MB Conservative Senator Says Liberals COVID-19 Response Falls Short For Agriculture

May 22, 2020

Manitoba Conservative Senator Don Plett says the $252 million COVID-19 aid package announced for the agriculture sector earlier this month falls short of what is required.

The government’s announcement includes $125 million to help livestock producers faced with additional costs incurred by COVID-19.

"They are culling cattle and hogs as we speak because they cannot afford to raise them," said Plett. "This falls way short and the Trudeau government has clearly, as they have done with the oil industry, they are now doing with the livestock industry, and indeed all farming, thumbing their nose at Canadian farmers right across the country."

Plett says much of the announced assistance to agriculture was just a re-announcement of previous commitments.

He adds grain farmers were also left out of the announcement.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.