“Producer perspectives from across the country help ensure the code reflects the diversity of Canadian beef production systems and remains practical for producers who raise cattle,” Canadian Cattle Association president Tyler Fulton said in a news release.

WHY IT MATTERS: The national code serves as a reference point for provincial animal enforcement officers and courts and sets a basic standard of care for beef cattle in Canada, the Canadian Cattle Association says.

The current code of practice was published in 2013. An update began in 2023 with a 15-person committee that includes representatives from the cattle, processor and transport sectors, veterinary and animal welfare experts, researchers, government representatives and others.

The process involves “respectful dialogue, evidence-based decision-making, and shared accountability,” the news release said.

The draft code of practices includes changes such as:

• Added requirements for monitoring cattle “more frequently” during heat waves and cold weather
• Added requirements for natural or man-made shelter from wind in cold weather
• Expanded guidlines around low-stress handling
• Added requirements around not branding cattle on the face or sensitive areas, and use of pain medication when branding cattle under six months old
• An added section on spaying of female cattle — a practice it says isn’t common in Canada
• Expanded requirements and information around euthanizing cattle, including acceptable methods

Public consultation is open until June 12.

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“After extensive producer engagement and input from provincial beef organizations, the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) does not support proceeding with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) currently proposed amendments to Part XV of the Health of Animals Regulations (Identification and Traceability),” the organization said in a post to social media on Monday.

It added that it supports livestock traceability for disease preparedness, market access and confidence in the beef sector. The association said it and provincial groups will convene a task force “to work for producers on a risk-based, industry-led approach to disease preparedness and emergency management.”

The stance comes after outcry from beef producers across Canada earlier this year, who expressed concerns about “government overreach” and burdensome regulation.

The changes, which included reporting animal move-ins within seven days and more robust requirements around premise identification numbers and required reporting, were first intended to roll out this spring. The Canadian Food Inspection said in January that it would pause the publication of proposed amendments after hearing producer concerns.

The proposed regulations are aligned with the industry-led Cattle Implementation Plan, which was established by all sectors of industry at the National Cattle Traceability Summit in August 2011 and adopted in 2016.

On Jan. 9, CCA president Tyler Fulton posted a message to social media platform X, noting those concerns from membership.

“Be assured the Canadian Cattle Association has and will continue to advocate for a traceability system that works for ranchers and feeders and beef farmers,” he said.

He added, however, that being able to. move quickly to disease threats is key to the beef sector’s business.

“Given the Canadian cattle industry’s reliance on export markets, we need to be prepared and have the tools available to manage animal disease events quickly and efficiently,” he said in the same post.

—With files from Janelle Rudolph

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“CCA has launched an online traceability feedback survey to ensure that producers have an opportunity to share their feedback,” the organization said on social media.

It includes 15 questions, including the importance of traceability to the Canadian beef industry, level of support for “enhancing” the current traceability system and the regulations’ importance to producers.

This gathering of information comes nearly one month after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that it was pausing the publication of proposed amendments to Part XV of the Health of Animals Regulations, which that was intended to occur this spring.

The move followed weeks of outcry from beef producers across Canada.

The proposed regulations are aligned with the Cattle Implementation Plan, which was established by all sectors of industry at the National Cattle Traceability Summit in August 2011 and adopted in 2016. A summary of the plan can be found on the CCIA website.

Many worry that the regulations will unnecessarily burdensome for those who raise, move, feed, and purchase animals.

Across social media platforms and at meetings, producers expressed concern with “government overreach” and said they would not comply with the regulations.

Many producers and provincial organizations also said there had been insufficient communication on the part of industry leaders, the CFIA and the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency.

“The Canadian Cattle Association has, and will continue, to advocate for traceability systems that work for ranchers and feeders and beef farmers,” CCA president Tyler Fulton said in an X video Jan 9.

“Given the Canadian cattle industry’s reliance on export markets, we need to be prepared and have the tools available to manage animal disease events quickly and efficiently.”

Local cattle associations such as Alberta Beef Producers and the Saskatchewan Cattle Association have scheduled producer meetings, with SCA hosting two traceability information meetings in February, weeks after the annual general meeting where traceability and the CFIA were the hottest topics.

“We encourage Saskatchewan producers to take a few minutes to participate and ensure your experience and concerns are reflected in ongoing discussions around traceability,” said SCA on social media.

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Brocklebank is currently the executive director of the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC), a division of the Canadian Cattle Association.

Brocklebank will be replacing executive vice president Dennis Laycraft, who is retiring. Laycraft will be maintaining business as usual until the leadership transition takes place in March.

Brockleback was chosen based on the reccomendation of an executive recruitment firm.

“She’s been leading the BCRC for about 20 years and it’s grown tremendously over that time, including building a reputation for being a very trusted, credible organization that keeps producers at the centre of all its decisions,” said BCRC communications director Tracy Herbert.

During that time, the research council has funded important research and collaborated with many other groups.

“Our extension and knowledge mobilization portfolio started under Andrea’s leadership and has grown tremendously as well,” Herbert said.

“Andrea was born and raised on a beef operation and manages it now with her husband, so she’s very grounded in the realities of production and takes a very pragmatic approach and strategic forward-thinking approach to her leadership.”

“Working with Andrea for the past 15 years, I’ve watched and been inspired by her qualities, which are integrity, resilience, humility and clarity, and she has led a fantastic culture here at the BCRC,” Herbert said.

”It’s a culture of pragmatism, respectfulness and curiosity, and those are some of the qualities that have contributed to her success, her positive impact and her collaboration. Those will serve her very well at the CCA.”

The CEO role is new to the Canadian Cattle Association. CCA president Tyler Fulton said it was chosen because it more accurately represents the role of the senior staff member.

Herbert will be BCRC’s interim executive director. She has led the BCRC’s knowledge mobilization and communications program since 2011.

Herbert lives in Lloydminster. Her family operates a mixed farm between Neilburg and Maidstone, Sask.

-Updated Jan. 7

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The decision was made following extensive decision and strategic review by the board of ABP.

In a press release, Doug Roxburgh, chair of ABP, said national organizations like the CCA must deliver value to Alberta’s cattle producers.

He said ABP has high standards for fiscal transparency, governance and communications, and they expect the same from the organizations they are involved with.

“The CCA does not meet those standards,” said Roxburgh, who raises cattle near Bentley.

“After seeing no meaningful progress or willingness to change, we’ve made the decision to withdraw our membership,” he said.

Roxburgh said ABP has a duty to Albertan producers to make sure their dollars are invested in organizations that reflect and advance the beef industry’s values.

ABP will continue to be fully committed to representing Alberta’s cattle producers and ensure that their interests are advocated for at the provincial and federal levels.

Brad Dubeau, General Manager of ABP, said the organization will continue to deliver strong representation for Alberta’s beef industry.

“In light of the Board’s decision, we have mapped a strong path forward to ensure Alberta’s voice continues to be heard- provincially, nationally and internationally,” he said.

ABP will fulfill all its financial obligations to the CCA until the conclusion of the agreement on June 30, 2026.

ABP currently funds over 50 per cent of the CCA budget through the two-dollar Alberta service charge. ABP’s decision to withdraw from CCA will not affect funding to the Canadian Beef Check-off Agency, or its service providers, which include Canada Beef, Public and Stakeholder Engagement, and the Beef Cattle Research Council.

ABP said its goal is to prioritize the long-term strength and viability of its provincial operations, a decision that will continue to build a resilient, transparent and producer-driven organization that will meet the evolving nature of Alberta’s cattle industry.

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The Canadian Cattle Association reported Schellenberg’s death in a release Saturday, adding that the association’s current vice-president, rancher Nathan Phinney of Sackville, N.B., will now become CCA president.

“With heavy hearts, CCA’s board and staff will continue to push forward on the priorities that were important to Reg, as well as cattle producers across Canada,” the association said Saturday.

“Reg’s legacy and impact on the Canadian cattle industry will be felt for years to come. His gentle demeanour and strong character are qualities that many of us in the industry looked up to,” Phinney said in the same release.

“He will be fondly remembered for being a tireless advocate for cattle producers, taking a particular interest in advancing the priorities related to animal health and care, as well as protecting and preserving our industry for the next generation.”

Schellenberg had worked at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Swift Current Research and Development Centre in southwestern Saskatchewan before going to work with Perrin Ranching, near Beechy, about 110 km northeast of Swift Current, in 1978.

Schellenberg married Ted and Olive Perrin’s daughter Shannon in 1980 and by 1983 the Schellenbergs were active shareholders in the ranch. The Schellenbergs’ son Coy and his wife Laura-Lie more recently became their partners in the 14,000-acre ranch, now known as Perrin Ranching 1990 Ltd.

The elder Schellenberg served with the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association as a director and zone chair and later as a member of its executive, and was first elected to the CCA board as a Saskatchewan representative in 2010. He served stints as chair of CCA’s animal care committee, then as co-chair of its animal health and care committee (2016-20) and, later, of its foreign trade committee (2020-22), and as the association’s representative to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency.

Schellenberg also served as CCA vice-president from 2020 up until March 25, when he was elected by acclamation to replace Bob Lowe as president.

In an interview with Canadian Cattlemen earlier this year, Schellenberg said animal health and care had always been an important focus for him throughout his involvement in CCA, and that the creation of a foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank in Canada was a priority for him as president.

Highlighting the beef industry’s positive environmental impact and building public trust were also important roles for the organization, he said at the time, “to make it very clear that cattle and rangeland are part of the solution, not the problem.

“That’s the key message we have to really focus on and emphasize and gain as much support and traction as we can because we know the livestock sector tends to get blamed for some of these things. Our alternative is bringing awareness that rangeland management and grazing of livestock is actually a benefit rather than a liability.”

Melanie Wowk, chair of Alberta Beef Producers, on Saturday expressed “overwhelming sadness” over Schellenberg’s sudden passing, hailing him as “a true cowboy, rancher and gentleman.”

The Livestock Marketing Association of Canada, in a statement on Facebook Friday evening, described Schellenberg as a “great friend of LMAC and a tireless leader of the Canadian cattle industry.”

Alberta’s Agriculture Minister Nate Horner, on Twitter Saturday, praised Schellenberg as “a tremendous advocate for Canadian ranchers, producers and rural communities.”

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, in a separate tweet Saturday, also said she was saddened to hear of Schellenberg’s sudden passing. “Reg was a strong advocate for the cattle sector and we will truly miss him.”

Details weren’t yet available on what led to Schellenberg’s sudden death, although LMAC said in its Facebook statement Friday night that he had died of “an apparent heart attack.”

A service is scheduled for Dec. 16 in Swift Current and is expected to be livestreamed. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Canadian Cattle Foundation in support of the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders program.

— Article updated Dec. 7 to include memorial information. Updated Aug. 28, 2024. Corrects spelling of Laura-Lie Schellenburg’s name.

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The organization formerly known as the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association on Thursday launched what it describes as a “a new brand identity, highlighting the strong and diverse group invested in raising some of the world’s best beef.”

What’s now the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) described its new identity as “one that is dynamic, forward-thinking, climate positive and quintessentially Canadian.”

A new logo, visual identity and positioning “reaffirms CCA’s commitment to supporting communities, embracing innovation and contributing to the overall sustainability of Canada’s food system,” the association said in a release.

“For 90 years, CCA has been the voice of beef farmers and ranchers across the country,” president Reg Schellenberg, a southwestern Saskatchewan producer, said in the same release.

“Our organization has grown to include the 60,000 members we represent today. It is important that our name, logo and brand also grow and be reflective of how our organization has evolved.”

The word “cattlemen” is considered by some to already be an accepted gender-nonspecific term with no exclusion or disrespect implied, and suggestions that the word be dropped from associations’ branding have met some resistance.

The Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association’s members, during their virtual annual general meeting in February last year, defeated a motion for the SCA to “change its name to better reflect the gender diversity of its members.”

In that meeting’s minutes, the SCA noted there were “no suggestions at hand” and that its name was “discussed at formation [in 2009] and was deemed an overall term.”

For its part, the CCA had said at that time it was having ongoing discussions about the matter and had already changed its bylaws to refer to cattle producers rather than gender-specific terms. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, National Cattle Feeders’ Association, Canadian Pork Council, Canadian Meat Council, Canadian Produce Marketing Association and Canadian Horticultural Council signed onto a joint request Friday.

The ag groups’ request follows border blockades set up at three of Canada’s major land ports for U.S. cross-border trade: Coutts, Alta., southeast of Lethbridge; Emerson, Man., south of Winnipeg; and Windsor, Ont., where access to the Ambassador Bridge connecting that city and Detroit has been blockaded.

The blockades were mounted in tandem with a now-weeks-long demonstration in Ottawa concerning current federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers, among other grievances related to pandemic-related public health policy and federal politics.

While single lanes of northbound and southbound traffic had been allowed to resume at Coutts — the longest-running border blockade of the three — that formation was again shut tight as of Friday, preventing any vehicles from crossing.

At Emerson, as of Friday, Manitoba RCMP reported emergency vehicles and “some agriculture transports” have been able to get through that blockade, but “otherwise there is no traffic flow in the area” and motorists are asked to avoid the Emerson area if possible.

No tickets have yet been issued at Emerson and no arrests yet made, RCMP said. However, Chief Superintendent Rob Hill said Friday, “let me stress that proper use of police discretion should not be confused with lack of enforcement.”

Police, he said, “always need to assess the situation at ground level and that may require us to wait for a lower-risk opportunity to do enforcement rather than inflame the situation.”

At Windsor, meanwhile, an Ontario Superior Court judge on Friday granted an injunction sought by the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) to prevent “any persons having notice of the (court) order” from blocking the Ambassador Bridge or any access to the bridge for 10 days starting at 7 p.m. ET Friday.

Intervenors backing the APMA’s application included the City of Windsor, Ontario’s Attorney General Doug Downey and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association.

The province said Friday the injunction “authorizes the police to use powers of arrest and seizure to enforce it.”

“People remain at liberty to engage in a peaceful, lawful and safe protest that does not impede or block access to the Ambassador Bridge and approaching roadways,” the city said in a release Friday.

However, news reports from the scene have shown the bridge blockade and protestors still in place after 7 p.m.

The farm and agrifood groups on Friday called for “immediate action by all parties to fully reopen Canada’s trade corridors” and for “all levels of government” to work “towards action to reinstate integral transport and trade corridors.”

Transport of fruits and vegetables, meat, food packaging, feed supplies, livestock shipments, transport equipment, and “integral inputs for agriculture and food processing” have already been “seriously impacted” by the blockades, the groups said.

These blockades are impacting the livelihoods of Canadian farm families, the further businesses they are connected to and the timely supply and delivery of essential goods.

Agriculture and food traffic between Canada and the U.S. averaged $137 million per day in 2020 alone, the groups noted, with Coutts, Emerson and Windsor serving as “key trade routes for those goods.”

On top of its status as a manufacturing and automotive sector hub, about 80 per cent of Ontario’s greenhouse vegetable industry, or about 2,600 acres, is based in the Windsor-Essex area, the city noted in its release.

“The recent blockades have compounded the strain on a fragile system that is working to address food inflation and availability,” Ron Lemaire of the CPMA said in the ag groups’ statement.

“As trade between Canada and the United States relies heavily on open and fluid transportation corridors, it is essential all levels of government work together to address these issues and allow for the uninterrupted flow of perishable goods with our largest trading partner,” he said, referring to the U.S.

Canadian Pork Council chair Rick Bergmann noted that sector’s supply chain “operates on a structured, just-in-time delivery system for animal feed, movement of live animals across Canada and the U.S. and many more critical materials.”

Kinks in that supply chain, he said, “impact producers’ mental health and potentially the health and welfare of the animals we are entrusted to care for. Our industry cannot sustain any more delays.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Thursday announced it has delivered “negligible risk” status for BSE to both Canada and Ireland.

Canada, which has had “controlled risk” status for BSE since 2007, had applied to the OIE last July for the upgrade.

The OIE’s Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases in March this year ruled Canada fulfilled the requirements for negligible risk, and the World Assembly of OIE Delegates announced its vote of approval Thursday.

Thursday’s decision marks “a historic closing of the BSE era for Canada which brought unprecedented hardship to our industry in the early 2000s,” Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) president Bob Lowe said in a release.

Many countries halted and/or restricted their imports of Canadian beef after Canada’s first case of BSE in domestic cattle was discovered in May 2003 — a “significant impact,” the CCA noted, as about half of Canada’s beef production goes to exports.

“Although difficult to fully quantify the direct economic impacts of BSE, between just 2003 and 2006, losses were estimated to be between $4.9 (billion and) $5.5 billion,” the CCA said. Since then, the beef sector has faced “opportunity costs of continued limited market access and additional processing costs.”

Between 2006 and 2011, the CCA said, 26,000 beef producers left the industry and over 2.22 million acres of pasture were converted to other uses.

The change in status from controlled-risk to negligible-risk “will help facilitate expanded access to foreign markets for various beef products currently limited by BSE era restrictions,” the association said.

Specifically, it “enhances (Canada’s) negotiation position in efforts to gain access to additional export markets for Canadian cattle, beef and beef products among countries that require products to originate from countries with negligible BSE risk status,” the federal government said Thursday in a separate release, noting it will inform those countries of the upgrade.

As of mid-March, remaining BSE-related export restrictions in some countries include a few all-out bans on Canadian beef — such as in Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Bolivia and Uruguay.

Others, meanwhile, maintain import bans on Canada’s bone-in beef, offal and/or beef from animals over 30 months of age (OTMs), which are believed to be the highest-risk age group for development of BSE.

China, Russia and Peru, for examples, still accept Canadian bone-in beef only from cattle under 30 months (UTMs) and boneless beef from OTMs. Others such as South Korea, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Egypt accept Canadian beef but only from UTMs. Indonesia accepts Canadian boneless beef from both UTMs and OTMs.

‘Continued observance’

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Thursday hailed the decision as “confirm(ing) that Canada’s beef production system is sound, safe and respected.”

The upgrade puts Canada on the same BSE risk level as many major beef-producing and -exporting nations including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India, New Zealand, Mexico and, since 2013, the United States.

For negligible-risk status, a country must show its last case of “classical” BSE was born more than 11 years ago and effective control measures and surveillance systems are in place. Canada’s last BSE case, discovered in 2015, was in a cow born in 2009.

BSE in infected cattle concentrates in nervous system tissues classified as specified risk materials (SRMs), which are removed from all Canadian cattle slaughtered for human consumption. SRMs include the skull, brain, eyes, tonsils, spinal cord and nerve ganglia attached to the brain and spinal cord, plus the distal ileum portion of the small intestine.

To limit the disease’s spread among cattle, the federal government banned most proteins, including SRMs, from cattle feed in 1997, and since 2007 has banned SRMs from all feeds, pet foods and fertilizers.

The OIE requires negligible-risk-level countries to show evidence of an “effective” ban on ruminant-to-ruminant feeding for at least eight years and “negligible risk with regard to the BSE agent for at least seven years.”

As with controlled-risk countries, negligible-risk countries must also show “intensive” active surveillance for BSE over at least a seven-year period, and maintained over time, the OIE says.

BSE risk status, according to the OIE, only applies in relation to “classical” BSE, which is transmitted through infected feed sources, rather than “atypical” BSE, forms of which are believed to occur spontaneously in cattle populations at a very low rate. All but one of the cases seen in the U.S., for example, were deemed to be “atypical” BSE.

Maintaining OIE status for BSE “is dependent on the continued observance of OIE standards,” the federal government cautioned Thursday. “Failure to comply provides ground for the OIE to revoke the given status.”

‘Great day’

For its part, the CCA said Thursday it will now focus on getting remaining BSE-era market access restrictions removed, and on the “alignment of packing house requirements with international recommendations.”

“We thank everyone involved in helping us attain this status including the government of Canada, veterinarians across Canada and Canadian farmers and ranchers,” Lowe said. “We also thank Canadian consumers who supported Canada’s beef industry during the hardest times of BSE when Canadian beef couldn’t be exported.”

“This is a great day for beef producers across the country, many of whom remember the devastation caused by BSE when it first emerged in Canada over 15 years ago,” federal Trade Minister Mary Ng said Thursday. “With this recognition, Canada is positioned to negotiate greater access to international export markets for our top-quality beef products.”

Most of Canada’s major beef export markets have already approved all Canadian beef based on their recognition of controlled-risk status, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency noted Thursday.

Those include the U.S., which took in $2.5 billion worth of Canadian beef in 2020, along with Japan ($305 million), Hong Kong ($109 million), Mexico ($106 million), Vietnam ($41 million), the Philippines ($5.1 million) and the United Arab Emirates ($3.8 million).

Earlier this month, Canada reached an agreement granting beef export access to Oman. Full market access for Canadian beef was also restored this month in Kuwait following a similar agreement reached in mid-March, ending a BSE-related ban in that country.

Guatemala last month also confirmed approval for all Canadian beef, where previously its Canadian imports were limited to boneless UTM beef.

“On the negative side of the market access balance sheet, Qatar has reduced Canada’s previous full beef access to boneless UTM beef only,” the CCA noted in a statement last month.

Canada between 2003 and 2015 confirmed 19 cases of BSE in domestic cattle. A progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system in cattle, crudely called “mad cow disease,” BSE is in the family of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) such as scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people.

No treatment or vaccine against BSE is yet available, and no method yet exists to confirm the BSE agent’s presence in live animals.

From a public health perspective, the deaths of about 230 people worldwide from a variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are believed to be connected to consumption of contaminated beef from BSE-infected cattle.

According to Health Canada, no cases of vCJD have ever been linked to eating Canadian beef and BSE in Canada poses an “extremely low” risk to human health.

Among other decisions announced Thursday, OIE delegates also voted to deem Italy and Paraguay free of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), three zones of Brazil free of foot and mouth disease (FMD), and two zones of Russia and one zone of Colombia FMD-free where vaccination is practised. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The federal government on Monday released its list and map of prescribed drought regions where tax deferral on sales of breeding livestock has been authorized for the 2020 tax year.

In regions officially designated for drought, flood or excess moisture, the tax deferral provision allows eligible producers who reduced their breeding herds by at least 15 per cent to defer part of their 2020 income from sales until their next non-designated tax year.

To defer income, a producer’s breeding herd must have been reduced by at least 15 per cent. If the herd was cut by at least 15 per cent, but less than 30 per cent, then 30 per cent of income from net sales can be deferred. Where a producer reduced a breeding herd by 30 per cent or more, 90 per cent of income from net sales can be deferred.

In the 2021 tax year — or the next tax year in which the designation is lifted for a specific region — the income from those sales can be at least partially offset by the cost of reacquiring breeding animals, “thus reducing the potential tax burden,” the government said.

Along with all of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the drought-designated regions include 82 census subdivisions in southeastern Quebec’s Gaspesie and Bas-Saint-Laurent regions, plus the Cumberland census subdivisions A, B, C and D and Colchester subdivision A in northwestern Nova Scotia.

In those regions last year, “low moisture levels resulted in significant forage shortages for livestock producers,” the government said, and reducing breeding herds so as to manage feed supplies was one available option.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association said Tuesday it appreciates the designations, but noted that with the 2020 individual tax year payment deadline of April 30, 2021 already passed, “eligible producers may need to take additional steps to utilize the deferral.”

For example, the CCA said, producers who’ve yet to file a self-employed farming income 2020 tax return have until June 15 this year to account for the deferral provisions.

If an eligible producer want to defer such income but already filed a return for 2020, the CCA recommends producers talk to a tax professional about filing a 2020 tax return adjustment.

In its statement, the CCA also said its position is still that “considerable amendments to the provision are needed to make it a more functional risk management tool for cattle producers.”

For example, the association said, the provision could be set up so producers could use it “through individual election rather than a geographic determination.”

That way, the provision doesn’t run the risk of “delayed announcements” or excluding access for affected producers who fall outside a designated area’s exact boundary lines. The CCA said it would also like to see all classes of cattle eligible under the deferral provision.

The CCA noted the House of Commons’ standing committee on agriculture and agri-food, in a report last fall on business risk management programs, recommended the federal government work with farm groups on a “comprehensive review” of the deferral provision. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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