Federal aid package 'just too little' to help beef industry hit hard by COVID-19, association warns

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association says the federal agriculture aid announced Tuesday does not go far enough to support the country's beef farms, feedlots and processing plants, which have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $252-million package announced Tuesday by the federal Liberals is to be spread across the agri-food sector, with $77 million earmarked for food processors of various sizes, including meat packers.

It will be used to help these businesses retrofit their factories and increase their capacity to deal with a backlog of livestock building up in parts of the county. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said the money can be used to buy personal protective equipment for workers, adapt to health protocols and support other social distancing measures.

Trudeau has called the aid package an "initial" step, but it's one that falls well short of the $2.6-billion emergency fund requested by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. 

"It's just too little," said Bob Lowe, president of the Calgary-based Canadian Cattlemen's Association, which speaks for Canada's 60,000 beef farms and feedlots.

"We really appreciate the $77 million for the processing sector. That's where a lot of the money is needed."

Lowe said the bottlenecks at the meat-processing plants have trickled down through the system and are costing farmers and ranchers money.

He estimates his cattle have lost between $450 to $550 worth of value, per head, in the past weeks.

At the same time, he is not able to move the cattle and has to feed them. He also can't buy new cattle from farmers and ranchers who would use that money to invest in things like crops.

Dennis Laycraft, the executive vice-president of the association, estimates the cattle industry is operating at about 35-40 per cent of normal with a backlog of about 5,000 to 6,000 animals per day as plants like Cargill's massive meat-packing operation near High River, Alta., closed temporarily or scaled back. 

Major outbreaks at meat-packing plants

Canada's beef industry, which is highly concentrated in Alberta, has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trudeau's announcement came a day after the Cargill plant near High River reopened with the approval of Alberta authorities after a two-week closure.

More than 900 of Cargill's 2,000 workers had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and one worker had died as of Tuesday morning, with hundreds of related cases in the surrounding community — making the plant the site of the largest single COVID-19 outbreak in North America. The union that represents the workers asked a court to stop work at the plant and also filed unfair labour practice complaints against Cargill and the province.

Hundreds of other workers have tested positive at a second meat-packing plant, JBS in Brooks, about 180 kilometres southeast of Calgary. It remains open although it reduced production amid the pandemic.

The two plants have more than 4,500 workers and supply more than two-thirds of Canada's beef. 

And a third meat-processing plant in Alberta — Harmony Beef in Balzac — has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases among workers, prompting the federal food inspectors union to call for the plant to be closed. 

Bottleneck at meat plants trickle down

Lowe says if the situation continues into next year, "things get really bad, really fast."

Laycraft, who is also president of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, says timing is just as important as amounts when talking about aid for the sector. 

The federal government is also adding $125 million to the AgriRecovery fund, a federal-provincial-territorial program aimed at helping farmers during disasters — something welcomed by Alberta's agriculture minister, Devin Dreeshen.

"The set-aside program for the cattle industry is critically important for Alberta as we process the majority of beef in Canada," he said in a statement emailed by his office.

"Now that the federal government has triggered an AgriRecovery response, the Alberta government will follow through with additional support for our agriculture sector."

That provincial component will be critical, according to Lowe, but he stresses the need for significantly more support for the sector.

"The Alberta government is aware of what we need," he said.