Cattle groups look to diversify markets, boost support programs

Calves on the Bird family's cattle farm near Cremona, Alta., Thursday, May 28, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Beef industry groups say with 25 per cent U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods taking effect, they’re looking to diversify their export markets, process more domestically and push for improvements to government support programs.

The cattle sector is tightly interwoven between Canada and the United States, with animals often raised here before being sent across the border for slaughter. The levy is the latest challenge for an industry already dealing with drought, an aging workforce and other long-term headwinds.

One fifth of harvest-ready cattle in Alberta are exported to the United States, making up a big percentage of the Pacific Northwest market, said Curtis Vander Heyden, vice-chair of the Alberta Cattle Feeders' Association.

“In a week, you’re (taking) $10 to $12 million directly out of the pockets of a feedlot producer in Alberta,” Vander Heyden said of the tariffs.

“Bigger picture, that gets very scary for the overall economic standpoint of the whole industry.”

Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattle Association, said he’d like to see Canada step up its international marketing efforts for Canadian beef.

“World beef demand is growing faster than world beef production. We’re pretty excited about the future, which is why it’s so frustrating to go through an event like this,” he said.

Laycraft said members of his group are currently in Asia, looking to develop relationships in growing markets like Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan.

“You don’t replace the United States — it’s the largest market in the world — but we are looking at where we can diversify.”

Doug Roxburgh, chair of Alberta Beef Producers said it would be challenging for all cattle raised in Canada to be processed here.

“But we see value in further processing some of our product and allowing Canadians not to see that movement going north-south all the time,” he said.

Roxburgh added his group is also hoping to remove the cap on support offered through the AgriStability program, which is meant to buffer producers from big plunges in income and to bring livestock price insurance programs offered in Canada more in line with those in the United States.

“Their programs are a lot more in depth and a lot more effective than ours are today and we’re hopeful in the in the coming days we can start to see improvements to those programs.”

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Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2025.