| SUBSCRIBE MARKETS WEATHER LINKS HOME |
|
BEHINDTHELINESJanuary is the start of a brand new year and normally a time for optimism. Better Farming went looking for some of that when its reporters began gathering information for this month's cover story on energy costs, but found scant relief from growing concerns about the impact that energy costs will have on farms. Energy, whether oil, natural gas, electricity or in fertilizers and pesticides, is predicted to zoom upward in 2006.After we finished writing the story, further developments indicated that it will get worse. The Ontario Power Authority released its first power supply review in 15 years in early December and predicted that consumers paying $12 billion for electricity in 2005 can expect to pay $14 billion in future years because of increased generation costs, and that's not including the cost of transmission and other fuels. Replacing or overhauling controversial nuclear power plants will cost $35 billion, and rebuilding the electrical energy infrastructure over the next 20 years will cost $83 billion, astounding figures even in these times. There is a brighter side to agriculture and that seems to be coming from the beef side with Japan announcing that it will open its borders to Canadian and American beef. At last, nearly three years after BSE struck, it seems as if trade might get back to normal. We talk about the opportunities for better returns in Short Takes. However, we would be remiss if we didn't note the testimony of Jim Laws, executive director of the Canadian Meat Council, speaking before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture in February, 2004.
Laws noted that a carcass shipped to overseas markets was worth an extra $192.71 per head more than if it were sold in Canada. Getting those markets back won't be easy because Australia, New Zealand and Brazil have taken the place of North American beef. "Even if the borders were to open up again tomorrow, we'd have a lot of work to do to get these things back," Laws said.
|