Dr. Joyce Van Donkersgoed wins award for contributions to cattle care

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Joyce Van Donkersgoed is a valued member of the cattle feeding sector who we’ve written about in previous posts on this blog. Her contributions to animal care and welfare make hers a familiar name among industry members.

We were delighted to see Joyce recognized at the 50th annual conference of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners on Sept. 14, 2017, in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Metacam® 20 Bovine Welfare Award is given each year to recognize the achievements of an individual in advancing the welfare of animals via leadership, public service, education, research/product development, and/or advocacy. It is awarded to a doctor of veterinary medicine or animal scientist working in Canada, or a faculty member or a graduate student of a Canadian university. The recipient is someone whose work significantly improves bovine welfare in cattle production and research systems, or improves scientific methods of measuring bovine welfare.

Joyce is the owner of Alberta Beef Health Solutions in Picture Butte, Alberta, providing emergency, herd health and production services as well as research and regulatory services. She was also instrumental in the development of the Feedlot Animal Care Assessment Program (pdf) which we wrote about in ‘New assessment tool to audit feedlot animal care’.

Of her research work, Joyce said: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure, which includes animal welfare, and we must continually strive to improve. Beef veterinarians have a key ethical and moral responsibility to ensure animal welfare whilst balancing the needs of their clients. It isn’t always simple or easy to do, but persistence does pay off over time if you don’t give up and are doing the right thing for the animals, which is ultimately best for the client.”

Joyce donated the $2,000 award to the National Cattle Feeders’ Association (NCFA) Welfare Committee.

You can read more about Joyce and her achievements in ‘Feedlot people: meet a cattle feedlot veterinarian’.

Cattle feeders head to Ottawa to support NAFTA negotiations

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Canada’s beef producers are anxious to preserve the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) because it is a great example of how free trade should work. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has threatened to pull his country out of the pact.

What NAFTA has meant to the Canadian beef industry

NAFTA’s tri-lateral market access — without tariffs or quotas for either beef or live cattle — has resulted in healthy trade between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

According to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, in 2016, Canada exported 270,000 tonnes of beef and 764,000 head of live cattle to the U.S., valued at more than $3 billion ($1.7 billion was beef and $1.4 billion live cattle). A further 16,000 tonnes of Canadian beef valued at $109 million went to Mexico, making that country Canada’s fourth largest beef export market.

In fact, almost 72 per cent of Canada’s beef exports go to the U.S., and six per cent to Mexico. Almost 59 per cent of our beef imports come from the U.S.

Beef industry submission to federal governments supports NAFTA

In May 2017, the National Cattle Feeders Association (NCFA) joined with other Canadian beef industry groups in a submission to the governments of Canada, U.S. and Mexico, stressing that NAFTA works well for beef and the relevant provisions should not be changed. The arrangement has produced an integrated North American beef industry that benefits the three countries, and has allowed Canada to build an industry that is also more competitive internationally.   

While the NAFTA talks could lead to a fine-tuning of some details – such as the elimination or reform of certain border regulations and export impediments, and the aligning and harmonizing of veterinary drug approvals – we believe it’s important for Canada’s beef producers, and the Canadian economy, to preserve this agreement.

How Canada’s beef industry is represented at the negotiation table

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has a trade division that provides advice to the chief NAFTA negotiator. The trade team has received input and advice from industry representatives, and has held briefings for industry stakeholders prior to each round of the NAFTA talks. NCFA is planning to be at the upcoming briefings for the second round that will be held in Ottawa on September 23-27. 

How Canada’s beef industry could be negatively impacted by changes to NAFTA

Any changes that would restrict the free flow of live cattle and boxed beef across the borders to the U.S. and Mexico could have a profound effect on Canada’s beef producers. Another concern is any reimplementation of Country of Origin Labelling (COOL), which has been historically damaging to the beef industry.

You can read the full submission to the governments of Canada, U.S. and Mexico  here.

Helping cattle feeders manage business risk

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Every business comes with risk, but the savvy business person is one who manages and minimizes those risks.

That’s why ACFA partnered with Lethbridge College to create an Agriculture Business Risk Management (AgBRM) program. Available online, the program is designed specifically for managers and owners of agri-businesses, such as beef, pork, grain and oilseeds.

We spoke with Lyndsay Smith, industry liaison for agriculture at Lethbridge College’s Centre for Applied Arts & Sciences, to learn more about the new program. 

“Alberta Cattle Feeders identified the need for an increased level of knowledge of agriculture business risk,” said Lyndsay. “At about the same time, Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge had received a $5 million donation from Cor Van Raay, one of Southern Alberta’s most well-known agricultural entrepreneurs and a leading cattle producer, to develop the Cor Van Raay Southern Alberta Agribusiness Program,” she said. “It was a good fit for Lethbridge College and ACFA to partner to develop the online AgBRM program as the first initiative.”

The course is aimed at owners and managers of agricultural businesses. “Since the program focuses on financial and commodity risk management, it will help industry members face the volatility challenges we have seen in the commodity markets,” said Lyndsay. 

Flexibility to fit busy work schedules

Because the course is available online, students can fit it in around their work schedules. It is divided into 28 modules and two capstone (or culminating) courses. Students who do not wish to work toward the full certificate can take any modules that interest them.

The certificate focuses on financial and commodity price risk management. This includes:

    • Statistics for Agribusiness (optional)
    • Effective Communications
    • Financial Literacy
    • Currency
    • Introduction to Market Tools
    • Government Policy and Marketing
    • Market Fundamentals
    • Market Tools
    • Risk Tolerance and Policy
    • Market Equity
    • Successful Planning in Agribusiness. 

Healthy business, healthy economy

Business Risk Management has been a focus of the provincial government’s Growing Forward 2 (GF2) suite of products and services. GF2 provides “programs and services to achieve a profitable, sustainable, competitive and innovative agriculture, agri-food and agri-products industry that is market-responsive, and that anticipates and adapts to changing circumstances, and is a major contributor to the well-being of Canadians,” according to the province’s website.

Although grant applications are not currently being accepted, Lethbridge College’s AgBRM program is very much in alignment with Growing Forward, and ACFA believes that training business owners and managers in business risk management is a key contributor to a healthy economy.

You can read more about how ACFA contributes to a vibrant, healthy cattle feeding industry on our Initiatives page.

Why Alberta’s farmers are crying out for a plastics recycling program

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Plastics are commonly used on Alberta’s farms, for instance in the form of baler twine, bale wrap, silage tarps, and feed bags. But how to responsibly dispose of them is an ongoing problem as their use increases.

To date, much of this material cannot be recycled because it cannot be burned or buried, leaving farmers with the problem of what they should do with it.

Working group addresses issue of plastics recycling

In December 2016, a working group was formed to find solutions to the problem of agricultural plastics recycling. The Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group consists of representatives from the following organizations:

Because the provincial government has not provided direction on a policy for Extended Producer Responsibility for agricultural plastics, the group decided at its December meeting to start by bringing stakeholders together on the topic. From January to June 2017, the group met with more than half a dozen producer groups (representing dairy, beef, and crop farmers, among others) to discuss the topics and issues of ag plastics waste and recycling.

One of the group’s conclusions was the need for a provincial stewardship program to provide a responsible, sustainable solution for agricultural plastic recycling. This need was also identified by Alberta’s Agricultural Service Board. It had passed a resolution in 2016, that the Ministry of Environment and Parks and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Research) should develop and implement an agricultural plastics recycling program modelled after the pilot program in Saskatchewan.

Drafting a policy framework

The Agricultural Plastics Recycling Association decided at a meeting in June 2017 that its next step would be to host a half-day meeting with all interested stakeholders to work on a draft policy framework to present to the provincial government. This meeting took place in August 2017. Alberta Environment and Parks provided a provincial update while discussion points included program examples from other jurisdictions, and the technical realities of manufacturing agricultural plastics.

Producer groups were given an opportunity to provide feedback on what they need from a plastics recycling program. ACFA noted there are a host of stewardship programs for other materials that could inform the agriculture community about how to deal with handling and recycling plastics. While most of these programs are user-pay, ACFA pointed out that there needs to be some involvement and commitment from suppliers in any program. This may be in the form of providing infrastructure such as plastic rollers and bins, to helping with initial start-up costs or awareness advertising.

How would a provincially regulated stewardship program affect Alberta producers?

A provincially regulated recycling program would ensure that producers in all agricultural-intensive regions of the province would have access to recycling programs. It’s understood that there will likely be an Environmental Handling Fee applied to agricultural plastics purchases to fund the recycling program, but this is a problem which requires an affordable, responsible and sustainable solution.

Environmental stewardship is one of the four primary pillars on which ACFA focuses its activities. You can read more about this on our Environment Pillar page.