Saskatchewan Organic Livestock, or SOL, is a nonprofit co-operative dedicated to educating the public, promoting organic meat and facilitating marketing for organic livestock producers.
A year ago, the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate, the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada and Saskatchewan Agriculture hosted a meeting to consider the strong growth potential of the certified organic meat market. SOL was founded in response to this potential.
Consumer interest in organic meat is increasing dramatically. Sandy Russell from the province’s agriculture department said beef is the fastest growing category in the organic market in the United States.
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Alberta Agriculture recently completed a study that suggests excellent potential for organic chicken and pork, as well.
The Alberta study questioned consumers’ attitudes in British Columbia and Alberta to natural, organic and free range pork and chicken. They found that there is a high level of interest in this sort of product, with nearly 70 percent of consumers wanting to purchase natural, organic or free range chicken and nearly 60 percent of consumers wanting natural, organic or free range pork.
People who labelled themselves as highly interested in natural, organic or free range chicken and pork tended to be women who were well educated, especially those with young families. This trend was duplicated in the study of the American organic beef market. Women younger than 40 were the most frequent purchasers.
In the Alberta study, the interest in natural, organic or free range was highest for consumers who had the greatest awareness of these options. In the American example, organic consumption increased dramatically after the United States adopted the National Organic Program. This suggests a substantial benefit for organic producers who get the word out.
Saskatchewan Organic Livestock plans to undertake projects that help consumers realize the benefits of organic meat as a healthy food.
Half of the money SOL collects through membership fees will be dedicated to education projects. The first of these is the development of a website to link producers with consumers, who could use the website to find a local source of organic lamb, for instance.
The SOL website would also be a valuable way for organic producers to connect with each other. Producers who background could find cow-calf operators and finishers in their region.
The connection among organic producers could be extended to those who produce feed. Producers who wish to include alfalfa in their rotation, but do not wish to raise cattle, might use SOL’s services to connect with the beef value chain.
SOL also works at market co-ordination to help bring a fair price and reduce the producers’ risk. SOL is already making contacts to move this year’s crop of beef calves.
The group started with beef because the market demand and producer base were strongest for this species. Dayton Funk, one of two marketing co-ordinators for SOL, said that live certified organic animals from 500 pounds to finish are moving “south, east and west.”
The market co-ordination arm of SOL hopes to move to a branded product, taken through slaughter and sold as boxed meat. This will allow producers to retain more of the value. Funk would like to see a regional, Canadian prairie organic meat brand.
SOL is in discussions with other producer groups in Manitoba and Alberta.
By working together, sharing buyer and price information, Funk believes that producers will be able to retain a strong negotiating position. SOL could facilitate a more informed connection between buyers and sellers.
SOL will have its first annual meeting on Oct. 17, at 9 a.m. at Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Saskatoon Agriculture Business Centre. The group will elect a board of directors and consider the next steps on behalf of certified organic livestock producers. All organic livestock producers are welcome to attend.
For additional information on the marketing study done by Alberta Agriculture, contact Bert Dening at 780-674-8247. For information on SOL, contact Karen Liska at 306-948-2996.
Frick is the prairie co-ordinator for the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada located at the University of Saskatchewan. She can be reached at 306-966-4975, at brenda.frick@usask.ca, or www.organicagcentre.ca.
