It seemed like an absurd idea but the more Rod Bradshaw thought about it, the better he liked it.
Saskatoon berries could be sold like caviar as a fancy gourmet product.
A visiting Dutch consultant recently told a group of prairie vegetable and fruit growers they often overlook the uniqueness of a product that grows at home. Saskatoon berries fit that description.
Those off-the-wall ideas keep farmers like Bradshaw and bison rancher Bob Plumb on the value-added path.
They say they haven’t made much money but have had fun meeting people with new ideas.
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They also hold some bragging rights because they’ve stepped outside the traditional prairie grain mentality and succeeded.
Ten years ago, Bradshaw and his wife Shelley of Innisfail, Alta., started Beck Farms with three partners. They grow carrots, parsnips and seed potatoes.
As owners of large mixed farms, the partners soon learned vegetables carry more value than grain and require more production and marketing skills, said Bradshaw.
Recently, they joined a farmer-operated group called Innisfail Growers which sells its vegetables at farmers’ markets.
Quality a factor
They have found that while produce sales can fluctuate at the retail end, growth is constant at farmers’ markets because customers perceive the vegetables there to be better quality.
“What we used to think of as a good day, we now think of as a good morning,” Bradshaw said.
Beck Farms has plans for more aggressive marketing because retail is growing increasingly competitive. In some cases, shelf space is hard to secure because supermarkets aren’t always loyal to locally grown produce.
Advertising is another stumbling block because carrots are a generic commodity, even though the bags carry the farm name.
“Consumers don’t see any difference between a California carrot and a carrot grown at Innisfail or Outlook,” said Bradshaw.
Stamina and determination are needed to stick with it, despite the obstacles.
So, he said, is a business view that value-added production is the goal and not simply a fall-back when raw commodity prices are low.
“Desperation is the wrong motivator,” said Bradshaw. “You have to change before you get to that point.”
For Bob and Enid Plumb, diversification into bison worked.
They started a commercial bison herd at B & E Ranches near Smoky Lake, Alta., in 1988. Son Dan manages the ranch, and son Mark manages a family-owned meat plant. Bob is the salesman.
Bison raised by the Plumbs and other local farmers on contract are processed at the Edmonton plant.
North Country Bison Meats, the processing end of the business, recorded gross sales of close to $750,000 last year. Along with its lines of fresh meat, it worked with the Leduc Food Processing Centre to develop recipes for bison sausage, wieners, meat pies and pastrami.
The plant is federally inspected and meets European specifications so it can ship fresh and frozen bison meat overseas.
But processed meats cannot go to Europe because the plant does not have a kitchen approved by European Union inspectors.
Besides Europe, their meat is sold across Canada, Britain and Australia. A recent trip to Asia generated interest as well, said Bob Plumb.
He attributes their success to selling the best quality meat possible from young, pasture-raised, hormone-free bulls.
He exudes excitement over what his family is doing in the value-added area.
“For so many years in Western Canada, we’ve shipped out of the country. We’ve shipped it to somebody else and they ship it back to us and charge us three times what we shipped it for,” said Plumb.
He also is a firm believer that value adding is the way to go, especially in Alberta. As president of the Alberta Food Processors Association, Plumb believes Alberta food pro-cessors can more than triple their current $5.6 billion in sales within a decade.
Alberta combines an entrepreneurial spirit with lower business taxes and transportation costs because they’re located close to major markets.
Plumb sees further advantages as a niche marketer because it involves fewer marketing regulations and marketing boards.
