Former federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz was recently awarded the 2017 Beef Industry Innovation and Sustainability Award, presented by the Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA).
The award recognizes innovations that contribute to the competitiveness and sustainability of the Canadian beef Industry.
Serving as agriculture minister from 2007 to 2015, Ritz was part of a number of efforts that benefited Canada's beef sector.
The following statement was issued by the CCA in its latest edition of Action News:
The CCA presented the Honorable Gerry Ritz with the 2017 Beef Industry Innovation & Sustainability Award recently at the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence in Calgary. Presented on behalf of the beef producers who operate Canada’s 60,000 beef operations, BIISA recognizes innovations that contribute to the competitiveness and sustainability of the Canadian beef industry.
The Centre of Excellence is a fitting venue for the presentation to Ritz, who in 2014, as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister, announced $3.85 million in funding for the innovative new facility. At the time, Ritz noted that funding such innovation would give the Canadian beef industry a competitive advantage in showcasing Canada’s top-quality meats and enable producers to capitalize on new and existing market opportunities. To date, the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence has directly engaged 226 domestic and 242 foreign companies in business development programming; has hosted 46 international missions and 42 domestic missions; and helped generate over $380 million in new Canadian beef business.
A farmer himself before entering politics in 1997, Ritz brought an intimate understanding of agriculture to government. By living his catchphrase of ‘putting farmers first,’ Canada’s agri-food trade would increase more than 70 per cent during his tenure as Agriculture Minister and the sector rightfully gained prominence as a significant contributor to the Canadian economy. He was instrumental in encouraging talks that would lead to the beginnings of trade deals of benefit to the beef industry, like the Canada-EU Economic and Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
As Agriculture Minister between 2007 and 2015, under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ritz successfully fought for fair and open access for producers and exporters and against unscientific trade restrictions on Canadian products. Understanding the importance of global markets to farmers who produce world-class beef and cattle, Ritz travelled extensively to open, restore or expand market access for Canada’s high-quality cattle and beef products using a science-based approach to trade.
For the beef and hog sectors, Ritz led the long and arduous battle against U.S. Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL), pulling no punches in calling it blatant protectionism. He stood ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with beef producers as Canada pursued all options available to resolve the dispute, including the establishment of a World Trade Organization compliance panel on COOL.
Source : Steinbachonline