The Canadian Beef Conference is underway

The Canadian Beef Industry Conference is being held this week in Saskatoon for the first time.

The four-day event brings together 500 attendees from cattle producers, to government agencies, beef industry representatives and researchers from across the country to share ideas.

Vice President of the Canadian Cattle Association Tyler Fulton says its an opportunity for participants to hear from some keynote speakers and take part in the CCA committee meetings.

"We always have Foreign Trade and Domestic Ag, Animal Health, as well as Food Policy and Environment. Those meetings really allow members to kind of get a sense as to the issues that we're struggling with at the time. Then on the flip side, it really almost provides an opportunity, you know, to meet with people that are really engaged and even sometimes recruit into some of these organizations where we really need that grassroots involvement."

The Conference also includes the Canadian Beef Check-Off Agency AGM, the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef celebrates its 10 year Anniversary, the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders Graduation and the National Environmental Stewardship Award will be  presented during the banquet on Wednesday.

He says it brings together a good cross section of the industry giving people a chance to network and discuss what's going on in the industry.

Fulton co-chairs the CCA's Foreign Trade and Animal Health Committee noting that 50 per cent of the beef and cattle produced in Canada is destined for export with a key market being the United States.

There are a couple of key concerns they are working on from the voluntary product of U.S. label which will be implemented over a year from now, but also the renewal and possibly renegotiation of CUSMA, the Canada U.S. trade agreement that we are very reliant on in terms of the beef industry.

"Moving over to animal health, pretty focused on that trade influence. In order for us to respond to animal disease in a timely way and be able to mitigate its effects, we've got to have a  great traceability system in place. We know that there's some new regulations that are coming, so it's really critical that  we get regulations that are effective at helping us manage those types of events."

He says front and center right now is the highly pathogenetic avian influenza outbreak which has happened largely in US dairy herds.

The CCA is looking at all the considerations and repercussions it has on animal movements out of the United States into Canada and vice versa. 

Fulton says when it comes to highlights for the beef industry we are in an exceptional market right now and he's optimistic that we'll see that for a while.

"The North American supply is tight and will be tight for the foreseeable future. There's really no evidence of really significant retention happening."

The Canadian Beef Industry Conference wraps up on Thursday.

To hear Glenda-Lee's conversation with CCA Vice President Tyler Fulton click on the link below.