As the Canadian cattle industry struggles to rebuild, it is looking to organizations like the Beef Information Centre to lead the way.
However, the producer-funded agency says it is struggling with a heavy workload and shoestring budget as it tries to sell more beef to more people.
“We’re spending a lot of time trying to access money and then reporting back how we spent it,” said Mike Cook, vice-chair of the BIC committee.
The centre receives $3.175 million in producer check-off money but has scrambled to find other funding sources in the wake of the BSE crisis to pay for market development, promotions and new product initiatives. It was forced to raise another $3 million from grants, government BSE recovery plans, the Canadian Adaptation Rural Development fund and donations.
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“We have to put a little bit of pressure on the rest of the country and put a little more dollars into promotion,” Cook told the Alberta Beef Producers annual meeting in early December.
Working with the Canada Beef Export Federation and Canada Beef Breeds Council, the BIC has come up with a plan to develop a 10-year strategy requiring $21 million per year to work effectively. The money would come from the national $1 per head checkoff and the rest from government and other industry grants.
“If we could get a fund going for a legacy fund we would not have to keep going back to government,” Cook said.
BIC chief executive officer Kathy Keeler said the current focus is promoting beef in the domestic market, where consumer support has remained strong.
The fast food sector and its reliance on burgers is a major target. Ground beef makes up about half of the average consumer’s meat diet.
“In all the years I have been with the Beef Information Centre, we have never had to promote ground beef,” Keeler said.
The centre has been trying to convince family restaurants and companies such as McDonald’s, Harvey’s, Wendy’s, Hamburger Helper and Old El Paso to switch to 100 percent Canadian beef.
For example, Harvey’s launched the Angus beef burger this fall and sold nearly one million of them in eight weeks.
Besides burgers, the centre is also promoting new meat cuts such as sirloin medallions and flat iron steaks.
BIC merchandising manager Glenn Brand works with the commercial beef use working group to move meat from mature animals. Its challenge is to create a demand and value for 65,000 tonnes of this kind of meat.
“For us to be able to do that, we have to cut the full muscle cuts and keep them out of the grind,” he said.
Meat scientists at Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Lacombe, Alta., are working on 11 different cuts from beef and dairy animals to assess quality, taste and shelf life.
A commercial beef use guide has been written to familiarize chefs and processors with Canadian beef. Up to now, there has been no common language or consistency in describing cuts and how to turn them into quality products.
Another idea is to rename familiar products such as ground beef, which commands a higher price if called ground chuck because it is deemed to be of higher value in the meat case.
Partnerships are being sought with other groups such as dairy producers so they can market their products together and promote meat’s nutritious advantages. The challenge is to build these programs over time with stable funding.
“At times it is very difficult to engage all the other stakeholders from the other commodities and move these things forward,” Brand said.
