Farm Credit Canada is offering a new incentive for beef producers to certify to become sustainable producers.
The FCC’s Sustainability Incentive Program will provide up to $2,000 to those who meet the standards of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) to encourage best industry practices in the sector.
Curtis Grainger, FCC director of sustainability, said the incentive helps provide another reason to adopt sustainable practices.
“The demand for CRSB sustainability certification is overstripping the supply,” said Grainger.
CRSB certification for producers requires an audit to ensure a ranch meets the standards of enhancing ecosystems, ensuring animal welfare, producing a quality product and promoting innovation to optimize production and reduce waste.
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Driving those goals is a growing demand by consumers for sustainably produced products.
However, the certification can add paperwork for ranchers for a process that can take six to nine months, something the FCC incentive is hoping to offset.
“What’s clear to us is, for people to go through any process for any type of certification, there is work involved,” said Grainger. “There needs to be more incentives out there to show the economics of these type of items that take producers’ time.”
But once the heavy lifting of receiving the initial certification is done, Grainger said accessing incentives such as FCC’s is straightforward.
“We want to create a pretty simple process so our online application for an FCC customer who has their certification is about 10 minutes,” said Grainger.
For those already certified, that’s all the additional time it will take to access the funding offered on an annual basis to maintain the CRSB standards, he added.
Outside the incentive, there are dividends from ensuring a ranching operation is sustainable.
“There are inherent benefits for people who lean this direction,” said Grainger. “What we hope to see is that this does encourage more producers to get certified because that is really the goal.”
More information on the CRSB certification process can be found at crsb.ca.
