Status Update Released On National Beef Strategy

The Canadian Beef Advisors released a progress report on the 2015-2019 National Beef Strategy.

The strategy was created by the national beef organizations to position the industry for greater profitability and growth.

The Beef Advisors report as of June 2018, 15 per cent of outcomes have been completed, 5 per cent are in progress which have a specific end, 61 per cent of outcomes are ongoing and expected to continue, 7 per cent haven't been started due to funding constraints, 8 per cent need modification, and 5 per cent have mixed status.

The target outcomes in the strategy fall into four pillars; connectivity, productivity, competitiveness, and beef demand.

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA) is the Chairing Group of the Canadian Beef Advisors.

CCA Executive Vice President, Dennis Laycraft, says they added the connectivity pillar to get the beef organizations to work more collaboratively.

"That always makes us a stronger voice whether we're working internationally, whether we're working in Ottawa or Washington, and as we undertake any of our general efforts as an industry. That's maybe the area that we can all look back on and say we really made a difference there."

Laycraft says, part of the connectivity pillar was creating the Canadian Beef Industry Conference which will be returning to Calgary next year after being held in London, Ontario this past summer.

He adds, one of the priorities in the strategy was to increase funding to conduct more research.

"In the beginning of April of 2018, we started to collect the larger amount of money per head. We went from a $1.00 per head check-off to $2.50 per head check-off. In those areas, we're just finally getting into that increased funding that we were looking for."

Other achievements include developing the Public and Stakeholder Engagement Program under the CCA, the launch of the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework, and the AAA cutout remaining 19.6 per cent above the target of $224/cwt.