Beef farmers worry about impact of ongoing Cargill strike in Guelph, Ont.

The strike at the Cargill Dunlop meat processing plant in Guelph, Ont. has now entered its second month.

On May 27, employees voted to take action in an effort to gain better wages and improve working conditions.

One southern Ontario beef farmer says the industry gets more worried the longer workers walk the picket line.

“We were hopeful that it would get resolved fairly quickly,” said farmer Joe Hill. “I’m not sure too many of us thought we’d be sitting here at the end of June still looking at that [Guelph] plant closed.”

According to Cargill, the Dunlop facility and a plant in Alberta make up 55 per cent of the beef processing market in Canada.

Now, one month into job action, farmers are dealing with a surplus of cattle.

“It’s just a matter of, day-to-day, how are we dealing with cattle that can’t go to market and should?” Hill told CTV News. “It’s unfortunate that we’re dependent on one plant, but we’re thankful they’re there, because we wouldn’t have an industry without them.”

Hill has around 300 cattle at his farm north of Fergus, Ont., which he says isn’t nearly as much as what some other farmers have.

Still, the strike is adding stress to his operation.

“We’ve got cattle that should be going to market or should have gone to market and we’re continuing to feed them, so they’re getting larger by the day,” Hill explained. “There are price breaks when they get oversized, they’re discounted. We’re trying to hopefully be able to get them to market before they hit that threshold.”

Cargill, meanwhile, has shifted production to its other facilities to minimize the disruptions to customers.

Hill said that makes it harder on farmers.

“Of course, they’re further away and there’s logistics figuring out how to get them there, but as far as any sort of compensation or relief, there’s nothing coming directly to producers at this point.”

There is, however, hope.

Both United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175, the union representing workers, and Cargill representatives plan to return to the bargaining table after the Canada Day long weekend.

The company, in an email to CTV News, said: “Cargill’s focus is on putting an end to this labour disruption and welcoming our employees back to work… We look forward to meeting with the union bargaining committee on July 2 to discuss the possibility of doing so.”

CTV News reached out to the union for comment but did not receive a response by our deadline.

In the meantime, Hill and other farmers like him continue to face mounting costs and uncertainty about when they’ll be able to sell their livestock

“If this continues, then come fall when cattle start moving off pasture to go into feed yards, the feed yards are already sitting there with cattle that should have been marketed sooner. We’re not there yet, but, every week, we get closer.”