4min read
From the 2025-03-04 cbc.ca item ‘Devastated’ and ‘incredibly disappointed’: Alberta beef and canola to be hard hit by Trump tariffs:
Beef industry ‘incredibly disappointed’
Dennis Laycraft, executive vice president of the Canadian Cattle Association, said the industry is “incredibly disappointed” by the tariffs coming from the U.S., which had long been considered a “nearest ally and a neighbour.”
He said Canadian beef farmers and feedlot operators have had “incredible relationships” with their American customers and counterparts dating back to the origins of the industry in this country.
The vast majority of Canada’s beef and cattle exports go to the United States and Laycraft said the industry is hoping for a quick resolution to the trade war while also preparing for a future where they aren’t so reliant on the U.S.
…
He also expects producers will naturally begin to expand their trade with other countries, but it will take a long time to find new customers on the scale of what the Americans have historically been.
It will be a challenge, in his view, but also an opportunity.
“We need to engage in that longer-term conversation so that we can be viewed as one of the most credible, trustworthy food suppliers in the world,” he said. “And some of the other countries that are feeling threatened by the U.S. right now are are going to be looking for exactly someone who fits that description.”
(emphasis ours)
We absolutely concur with Mr. Laycraft’s objectives. Canada’s beef industry must rapidly:
However we disagree with Mr. Laycraft’s passive voice (“naturally begin”, “take a long time”, “longer-term conversation”). Industry led and industry encompassing action, actively supported and resourced by all levels of government, is urgently required.
It is insufficient to assume “producers will naturally begin” to pivot to export oriented production. EU and Asia markets have demanding traceability and practice certification requirements that Canada’s smaller, typically family scale, cow/calf ranches can not adopt with the infrastructure, support services, and digitization products currently available to them.
Canada’s livestock animal identification and traceability system does not demonstrate Canadians are “the most credible, trustworthy food suppliers in the world”. Deficiencies in the system identified post BSE in 2013 remain unmitigated in 2025. Our traceability processes and technology remain unchanged since the system was commissioned in 2000, a quarter century ago. Every assumption that influenced design of the current system; technology, requirements, stakeholders, and incentive opportunities, are obsolete.
The criticality of effective food safety and traceability to export market development and retention, and a recommended solution that mirrors our own, was highlighted in this recent RBC Thought Leadership report.
Flokk identified these challenges late 2024 and prepared and shared a shovel ready plan to address them with an innovative, technology enabled, productivity enhancing, industry led, regulation reducing, and collaborative approach in our discussion paper “Time to pull this calf ourselves: Canada’s livestock industry must find our own path to traceability”.
Flokk is ready to do our part by delivering to Canada’s ranching families a solution that provides the necessary digital animal side data collection and submission while offering unprecedented affordability and ease of use.
Come join us!
© 2025 Flokk Systems Inc. All rights reserved.
