Sask. cattle producers call for meat pricing investigation, transparency

Cattle producers in Saskatchewan want more transparency about who is profiting from beef sales.

They say meat packers and retailers are limiting supply to drive up prices. 

"We know what retail prices are and we know what our farm gate prices are," said Garner Deobald, who farms near Hodgeville, Sask. "There's a lot of money that's staying in the supply chain, but not coming back down to the grassroots." 

Deobald is also president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA), a cattle industry lobbying organization.

The association wants the federal and provincial governments to follow the money and investigate. 

"Let's have a look at see if we can identity where the profits are being made, and if there is a way or a strategy that we can come up with to share in this a little more this equitably." 

Kathy Larson said on Monday that the package of sirloin steaks in her fridge cost about $12 per pound, or about $9 per steak. 

"A lot of times when you see that in the grocery store, you think oh well the cow-calf producers, the cattle producers, they must be so rich."

But Larson said that assumption is incorrect.

The beef supply chain begins with the cattle producers and newborn calves, explained Larson, a research associate with the department of agricultural and resource economics​ at the University of Saskatchewan and a former beef economist with the Western Beef Development Centre.

Producers raise the calves born in springtime until they're weaned from their mothers and weigh about 550 lbs, Larson said. Then the animals are often sold to a backgrounder lot for "usually around two dollars a pound." 

When cattle reach about 1,000 lbs, they are sold off to a feedlot — their last home. 

Larson said Alberta and Saskatchewan have about 170 combined feedlots, which fatten the cows up to 1,400 lbs before sending them off to slaughter. 

She said feedlots are currently selling the animals to facilities run by giant companies Cargill and JBS for about $1.75 per pound. She noted she saw ground beef at the store on Sunday priced at $6.40 per pound.