Buyers who want to source sustainably raised beef have trouble finding enough supply to meet their needs
When it comes to sustainability, McDonald’s might ask, where is the beef?
Companies like McDonald’s need millions of pounds of sustainably sourced beef but supplies are limited, said Calgary-area rancher Cherie Copithorne-Barnes. She is past-chair of the Canadian Round Table for Sustainable Beef.
“There is a lineup of these retailers and food-service companies that would love to get into this but right now we haven’t got enough supply,” she told the Alberta Beef Producers annual meeting in Calgary Dec. 3-5.
Last year, the roundtable released a voluntary, certified sustainable beef framework. McDonald’s Canada was the first to market it.
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“There is a tremendous amount of pressure from corporations to deliver sustainably sourced product that is audited because this is a food product,” she said.
Right now, the certification process is voluntary but that may not continue.
“I’m afraid that in the future, you will start to see discounts for those that are not willing to start,” she said.
Producers interested in joining the program have a number of steps to follow. They need to enroll in the Verified Beef Production Plus program or a certification body like Where Food Comes From. Their operations need to meet an approved set of social, environmental and animal care standards. They are then audited and if they are certified as a sustainable operation they could be eligible for a bonus.
TrustBIXs Inc. and Cargill Meats at High River, Alta., developed a pilot to track beef and reward participants. Cargill customers agreed to put money in a fund to pay participants a premium per pound of sustainable meat delivered.
“McDonald’s has been very clear. Their goal is to have all sustainable meat. They don’t plan on backing off on that,” said Deborah Wilson, vice-president of TrustBIXs.
Producers sign on to the BIXs database and agree to share their information so animals can be tracked.
“Every quarter we have doubled what we have done in the quarter before,” said Wilson.
About 1,300 producers are participating.
The pilot started last fall and in the first quarter of the program, $10 per head was paid to eligible producers.
In the fourth quarter, about 3.7 million lb. qualified and an average credit of $18.24 per head was paid.
“We do not have enough producers doing it and the retailers have made it very clear this is what they want. By putting money in the pot to pay back to producers that is their way of demonstrating that even though we can’t make a claim right now … we are prepared to pay producers for doing the right thing to build that volume,” Wilson said.
Programs like this form part of the pathway to producers gaining broad social acceptance in the way they operate. As well, by joining the program, producers receive financial benefit for their efforts.
“This is the first time in history that I can remember that this a chance for a cow-calf guy to participate in a full value-chain entity,” said Copithorne-Barnes.
The assurance program with its framework of social, environmental and animal-care indicators may need to be fined-tuned from the higher-end model now in place, she said.
“We have created a bit of a Cadillac without a doubt.
“We also know there has to be some flexibility and some economics built into this so as we go forward to the next phases, we have to know it is something that can endure or it will have to change significantly,” she said.
