Farms.com Home   News

Lack of Workers Jeopardises Viability of Processing Plants, Livestock Sector Profitability and Existing Jobs

The Canadian Meat Council warns the inability of Canadian meat processing plants to access workers jeopardizes the viability of the plants, the profitability of livestock producers and existing jobs at those plants.

Changes made in June to Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program dramatically impacted the ability of Canada's meat processing plants to supplement their work forces and maintain processing capacity.

Ron Davidson, the director of international trade, government and media relations with the Canadian Meat Council, notes, when plants are short of workers, they still have to do the slaughter and the primary processing and the storages show up in the value added.

Ron Davidson-Canadian Meat Council:
The value added areas are where there is an opportunity for some profitability in a very very narrow margin industry and if we don't have an opportunity to do value added activities in our plants the economic viability and sustainability of those plants becomes much more difficult.

The impact on producers, if we don't have enough workers, first we don't buy as many animals so they're forced to rely on exporting animals to the U.S. for processing and secondly if we don't have the value added for the plants we do not have the ability to pay as much to the producers as we would if the plant was operating at a higher capacity and doing value added.

There's also placing at risk the future jobs of existing workers in those plants because if the viability and sustainability of those plants is challenged so is the potential for the plant to stay in operation.
In addition there is less product, Canadian produced product on the market, and therefore there would have to be a heavier reliance on food imports and also we have less product to export.

Davidson says Canada has been very successful in opening up export markets but now we don't have the ability to staff our plants to take advantage of those export opportunities.

Source: Farmscape


Trending Video

Protect Canadian Livestock From FMD

Video: Protect Canadian Livestock From FMD

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a highly infectious virus that has disastrous consequences for the livestock industry and the population of beef cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals worldwide. Fortunately, Canada has achieved FMD-free status, but everyone must stay vigilant to the risks and be prompt in our response in case of a possible outbreak.

This animated video produced by the Beef Cattle Research Council demonstrates just how important following prevention and quarantine recommendations are for Canadian travelers. The tale of Jennifer and Richard follows two farmers on an excursion overseas to an area known to be infected with Foot and Mouth Disease. The decisions that the two travelers make upon their return to Canada highlig