It’s a problem that may see a shortage of Canadian beef and other red meat on store shelves.
Shutdowns at meat processing facilities across the country because of COVID-19 outbreaks means there’s a backlog of animals on Ontario farms waiting to be processed.
Rob Lipsett, the President of the Beef Farmers of Ontario says that could mean a shortage of beef at the grocery store.
For farmers, it means that they have doubled their losses on each animal because now they have to keep them longer and feed them more on farms. Losses per animal are in the range of 6-hundred dollars. Lipsett says they are working with both the provincial and federal governments to rework insurance programs that could cover some of the loss and he says there is a glimmer of hope. But he says many farmers are soon going to have to make a decision on whether they carry on with farming or find a different way to make a living.
