Wheat Growers Frustrated With Government's Supply Management Spending

Jul 30, 2019

The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association is frustrated the Federal Government continues to throw money at supply management.

The Group's Alberta Director and Fort Macleod grain farmer, Stephen Vandervalk, says the Government's promised supply managed sectors an over $4 billion compensation package for allowing foreign access to a small percentage of their Canadian market in recent trade deals, and the latest $16.9 million in federal funding to the dairy sector is the icing on the cake.

He says grain farmers continue to lose market access for Canadian grains, pulses and oilseeds to countries like China, which has left him wondering where the Government's priorities are as supply managed sectors only represent under 10 per cent of Canadian producers.

"They don't have a new ambassador to China, there's just no plan whatsoever," Vandervalk said. "There's no solution in sight and then you see money being handed out to other sectors for something that is far less of an issue than what we're facing."

Vandervalk stresses supply management didn't necessarily lose roughly 7 per cent of their Canadian market in trade negotiations, as it's just a small portion which is now open to foreign companies to compete in.

The Wheat Growers says over the past two years farmers have also lost market access for their products exported to India, Italy, Peru, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia resulting in a potential loss of over $3.7 billion, which Vandervalk attributes to the Government's failures on the world stage.

Click here to see more...

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.