Cam Ostercamp |
Cam Ostercamp – President, Beef Initiative Group – Canada
Shortly after the BSE crisis in May 2003, cow/calf producer Cam Ostercamp, 52, from Blackie, Alta., penned the critical article “Behind the Veil of Science” outlining how the mishandling of the crisis could lead to the downfall of the Canadian beef industry.
While the majority of government and industry leaders maintained that re-opening the U.S. border to imports of live cattle from Canada was the principal solution, Ostercamp instead rallied for a complete revamping of the industry itself. His document led to the May 2004 creation of the Beef Initiative Group – Canada (BIG), a grassroots organization giving voice to primary producers. The group proposes BSE testing tailored to the requirements of each individual market, the diversification of export markets, and alternative financing to relieve taxpayers from the burden of short-term bailout programs. Chief among its goals is to establish a Canadian-owned infrastructure in the slaughter and meat packing industry that lessens the country’s reliance on the U.S. and puts producers back into a position of ownership and control of their industry. With a growing membership of 1,000, BIG continues to lobby all levels of government and industry groups with its proposals. In February 2005, this feisty, progressive thinker published a sequel article entitled Lifting the Veil: The Lessons of History for the Future of the Canadian Cattle Industry.” – DH
What will it take to renew our world reputation as a high-quality beef exporter and what will it take to create a healthy, prosperous beef industry at home?
First of all, we must properly acknowledge our problem. Vulnerability is our problem, not BSE. We’re vulnerable to the U.S. market and we’re vulnerable to the American packing industry. After industry and politicians properly acknowledge what our problem is, we can set the course on how to rectify it. The fix, I believe, is to create a slaughter industry, and I’m not talking about taking over or snowballing Cargill or IBP. We will never be rid of those two players. What we have to do is put a boat in the water beside them that must be owned by Canadian producers in order that processing profit, wholesaling profit from the beef it creates and export profit from selling that beef actually comes back to the producer. By the time it leaves this country, it’s encountered a change of ownership and the profits from processing, wholesaling and exporting go to the coffers of two American corporations. I’ve said it publicly many times, Uncle Sam has this cattle industry right where he wants it and until we, as Canadians, grow up to the point where we are willingly to take some of the risks and set our own course, we’re going to stay right there around Uncle Sam’s finger.
