OCA not happy with grants to meat packers

Monday, April 5, 2010

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association is encouraged by money for meat packers announced in the federal budget in early March, but the Ontario Cattlemen's Association (OCA) is less so.

The federal government announced $25 million for meat packing plants that handle cattle more than 30 months of age. The funding is supposed to address costs in Canada associated with slaughtering older cattle. Canada requires the disposal of specified risk materials such as heads, spleens and spines, in a different way than do American packers, making Canadian packers uncompetitive when bidding for cattle.

The national organization lobbied for money to go to packers, says Paul Stiles, assistant general manager of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association. The OCA says "that money has already been ripped from the hides of producers" and they should be compensated directly.

At press time, there were no details on how those monies would be paid out. It's likely that the money announced in the federal budget had already been allocated under AgriFlex, federal funding to develop new programs. BF