If prairie mustard growers want to retain their position as the major supplier to crucial markets in Europe, Japan and the United States, their most important tools might be a sharp pencil, a calculator and a comfortable desk.
Meeting the growing demands for traceability and food safety will mean more attention to detail and more paperwork, says a producer involved in a traceability pilot project.
Brett Meinert, a farmer from Shaunavon, Sask., who represents mustard growers in the project, said one producer participant reported that it took about three weeks a year to complete the paperwork associated with meeting the standards likely to be required by importers.
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That may sound onerous, but Meinert said it’s probably unavoidable.
“If we want to be the people who they come to, we’ll have to be prepared,” he said.
The pilot project, being co-ordinated by the Canada Grains Council and supported by a number of commodity associations and industry groups, involves mustard, canola, soybeans, wheat and barley.
Its goal, which is to be completed at the end of June, is to produce on-farm producer manuals to help farmers document what they must do to meet guidelines laid out under a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system as it might be applied to food production.
HACCP is a scientifically based preventive approach to identifying and eliminating food safety hazards.
“Customers talk a lot about food safety issues and we have to head them off at the pass,” Bill Riley of the grains council told farmers attending the annual meeting of the Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission.
For the mustard industry, the issues raised by buyers include the possible contamination of shipments by genetically modified organisms and pesticide residue, as well as more general concerns about traceability, labelling and food safety.
Issues such as traceability, food safety and liability were front and centre at the mustard growers meeting, with several presenters addressing various aspects of the issue.
Francois Catellier of the Canadian Special Crops Association said there is no doubt that developing a reliable traceability system is worth the effort when it comes to retaining markets, especially in Western Europe.
Interviews with customers found that Canada was viewed favourably not only for the quality and consistency of its mustard export, but also for the level of traceability and quality control already in place.
“Customers in Europe and Japan all said they want to be able to trace back to the grower,” he said.
