SASKATOON – Rural entrepreneurs around Blaine Lake, Sask. are saying give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.
They mean cattle – culled cows and bulls for a specialized packing plant to serve niche markets at home and abroad.
Several hundred supporters of Meat Processing Co. of Saskatchewan met at Blaine Lake, about 75 kilometres north of Saskatoon, Aug. 11 to discuss the feasibility plan for a $20 million plant slaughtering about 100,000 head a year.
“It was a very positive experience. There was some really good discussion because people were informed,” said Gerry Kohuch, company secretary.
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Since early July, the company has been soliciting investment from members to hire a professional manager, begin preparing a prospectus for a share offering and search for partners, he said.
More than $150,000 has been pledged so far and more is expected. The group will approach the province to match the local commitment.
Government support
The province and federal government have already provided $7,500 under the Partnership Agreement for Rural Development for half the cost of the feasibility study and the same program has so far allocated $55,500 for the prospectus development.
The feasibility study was done by Ian McNinch and Bill Brown, agricultural economists at the University of Saskatchewan.
“There is no chance of MPCS competing against the Cargills and IBPs,” McNinch said, referring to large packing plants in Alberta.
“The only chance for success is to do something that the big guys are not involved in and thus far, they haven’t been into the mature cow and bull slaughter,” McNinch said.
The plant’s production could displace manufacturing beef used in hamburger and processed meats, which is now imported from Australia and New Zealand.
Kohuch said it could also focus on Asian markets, exporting organ meats. Also, the plant could consider operating under Islamic halal dietary laws. That would make it possible to export to the Muslim populations of Indonesia and Malaysia, he said.
Bison and sheep slaughter is a possibility too, he said.
