The agricultural community has not done a good job of understanding and capitalizing on the steps food takes to get from the field to the plate, says a research associate with the George Morris Centre.
Martin Gooch presented a workshop Nov. 16 in Saskatoon on value chains to help producers improve their bottom lines through strategic alliances in reaching consumers.
In an interview, he cited the example of a lamb value chain created in 1993 in the United Kingdom that has grown from 23 to 450 producers.
It includes producers, primary processors, secondary processors and retailers, each with their own roles and responsibilities. Each is accountable to the others.
Read Also
No special crop fireworks expected
farmers should not expect fireworks in the special crops market due to ample supplies.
He said producers can talk to the processor within an hour of an animal’s slaughter to learn how their lamb performed against others shipped that day and decide if they need to adjust their feeding regime.
“Then you’re not feeding the lamb expensive feed when you don’t need to,” he said.
It enables the producer to plan and manage the operation better, while providing suppliers with specifics on each animal.
“Traceability is an outcome of such a system, not a cost,” he said.
Gooch said producers get a consistent price and know in advance what it will be and their customers get a consistent supply of meat.
The partners share the benefits of reducing costs and increasing profits throughout the system, he added.
“They cut out a lot of costs as well and that enables the system to incentivize producers to produce a product markets require and float premiums to producers for doing that.”
Under the plan, British growers provide the lamb for six months of the year and the rest of the year it comes from New Zealand.
“Retailers of lamb can only succeed if lamb suppliers and if all involved have to supply them with a consistent product that encourages repeat purchases.”
Gooch said agriculture has been a traditional commodity-oriented industry that looked at the individual parts instead of the food sector as a whole.
Change essential
Saskatchewan grower Greg Haubrich said margins have been so thin in agriculture that farmers found it difficult to invest the time, money and energy in value chains.
He said agriculture is changing rapidly and farmers also have to change.
“Those of us who can adjust to the change will survive,” he said.
Haubrich experienced value chains first hand this year when a Japanese brewer toured his malt barley field at Hodgeville, Sask.
He learned how the Kendall variety he grows is highly desired by the company for its premium beer. Haubrich grows the barley, ships it to the local Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator, which then transfers it to the Prairie Malt plant in Biggar.
“That’s a value chain right there,” he said. “We have to be very diligent and keep trying to make a connection with our end users so we know what they want to make sure we can meet those needs.”
Haubrich said this approach involves farmers in the whole process.
Arlene Kennedy, a senior project manager of the Canadian Farm Business Management Council, said this and other workshops offered across the country are intended to provide leading edge information to producers so they can share risks, reduce costs and increase profits.
“I feel this is going to be a management practice of today’s leading farmers and will take them into the future,” she said.
