Jan. 29, 2009
BSE test for live animals may be near
Canadian researchers and collaborators in Germany may have found a new way to test for BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in cows that could revolutionize the cattle industry and eventually change beef inspection protocol worldwide.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/jan29-09/BSE
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2002 - drought
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Lone BSE Case Devastates Beef Industry
December 01, 2003 Category: Agri-foods, Agriculture, Environment Tags: Agriculture, BSE, cattle industry
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It took just one wobbly-legged black Angus cross - pulled out of the pen while awaiting his fate at an abattoir by a sharp-eyed inspector on Jan. 31 - to send Canada’s $7-billion beef industry into an economic apocalypse.
... The tally? Between $1 billion and $1.5 billion out of the Canadian economy, depending on how quickly the world’s marketplace welcomes back Canadian beef products. At the blast’s epicentre in Alberta, Serecon estimated BSE would cost the economy between $550 million and $817 million...
While the provincial and federal governments cobbled together a $460-million bailout package for cattle ranchers, that assistance won’t muffle the impact to the bottom line at Roberge Trucking, the largest cattle hauler in Canada. The company saw more than half of its 140 trailers sit idle during the summer. That translates into a 65% drop in revenues for this year as well as future labour shortages. “My truckers have gone to the oilpatch or hauling freight because they’ve got to make a living,” says co-owner Marcel Roberge, whose company is jointly headquartered in Lloydminster and Moose Jaw.
http://www.albertaventure.com/?p=321
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Alberta gov't quietly declares BSE 'emergency'
Updated Thu. Aug. 5 2004 11:34 PM ET
Alberta gov't quietly declares BSE 'emergency'
Image - Premier Ralph Klein at Calgary Stampede
Alberta's auditor general, Fred Dunn, reported Tuesday that Alberta's three major meat packers have nearly quadrupled their profits since the outbreak.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...57/?hub=Canada
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Cattle Ranchers Need a Special Brand of Help
David Kilgour, Globe and Mail, August 20, 2004
It's hard for urban Canadians to grasp the devastation felt by tens of thousands of families who work in our national beef industry since bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in an Alberta cow, and the United States closed the border to Canadian beef more than a year ago.
http://www.david-kilgour.com/BSE/BSE...0Clippings.htm
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John Knapp, an Alberta Agriculture assistant deputy minister, said a floor price would discourage meat packers from increasing capacity by limiting the return they would earn on their investment.
Tue Aug. 12 2003 11:47:09 PM
Ottawa extends mad cow aid program
CTV.ca News Staff
Ottawa says an aid program for farmers affected by mad cow will be extended for one more week. The extension will cost about $36 million. That's on top of a $460 million federal-provincial aid package announced in June.
Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief says the payments will be made for any cattle sold 14 days prior to Sept. 1.
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local...4Entertainment
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and as a result Federal and Provincial funds for BSE supplemental payments did not go to farmers but to Tyson, Cargill and XL Foods.
The Alberta Auditor General’s report, which followed the money trail in the wake of the Alberta government’s BSE-related assistance programs, was released July 27, 2004. This report revealed that only three federally-inspected meat packers: Cargill, Tyson Foods (Lakeside) and XL Foods, controlled “at least 90%” of the capacity in
Alberta.
http://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/07/...se-crisis.html
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The immediate banning by the U.S. government of our live animals after one cow in one herd in this province was found to be BSE-positive on May 20, 2003 created a huge oversupply of products. The U.S. had received about four-fifth of our beef exports and almost all of our live cattle; the ban meant catastrophe for most in the industry. It also proved to be a “recipe made in heaven” for the packer subsidiaries of two American food giants; Lakeside (Tyson) in Brooks and Cargill in High River, which were licensed by Washington to sell boneless beef from animals under thirty months of age into the U.S.
http://www.david-kilgour.com/mp/Regi...E%20Crisis.htm
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Report of the Auditor General on the Alberta Government's BSE-Related Assistance Programs
The packers’ earnings before corporate interest and taxes rose $130/head, an increase of 281% (see page 89). [companies clumped together]
http://www.oag.ab.ca/files/oag/OAG_BSE_2004.pdf