MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY — A Bergen-area rancher did not express any serious concerns with regards to a number of countries that earlier in January suspended imports of Canadian beef after the December discovery of a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta.
China and the Philippines followed suit with South Korea, which had also previously halted imports as a result of the first reported case of BSE in six years.
While China is the biggest importer of beef and veal in the world, the country represents Canada’s third-biggest export market, amounting to roughly $170 million of beef every year, says the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. In recent weeks, South Korea lifted the temporary ban on Canadian beef exports. The South Korea import market is worth approximately $90 million for the Canadian beef industry, and the Philippines some $13 million.
Semi-retired rancher Gerald Ingeveld — who alongside wife Shelley raises 80 head of purebred cattle in Mountain View County — doesn’t anticipate a substantial impact either on their modest operation or on larger producers and feedlots.
“First of all, I would say that it should not impact us because we’re at the point now with understanding the science of BSE a little better,” said Ingeveld.
“But we also know that there is no risk to people because of how the Canada Food Inspection Agency handles these cases,” he said, adding, “It should not be an international incident.”
Before any country receives a kind of international black mark, a certain rate in the number of cases must first be identified, he said.
“And we are so far below that (threshold), that it shouldn’t even be of interest,” he said.
Recollecting the more serious crisis from the early 2000s that prompted complete border closures while investigations were carried out, Ingeveld said international trade even at the time was shut down for far too long.
“It became a political issue,” he said. “Some cattlemen in the States that had some pretty heavy duty political influence were keeping that border closed, and there was no reason to do that. That really harmed us.”
Back then, the Ingevelds were running a commercial operation with approximately 400 head of purebred cattle.
“In my case, when the borders did slam shut almost 20 years ago, it really damaged our purebred operation. In fact, we never really recovered from that,” he said.
Since Canada exports far more livestock than it consumes, the country’s cattle industry is disproportionately dependent on international trade, he said.
Anything that interferes with the production chain has the potential to disrupt and harm the industry, he said, adding the pandemic was another proverbial wrench in the gears.
“What COVID did earlier on, that slowed down the slaughtering, that harmed us because it backed up the production chain and then put a shiver in the market,” he said.
“We’re in a difficult situation in the province — cattle prices are down, feed prices are up — so anything that’s going to put another shiver in the market is going to harm direct producers. We’ll all feel it.”
Whenever something major such as the 2003 mad cow crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic occurs, it can cause a shift in the market, he said.
“Sometimes you’re able to adjust, and sometimes it’s really difficult,” he said. “I’m hoping that this (latest case of atypical BSE) is just a little burp and people will take a look at it and say, ‘OK, you’re still well within allowable boundaries.’”
Leverage to broker better deals
So, if Ingeveld is worried about anything, it’s the possibility that political games might be at play. Although optimistic that cooler heads and reason will prevail, he hopes none of the players involved attempt to use the incident for a trading partner “to use as leverage to get some advantage over us in international trade, which is often what happens in cases like that.”
In this latest instance, which had yet to prompt other major partners such as the U.S. from taking drastic measures like suspending imports, Ingeveld hopes the countries with concerns carry out their investigations in a timely manner with a speedy resolution that results in a decision to reopen borders.
“This should not affect our markets,” he said. “If it does, it would have to be politically motivated. The hope, again, is that this is just a little blip and we’ll get past it fairly quickly.”
Grant Moore, who with wife Kim and sons Damian, Nick and Craig runs Moore’s Feedlot in the Harmattan area of Mountain View County. Depending on the conditions of a given year the farm has between 600 and 700 mother cows and also weans anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 calves. Moore wasn’t certain to what extent the impact might be felt from the temporary border closures.
“We know there’s going to be some (impact). But the cattle market is pretty high as it is — the finished market especially. Beef is pretty high in the stores,” Moore said. “So, whether it will hurt a whole lot, I don’t know.”
However, Moore also expressed concerns similar to Ingeveld with regards to politics potentially being involved.
“They’ll use that case to try and buy our beef cheaper,” said Moore. “If it’s in their advantage to cut the quotas off, they will do that on you. But if it isn’t in their advantage, they’ll just carry right on the way it is.
"Some of these countries are just a little more difficult to deal with than others. That’s pretty well how it goes — if it (closing borders) is not in their advantage, they definitely don’t do it because it’s going to cost the country and the people money.”
U.S. market remains most valuable
Asked whether there might be any other particular global markets that Alberta and Canada should focus on, Ingeveld said, “That’s a whole can of worms . . . it’s really tough.”
There were at one point discussions on expanding Canada’s cattle market more into Japan, but there are complexities involved that must be factored in and come at a cost, he said.
“The trouble is, that when we process our beef in Canada, we just don’t know how to cut beef to suit the Japanese market. So, it’s almost like we have to send live beef over and have them cut and wrap it,” he explained.
“And by the time we’ve done that, we’ll make far more money selling (cut-and-packaged product) to the States, than shipping (live cattle) all the way there. It’s a very, very complicated business, of where our beef should be going.”
There’s no easy answer, and Ingeveld is of the mind that Canadian producers benefit most from being focused south of our own border.
“I think that the U.S. market is the most valuable to us,” he said, adding that anything else really requires “a change in our system.”
Moore agreed that Canada should remain focused primarily on trade with the U.S. before setting its sights on the other side of the world.
“I think there’s enough market for Canadian meat that goes to the U.S.,” he said. “And the cheaper cow meat — the U.S. can’t seem to get enough of it. So, we don’t think there’s a big problem.”
