Kato, "Our problems are not each other. Our problems are much bigger"
I AGREE 100%!!!!!!!!!!!
These &^(&ing packers are playing us against each other! You mention you are getting tired of getting kicked, well that's exactly what is happening to US producers when each load of fats comes South. Look in the background of the Van Dyke deal - you have Swift themselves bringing in Canadian fats. Knowing the basics of how supply and demand effect prices, what effect do you think those fats had on the local prices? That's been happening for years! We're getting kicked! That's what got R-CALF started. We realize that Kato, Manitoba Rancher, Rod, etc... aren't depressing our prices. However, we do realize that Swift, Tyson, Cargill, Excel are depressing our prices with the cattle they bought from you.
What we need to do is get these bastards off our backs - yours and ours. NCBA keeps telling us that 96% of the world's population lies outside the US. If so, why is your business plan to serve that 4%? Because that's what Tyson and Cargill want and "Canada" can't do a dang thing about it. There is no "Canada". If there was, "Canada" would tell the US to hang their border polices in their ash and they would then go after the lucrative markets in asia, the EU, etc... Tyson and Cargill are "Canada".
R-CALF isn't your problem. R-CALF is just the tool that exposed your problem. You've got a sore butt, and you're blaming the x-ray that revealed the broom stick up your rectum. Somebody up there is going to have to grow a pair and say, "This isn't cutting it, and this is how we're going to do it now". You've got people like Cam Ostercamp who will do exactly that, but everybody gets wishy washy and says, "You can't pick winners". Horse crap! Pick a winner, and make it be yourselves! Tyson and Cargill did! You think they don't work every angle they can to their advantage? Why do people think they need to apologize for trying to give their own countrymen an advantage over foreigners? That's like a hockey player not wanting to pass directly to his teammate because the defense doesn't get an equal chance at the puck! Are you playing to win or not? But, that dang R-CALF is your problem....kicking us when we're down... Hey, if you're in a position where a foreign trade organization can upset your applecart, you probably deserve it.