Ontario calls off final intake for beef set-aside

'Threshold not met' for further cattle intake

Published: January 20, 2021

, ,

(Lovelyshot/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario has called off the last intake for its federal/provincial beef cattle set-aside program.

The Beef Emergency Feed Maintenance Initiative, an AgriRecovery program launched after the temporary shutdown of Cargill’s beef slaughter plant at Guelph, was to have its “final potential intake week” opening Monday (Jan. 18), for cattle to be set aside starting Jan. 25.

However, the committee of provincial ag ministry staff and beef industry representatives steering the program has since “reviewed industry data” and found the threshold for a Jan. 18-19 intake period “was not met based on program criteria.”

Read Also

Photo: JHVEPhoto/Getty Images Plus

U.S. grains: Chicago soybeans dip in choppy trading as Greenland dispute and global supply weigh 

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago corn and soybeans slipped in choppy trading on Tuesday as tensions between Washington and Europe…

Those criteria included “an assessment of recent processing data in Ontario,” the province said in a notice Monday.

Cargill had wound down operations at the Guelph packing plant — the biggest beef processing facility in the province — starting Dec. 17 following an outbreak of COVID-19 among employees.

Affected operations at the plant resumed gradually starting Dec. 29.

The set-aside program, drafted in anticipation of a possible shutdown, was put in place shortly after the Dec. 17 announcement, with intakes beginning on Dec. 22 and 30 and on Jan. 12. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

About the author

Dave Bedard

Dave Bedard

Editor, Digital Optimization

Farm-raised in northeastern Saskatchewan. B.A. Journalism 1991. Local newspaper reporter in Saskatchewan turned editor and farm writer in Winnipeg.

explore

Stories from our other publications