P.E.I. beef plant bringing in cattle from Quebec due to low local supply
Low stocks in Maritimes a 'lost opportunity' for local economy, says Atlantic Beef Products
About 20 per cent of the cattle processed at P.E.I.'s Atlantic Beef Products plant comes from Quebec because there's not enough local supply, according to the company's president.
Russ Mallard said the company brings in between 4,000 to 6,000 cattle a year from Quebec. There are no contracts with producers to supply a certain number of cattle, he said, so the need to import cattle varies from week to week.
P.E.I. herd numbers down
He would like to buy the cattle locally, but he said herds on P.E.I. and surrounding provinces dropped considerably after the mad cow crisis in the mid-2000s. In 2004-05, about 30,000 cattle were available on P.E.I., he said, but now it's more than halved to 12-13,000 head of cattle.
"Our customers are growing and if we don't grow with our customers, then they'll grow with somebody else," Mallard said. "So we are encouraging and working closely with the industry in New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia to put more cattle on feed so that we can bring more cattle in."
Mallard said there is an effort to build the numbers back up, but that takes time. He said the plant could use about 10,000 more head of cattle a year from local producers in order to supply local products year-round and to grow their business.
'A loss of opportunity'
"Any animals we don't buy locally really represent a loss of opportunity for the local economy," he said. "So we want to work with the local governments, the local producers to see what we can do to encourage more production."
Mallard thinks if Atlantic beef producers had price insurance, as farmers in Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada do, that would encourage growth. He said that insurance issues payments if the price drops below what is expected.
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With files from Laura Chapin