'Devastated' and 'incredibly disappointed': Alberta beef and canola to be hard hit by Trump tariffs
Industries that have historically relied on U.S. for exports now looking at a different future
Alberta food producers are bracing for uncertainty in the short term and the potential for a complete reorientation of how they do business in the long term now that U.S. President Donald Trump's 25-per-cent tariffs have taken effect.
The United States is by far the largest market for Alberta's agri-food exports, which totalled an estimated $9.3 billion last year.
China was a distant second at $2.4 billion, followed by Japan at $1.4 billion, according to data from the provincial government.
The beef and canola industries, in particular, are expected to be especially hard hit given how big they are in the province and how heavily they rely on American purchasers for their exports.
Each industry is now preparing for any number of potential scenarios that could play out in the coming days, weeks and months.
Beef industry 'incredibly disappointed'
Dennis Laycraft, executive vice president of the Canadian Cattle Association, said the industry is "incredibly disappointed" by the tariffs coming from the U.S., which had long been considered a "nearest ally and a neighbour."
He said Canadian beef farmers and feedlot operators have had "incredible relationships" with their American customers and counterparts dating back to the origins of the industry in this country.
The vast majority of Canada's beef and cattle exports go to the United States and Laycraft said the industry is hoping for a quick resolution to the trade war while also preparing for a future where they aren't so reliant on the U.S.
He said the industry is also cognizant that the Trump administration's actions don't reflect what all Americans want.
"We have lots of great friends, still, in the United States," Laycraft said.
"This is dealing with an administration that's driving this particular agenda, going from our most trusted neighbour and customer to, now, a real question mark."
Alberta Beef Producers, by coincidence, began its annual general meeting on the day Trump's tariffs kicked in.
The organization, which represents about 18,000 producers in the province, declined to do interviews Tuesday but issued a brief written statement.
"We are assessing the details of the tariffs outlined today and are conscious that there is still a lot of uncertainty in how these tariffs will impact all Canadians, including cattle producers," chair Brodie Haugan said in the statement.
Laycroft, with the national Canadian Cattle Association, said the tariffs will affect the industry across the country but "the biggest impact definitely is going to be felt, initially, in Alberta."
"The majority of our cattle feeding and processing occurs here in Alberta and approximately 50 per cent of the industry is based here," he said.
Laycroft said some U.S. processing facilities are so reliant on Canadian cattle they may have to shut down in the short term. In the medium term, he believes there is the potential for Canada to ramp up beef processing domestically.
"But to do that, we need to create the right investment climate in Canada," he said. "So that's another conversation."
He also expects producers will naturally begin to expand their trade with other countries, but it will take a long time to find new customers on the scale of what the Americans have historically been.
It will be a challenge, in his view, but also an opportunity.
"We need to engage in that longer-term conversation so that we we can be viewed as one of the most credible, trustworthy food suppliers in the world," he said. "And some of the other countries that are feeling threatened by the U.S. right now are are going to be looking for exactly someone who fits that description."
'Devastating' for canola producers
Alberta Canola executive director Karla Bergstrom said the tariffs will be "devastating" for the industry she represents.
Roughly 40,000 producers in Canada primarily grow canola, she said, including more than 12,000 in Alberta.
"Canola is their No. 1 farm cash receipt, so, the biggest contributor to profitability on farms," Bergstrom said.
"The reason this is so impactful with the U.S., is because it is our top [export] market for both canola oil and canola meal."
Bergstrom said Alberta canola producers have always had a "good relationship" with Americans and there's "a lot of integration on both sides of the border" when it comes to both raw and processed products such as canola oil and canola meal, used for feeding dairy cows.
"The companies that the farmers sell to, they're global companies and they've got assets on both sides of the border," she said.
"It's an integrated value chain."
The timing of the tariffs is especially difficult, she added, because of the uncertainty it creates for producers just as seeding season approaches.
"Spring's just around the corner," she said.
"Will it strain cash flow on on farms? Will it impact seeding intentions? What's it going to do to the cost of inputs to seed the crop? Are there going to be the supply chain constraints because of this? There's a lot of unknowns at this point and a lot of speculation is that it will not be be good."
Tariffs leave 'all 3 countries worse off'
Bergstrom's outlook was echoed by the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA), a coalition of industry organizations that advocate for international trade.
"The tariffs announced today leave consumers and businesses in all three countries worse off," CAFTA president Greg Northey said in a release.
"They increase costs, disrupt supply chains, and harm American, Canadian, and Mexican consumers and producers."
Michael Harvey, the organization's executive director, said North America's highly integrated system of producing, processing and transporting food was built through decades of international cooperation and the tariff action by U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to unravel it.
"CAFTA supports the efforts of the Government of Canada to achieve a lifting of the tariffs and return to focus on a rational, rules-based, free trading system that benefits both producers and consumers, regardless of which side of the border they are on," he said.
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With files from Helen Pike