Ranchers’ Choice packs it in
Slaughterhouse project laid to rest
By Cindy McKay
Interlake Spectator
Friday February 16, 2007
Gimli, MB
Canada
Despite three years of lobbying and hard work, the Ranchers’ Choice Beef Co-op executive recently announced it is no longer able to go ahead with a Dauphin slaughter plant.
“It’s a shame. It’s a huge loss for Manitoba. Packing plants are making more money now than they ever have,” said board chairman Bob Munroe. “We had everything done. All we had to do was sign with one of four contractors and within one-and-a-half months there would have been a spade in the ground. But government rejected the final proposal.”
According to Munroe, all the hurdles had been cleared by the organization. It was left to the provincial government to approve the final financial package.
“It wasn’t so much the dollars as the fact that bankers were reluctant to lend to the co-op. If the project was to fail two or three years down the road, government would have to underwrite the loss and they weren’t interested,” Munroe said. “I tend to look at the glass as half full whereas government tends to look at the glass as half empty and getting emptier.”
Ranchers’ Choice was born out of the West Interlake in the summer of 2003 during the BSE crisis. With the border soundly closed to cattle over 30 months of age, slaughtering cull cows and bulls had virtually come to a halt.
The idea to build a slaughter plant grew into a province-wide initiative with government suggesting if 1,000 producers supported the facility, it would kick in some equity, which it did by the way of $2.5 million. A further $7 million in loan guarantees went to Ranchers’ Choice. The provincial government also created the Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Fund to enhance slaughter capacity. The council assesses a $2 check off on every animal sold at auction marts. Some of this money was to be committed to Ranchers’ Choice.
Provincial cattle producers would jump on-board to support the Ranchers’ Choice initiative. Huge recruitment drives took place over a two-year period, attracting 3,300 members who were prepared to invest $1.6 million in the prospective operation.
Throughout the project, every time the organization met government demands, the bar was raised higher.
It wasn’t enough.
Citing the lack of producer support for Ranchers’ Choice as the biggest reason government pulled away, Munroe is disappointed that provincial farm organizations such as Manitoba Cattle Producers Association and Keystone Agriculture Producers did not endorse the project.
“We can’t lay the blame because producers didn’t support it; that serves no purpose,” Munroe, 74, said. “Cattlemen are an independent bunch. Once this is cleaned up, we will try something else. I’ve been in this business since 1954 and haven’t entirely given up.”
The $1.6 million in investment capital will be returned to producers but the membership fees will not.
“Once we are in the clear, there will be a general meeting of the membership to decide what to do with the co-op,” Munroe said.
interlakespectator.com
Slaughterhouse project laid to rest
By Cindy McKay
Interlake Spectator
Friday February 16, 2007
Gimli, MB
Canada
Despite three years of lobbying and hard work, the Ranchers’ Choice Beef Co-op executive recently announced it is no longer able to go ahead with a Dauphin slaughter plant.
“It’s a shame. It’s a huge loss for Manitoba. Packing plants are making more money now than they ever have,” said board chairman Bob Munroe. “We had everything done. All we had to do was sign with one of four contractors and within one-and-a-half months there would have been a spade in the ground. But government rejected the final proposal.”
According to Munroe, all the hurdles had been cleared by the organization. It was left to the provincial government to approve the final financial package.
“It wasn’t so much the dollars as the fact that bankers were reluctant to lend to the co-op. If the project was to fail two or three years down the road, government would have to underwrite the loss and they weren’t interested,” Munroe said. “I tend to look at the glass as half full whereas government tends to look at the glass as half empty and getting emptier.”
Ranchers’ Choice was born out of the West Interlake in the summer of 2003 during the BSE crisis. With the border soundly closed to cattle over 30 months of age, slaughtering cull cows and bulls had virtually come to a halt.
The idea to build a slaughter plant grew into a province-wide initiative with government suggesting if 1,000 producers supported the facility, it would kick in some equity, which it did by the way of $2.5 million. A further $7 million in loan guarantees went to Ranchers’ Choice. The provincial government also created the Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Fund to enhance slaughter capacity. The council assesses a $2 check off on every animal sold at auction marts. Some of this money was to be committed to Ranchers’ Choice.
Provincial cattle producers would jump on-board to support the Ranchers’ Choice initiative. Huge recruitment drives took place over a two-year period, attracting 3,300 members who were prepared to invest $1.6 million in the prospective operation.
Throughout the project, every time the organization met government demands, the bar was raised higher.
It wasn’t enough.
Citing the lack of producer support for Ranchers’ Choice as the biggest reason government pulled away, Munroe is disappointed that provincial farm organizations such as Manitoba Cattle Producers Association and Keystone Agriculture Producers did not endorse the project.
“We can’t lay the blame because producers didn’t support it; that serves no purpose,” Munroe, 74, said. “Cattlemen are an independent bunch. Once this is cleaned up, we will try something else. I’ve been in this business since 1954 and haven’t entirely given up.”
The $1.6 million in investment capital will be returned to producers but the membership fees will not.
“Once we are in the clear, there will be a general meeting of the membership to decide what to do with the co-op,” Munroe said.
interlakespectator.com