WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The next generation of the national beef strategy is moving ahead.
The first strategy involving a wide range of beef industry stakeholders ran from 2015-18 with a goal of moving the industry forward with four pillars.
The sketch of the next strategy that runs from 2020-24 was presented at the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association recent annual meeting held in Williams Lake, B.C.
Some of the goals were ambitious while others are a work in progress.
The goal was to increase animal/beef value by 15 percent. The base line was set at the 2013 rate of $195 per hundredweight. The three-year average was $224 per cwt., said Ron Glaser of Canada Beef Inc.
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To further increase beef demand at home and abroad, efforts to place the right cut in the right place for the right price resulted in record exports. The signing of new trade agreements further boosted the Canadian brand. In 2018, Canada exported 398,500 tonnes of beef worth $2.75 billion.
The Beef Centre of Excellence opened in Calgary and helped refine demand for Canadian beef by hosting trade missions and providing education including meat-cutting demonstrations and ranch tours.
Efficiency improvements require research, said Reynold Bergen of the Beef Cattle Research Council.
“Research is a long-term endeavour by definition, but we have been doing this long enough and we are starting to see results with funding from producer dollars,” he said.
“Productivity and efficiency are directly related to cost of production and international competitiveness so we need to continue to make focused investments to keep generating slow, steady incremental gains in all of these areas we are active in,” he said.
Once research is done, producers need the information to make sound decisions, grow better beef and maintain consumer confidence.
A mentorship program to link new researchers with industry leaders was developed and so far 12 scientists benefited. They have been able to pass on practical information so producers can adopt new winter feeding practices, use new forage varieties and take advantage of new information about feed efficiency and animal health.
Productivity improvements in the next strategy includes reducing average open rates by two percentage points in each region, reducing calf death loss by five percent, improving feed efficiency by five percent and increasing the average A grade yields by two to 10 percent.
In addition, a beef quality audit is carried out every five years but new technology allows problems like bruises and lesions to be tracked sooner so results are released sooner.
“That will allow us to correct potential problems as they emerge rather than five years after it started,” said Bergen.
The industry continues to work with government to maintain competitiveness without excess burdens.
The industry monitors changes to Canada’s Food Guide and proposals about front of package health warnings.
Competitively priced inputs and access to new products is an ongoing effort, said Dave Moss, manager of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
The continuing shortage of workers prevents the industry from advancing. Currently, 3,500 positions are open and these are expected to reach 12,500 by 2025.
A small gain has come from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is taking an outcomes rather than prescriptive approach to regulations.
“Every situation is so unique you need to have allowances for these operations to build systems that are going to work for their place but still achieve that outcome,” said Moss.
Another advance is the Animal Health Canada Initiative where livestock groups, processors and other stakeholders want to take control of future crises. This is a stakeholder-run risk-management structure to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from an emergency animal health incident.
“What we have today in terms of a government-run emergency response system is just not working,” Moss said.
“We need a much more responsive system that works with industry and government to address these issues much more proactively and responsibly,” he said.
This initiative seeks to break down barriers within the industry so all can work together more effectively.
One success story is the Canadian Beef Industry Conference where all players come together in August. The fourth conference will be held in Calgary from Aug. 13-15.
A stakeholder engagement division has been created within the cattlemen’s association to build consumer confidence, promote the nutritional value of beef to all customers and educate the public about environmental value of the industry.
A private study on sustainability of the industry showed 1. 5 billion tonnes of carbon are sequestered in grasslands, 68 percent of wildlife habitat is on grasslands and the beef industry contributes $17 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product.
