A beef farmer in Powassan says Trump's potential tariffs will have an impact on Canada’s beef industry.
Markus Wand, who owns Wand Family Farm with his wife Jennifer, says the impact won’t be immediate. However, if the tariffs were to remain in place for three to six months, that will affect farmers like him.
“We market a lot of our livestock meat locally and it reduces our risk,” Wand says.
However, Wand also sells some of his calves to a broker, who then sells to Ontario feedlot operators and from there the cattle make their way to slaughterhouses mostly in the northern American states.
Wand says in an attempt to offset the 25 per cent tariffs, American meat houses would most likely pass that cost onto the consumer. This increase has the potential to start making beef so expensive that consumers could switch to another type of meat, he said.
Wand says there’s another scenario that involves a ripple effect.
To reduce part of the impact of the tariffs, Wand says the American importer would pay the feedlot operator less for the cattle and once the 25 per cent tariff is tacked on, the price isn’t as high for American consumers.
Consequently, if the feedlot operators know they will get less for the meat from the Americans, Wand says they’re going to want to pay less for the cattle in Ontario and that affects his selling price to the broker.
The Wands produce about 120 cattle a year and about half are sold locally.
Wand says beef prices have been at record highs and that’s been good for the industry because it allows operations like his to keep reinvesting in his business.
For example, over the next three years Wand is projecting to spend about $500,000 on equipment improvements and land tiling. Land tiling is a process that removes excess moisture from the farmland, which helps grass growth and crop production.
But Wand says if the tariffs go into effect and are still in place months from now, it would be very difficult to move ahead with the work he has planned.
Wand says if the tariffs are a short-term event, then he can hold off selling his cattle for a period of months.
“They’ll just keep growing here for the next three to six months,” he said.
The Wands run their farm themselves and have one casual employee. Wand says the number of hours the casual worker receives could be reduced if the tariffs last for a long time.
He says that makes it harder for the family to hang on to the worker because they have to provide a reasonable number of hours for the individual to want to stay on.
One other factor worries Wand. He says if the tariffs come into play and last for a long time, and people fall on hard economic times and start losing their jobs, it means less family income.
He says the consequence is families won’t be able to afford his locally grown products and that’s a reality many farmers may face right across Canada.
LeaAnne Wurmli, the Communication Director of Beef Farmers of Ontario, says tariffs would greatly increase both the cost of processing cattle and beef, adding they “will be detrimental to both beef producers and consumers on either side of the border.”
Wurmli says the integration of the North American live cattle and beef supply chain is unlike anywhere else in the world.
She says the United States and Canada “have the largest two-way trade in live cattle and beef in the world” which contributes to food security as well as local and regional food systems.
According to Census data, Wurmli says there are 180 farms with cattle in the Muskoka, Parry Sound and East Nipissing area.
—with files from Julian Orlando Chaves