MT Alberta Agriculture Opportunities Conference

Remarks of Governor Judy Martz
Great Falls
6/16/2003

Welcome to Great Falls, Montana. I would like to thank each of you for coming here, and I would like to thank the City of Great Falls and Cascade County for making us feel welcome in their community.

We are very pleased that Under Secretary J.B. Penn has joined us today, and it is always a great pleasure to have Shirley McClellan join us in her dual capacity as Minister of Agriculture and Vice Premier of Alberta Province.

It's a pleasure to host this event. I have been very pleased with the progress we have been able to make on agricultural and trade issues between Montana and Alberta.

There will always be a border between Montana and Alberta. For that reason, there will always be border issues. But if we continue to work as we have been, we will mitigate impacts that the border presents and we will have a constant flow of goods and services between Montana and Alberta.

Obviously, we as Montanans would like to see more of a northward flow, and I would have to assume that our counterparts would like to see a southward flow… but we must never lose the desire to work together for the health of our two economies.

A lot has happened since we were so graciously hosted in Canmore, Alberta. We have all suffered through a crippling drought…but things are finally beginning to look brighter on that front.

We have witnessed the incredible feats of bravery and the horrors of military action in Iraq. We have watched how SARS has impacted travel and trade with some of our greatest export markets in the Pacific Rim and in Toronto.

In Montana, we have been through a difficult legislative session and have had to contend with a sizeable budget deficit.

We've seen grain prices recover and calf prices have remained relatively strong. With some well-timed rains, we will have good crops this year.

We will have pasture this year, and we will see agricultural receipts that support our revenue forecasts and illustrate the wisdom that we showed during the legislative session.

As we are all aware, agriculture is vitally important to our economies. It is the foundation for many of our families, our communities, and our businesses.

When we talk about economic development we cannot exclude agricultural development. My administration has prioritized the concept of developing "clusters" of businesses within the State of Montana.

Many people refer to clustering as if it is a new approach to economic development. There is nothing new about clustering and we can look at our agricultural industries and see that.

Montana and Alberta are renowned for their high quality crops and livestock herds.

The 2002 Montana Agricultural Statistics figures cite Montana's agricultural industries as generating approximately $2.3 billion dollars in cash receipts. This figure is not entirely the result of commodity sales and includes value-added processing and other agricultural sector activities.

We can see clusters at work when we look at the Golden Triangle - with its grain elevators, malting facilities, flour mills, pasta plants, fertilizer and chemical dealers, and implement dealers.

We can also see clusters at work when we look along the Yellowstone River - with irrigated land providing the foundation for sugar beet factories, cattle feeding facilities, grain elevators, irrigation supply businesses, and livestock auction yards.

As we look at commodity and value-added agricultural production and the supporting businesses that cluster around our production areas in Montana and Alberta, we realize that a thriving agricultural industry greatly contributes to a thriving state or provincial economy.
We must do all that we can to foster economic health and growth in our agricultural sectors, which includes fostering agricultural trade.

This is not an easy process. An incredible amount of time, understanding, and perseverance are required.

One of the focal areas that prior conference participants have addressed deals with pesticide harmonization. The effort to harmonize pesticide formulations, registrations, and availability involves industry groups, pesticide companies, state and provincial agencies, and federal agencies.

I can report that we remain ready for pesticide harmonization, but that our respective federal governments apparently are not. The progress has been slow.

On a positive side, we have been very successful in working on animal health issues, which previously made the year-round shipment of livestock between Montana and Alberta more difficult.

As many of you are aware, we have made progress to the point that with the proposed implementation of the terminal feeder program we now have some receiving facilities in Alberta that are able to accept Montana animals throughout the year.

Unfortunately, our good neighbors to the north have recently been experiencing the incredibly adverse impacts on an unexpected animal disease, BSE.

When we in Montana first learned of the BSE case in Canada, the thoughts of every Montana producer were with you. Two weeks later when traceback information showed that bulls from a quarantined herd had been imported into Montana in 1997, we worked quickly to provide trace forward information.

In less than 24 hours we had confirmed the path those bulls took after leaving Montana and the fact that they had all been slaughtered between 1997 and 2002.

These issues are difficult and take perseverance to overcome, but working together enables us all to continue to provide the best outcome for our provinces and states.

Some people on both sides of our common border believe that trade is not necessary between Montana and Alberta, or believe that trade harms local industry members.
However, we are confronted with global economies and global trade issues, and we cannot afford to isolate ourselves from good trading partners.

I am a strong supporter in bilateral trade enhancement efforts and believe we must foster a healthy flow of goods across our common border. We must commit ourselves to removing the impediments that prevent goods from passing through our ports.

State and provincial governments cannot drive the efforts needed to mitigate and overcome issues that prevent trade between the U.S. and Canada. State and provincial governments must have direction from the producers and companies that deal with trade related issues on a daily basis.

And events like the Montana-Alberta Agriculture Opportunities Conference are vital because they provide producers with an opportunity to discuss the issues, and an opportunity to give government direction and focus so that those issues may be addressed and resolved.

We can clearly see the value of bilateral trade enhancement efforts when we look at the impacts of the restricted feeder program in a non-drought year.

Reports indicate that the presence of Alberta buyers in Montana's livestock auction created competition resulting in an additional $3 to $5 per hundredweight for feeder calves.

Producers benefited from higher prices, livestock auctions benefited from larger commissions, and Alberta cattle feeders benefited form having access to another pool for high quality feeder calves.

I am glad to see so many of you here today. You have a busy agenda before you and the opportunity to hear from a number of speakers that will give new insight into the trade issues that are of concern to us all.

Please make the most of this time. Ask questions and learn all that you can and share your thoughts with the other participants.

If we do not take advantage of these opportunities, we will have a more difficult time in identifying and overcoming the issues, which impede our desired level of trade.

Thank you for being here. I hope each of you has a productive conference.