CALGARY – Consumers and animal welfare groups are increasing their influence on food production, and Canadian farmers and ranchers must pay attention to it.
Dr. Edmond Pajor, animal welfare professor at the University of Calgary’s school of veterinary medicine, said a fundamental change is afoot in the food supply system as food companies and consumers request that food be produced in certain ways and expect farmers and ranchers to supply them.
It’s a pull economy as opposed to the push economy that was previously the norm, said Pajor.
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“In a pull economy, externalities really matter, economic externalities, the things that don’t go into necessarily the cost of production and the farmer basis,” he said. “They’re things like animal welfare, the environment, are people who work on the farms treated fairly, is it a safe environment, are they paid fairly?”
Speaking May 18 to a beef cattle conference sponsored by the vet college, Pajor said consumers often say they’d pay more for humanely raised products even if they don’t actually do so at the supermarket.
“Simply because people will not pay necessarily or make that choice at the store doesn’t mean they don’t want to see changes made. And a lot of changes in animal welfare … are the result of public opinion.”
He said many consumers have unrealistic ideas about animal production.
“People have an idea what a farm looks like. People have an idea that animals are outside … frolicking underneath trees, and butterflies. You can almost hear the music playing in the background,” he said.
“That creates certain expectations among the public. When the public finds out that animals aren’t raised that way, it raises a lot of issues.
“I think public concern is really going to be focused on the feelings of animals and their ability to perform natural behaviour. I think we’re going to see pain is an important issue.”
These expectations encourage major retailers, food companies and restaurants to implement rules about what type of produce they will buy and under what conditions that produce must be raised, he said.
Examples include Unilever’s commitment to use cage-free eggs in its products, and restaurant chains advertising the use of pork produced without gestation stalls.
Academic institutes also dictate the agenda.
“Cage free egg demand is growing in North America, 350 academic institutions in North America are using or eliminating eggs from caged hens on school menus,.”
About 15 of those are in Canada.
However, implications stretch beyond Canada, he added. Multinational companies have long reach.
“Let’s say you’re Cargill and you decide that you’re going to have animal welfare assessments in your packing plants. Are you just going to limit it to the United States or are you going to make it public policy in Canada as well?”
Manufacturers and retailers are accustomed to standards, audits and rules. Producers who say they are doing the right thing in animal production may find it a hard sell if they can’t provideproof, Pajor said.
