Effects of the Border Closure in Alberta
July 29, 2005
July 29, 2005 -- According to an article in the Airdrie Echo, sheep producers in Alberta, Canada, have been hit hard by the border closure to the United States and it is doubtful that trade will resume to the level it had been prior to the closure.
?We?ve had a lot of producers who got out of the business, because the markets had turned downward so quickly and stayed down compared to what we had,? said Floyd Williams, Alberta Sheep and Wool Commission (ASWC) chairman.
Over the past couple of years, the Alberta sheep industry has changed from marketing ?heavy? lambs for shipment to the United States to a product sold directly to the consumer ? notably to those in Ontario.
In addition, Williams mentioned that the industry has lost a great deal of infrastructure, particularly in the trucking industry and that the new protocols for exporting animals to the United States has become more extensive than in the past, especially for feeder lambs.
?There is a lot more paperwork and veterinarian inspection on the Canadian side before those lambs can cross that border,? he said. ?That?s going to be a detriment to moving back into the American side of things.?
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