Deferral provision to provide support for producers
From the outset, MBP asked the federal and provincial governments to provide meaningful assistance that would lessen the risk of the continued herd contraction we have seen in Manitoba. As well, we asked the federal government to consider enacting the livestock tax deferral provision to provide support for producers forced to significantly downsize breeding animals to offset the lack of winter feed supplies. In the past, these programs have been used to provide some assistance in times of emergency and devastating losses.
Longer term, MBP has been working to ensure the provincial and federal governments address water management issues so we can move away from ad hoc compensation programs and get back to the business of planning for our production year and marketing a calf crop.
In November the federal and provincial governments announced the Canada-Manitoba Forage Shortfall and Transportation Assistance Initiative under AgriRecovery. These programs are being rolled out but we are actively engaging both governments to discuss their limitations and to reassess for inclusion those hard hit areas of the province that have been excluded from the forage shortfall programming.
MBP continually lobbies governments to provide policies and programming that will help lead us to a position that will see Manitoba’s beef industry grow. Manitoba and Canada’s beef industries are at a critical juncture. In the last year we have seen tremendous work done by industry and governments to open up significant international markets. Many of these markets were lost to us when we dealt with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE in 2003. Of note is the Canadian/European Trade Agreement, which once ratified will provide new duty free access for 64,950 tonnes of Canadian beef worth approximately $600 million annually. This European deal is for hormone free beef and will provide an additional marketing stream our beef producers.