1. Beef demand
The Canadian beef industry is slowly moving forward with a set of goals first set in 2015.
The national beef strategy is an ongoing plan for improved profitability, growth and continued production of high quality beef.
The plan outlines four pillars: improved beef demand, competitiveness, productivity and connectivity. The strategy developed for 2020-24 follows the same vision but has been updated.
“Some of the pieces are a work in progress and it is not something that comes to an end by 2019,” said Anne Wasko, chair of the Beef Advisors, a multi-stakeholder group that released the latest vision.
The Canadian Beef Advisors has representatives from the Beef Cattle Research Council, Canadian Beef Breeds Council, Canada Beef, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Canadian Meat Council, Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and National Cattle Feeders Association.
The next goal is to deliver the newest edition of the plan to producers so they can see improvements and challenges.
“We know compared to five years ago when this was started with the first national beef strategy we were talking about social licence and we really didn’t have a specific piece there,” Wasko said.
Since then a public and stakeholder division was created with national check-off dollars to deliver a co-ordinated approach from all the sectors when talking about consumer confidence
“That is a new piece that has sprung out of the last five years,” she said.
Some goals in the first round have been met while others continue to be worked on.
For example, one goal was to increase animal and beef value by 15 percent. The base line for the AAA cutout was $195 per hundredweight but has improved to $224 per cwt.
Work continues on the traceability and labour requirements, as well as enhancement to research capacity and programs.
The complete report may be viewed at www.beefstrategy.com.
- To support retail demand above 115; to support the wholesale demand above 105, and to support international demand above 100. (Index 2000=100)
- To reduce labour shortage by 50 percent and to reduce cost disadvantages compared to main competitors by two percent.
- To reduce average open rates by two percent and reduce average calf death losses to five percent in each region, to improve feed efficiency by five percent, and to improve national average hay yields by two to 10 percent.
