, breaching their basic fiduciary duty to act lawfully. 

The filing  specifically alleges that the rotisserie chickens sold by Costco — bred, raised and slaughtered by Lincoln Premium Poultry, a Costco-created company in  Issaquah, Wash.— are bred to grow so quickly that many of them are unable to stand under their own weight. 

The shareholders also reference company documents they viewed under state laws that grant shareholders the right to inspect company documents. 

The Mercy for Animals video footage was shot and released in 2021.

BHP to get $100 million from feds

 

The federal government is giving an Australian mining company, BHP, $100 million towards development of a huge p;otash mine at Jansen, Sask.

The money is to entice the company to adopt environmentally-responsible practices such as electric vehicles.

BHP (formerly known as Broken Hill Properties) is one of the world’s largest mining companies. Potash is currently in high demand partly because sanctions against Russia and Belarus hit their potash exports.They are the world’s second and third-largest potash exporters; Canada is first.

The federal funding was announced by Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.

What an utter waste of taxpayers' money!

Kubota planning hydrogen-run tractors

Kubota plans to market small to medium-sized tractors fuelled by nitrogen, reports an Asian news organization.

It said the company aims to have them ready by 2025 and that they will likely be priced about 40 per cent above diesel-fuelled tractors.

Europe is the main market because of its policies to curb fossil fuel consumption.