Beef producers can find out more about the Risk Management Insurance Program at a series of meetings that will be held across the province in August and September. The multi-commodity RMIP for grain and oilseed, cattle, hog, veal, edible horticulture and sheep farmers was unveiled at the end of June. The program was based directly…
It’s been ten years and counting for two meat businesses that have enthusiastically supported the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program since its inception. Norwich Packers (Norpac) was the first provincial processor to come on board while Ted Farron’s Gourmet Butcher Shop in Windsor was one of the first retailers to feature the signature brand of the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association.
The Ontario Corn Fed Beef program was launched in June of 2001.
For Ted Farron, the program represented a good news story that was needed at the time.
“The reason I came on board is we had some bad news in the meat business and negative things about Canadian beef,” recalls Farron, noting that people were becoming more concerned about the quality and safety of beef products. “I was glad to see that Ontario stepped up to come out with a real clean program; no animal by-products fed to the cattle, giving people the assurance of a quality piece of meat.”
As for his customers’ response, Farron says the reaction to the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program has been terrific.
Ontario Corn Fed Beef producers are hoping the new deal with Loblaw Companies will solidify their position in the marketplace and improve the prices they receive for their cattle.
“It’s a significant amount of shelf space for the consumer meat market in Ontario and we have the opportunity and privilege now so that we can supply that market to them,” said Dale Pallister, President of the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association.
Pallister, who farms near Dundalk, was among the first group of farmers to be certified for the program ten years ago.
A new market research program is set to measure value chain attitudes, behaviour and public opinion towards an on-farm E. coli O157 risk reduction program for the Ontario Corn Fed Beef brand.
The Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association (OCFA) has been granted funding through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program for three years of market research on the value related to reduction of this food safety risk.
The project will launch this year with a baseline attitudes study of processors, distributors and retailers. Researchers will measure their awareness, attitudes and perceptions of E. coli O157 risk, and the value of pre-harvest risk reduction. Consumers will also be surveyed on their interest and willingness to pay for the integration of such tools into the Corn Fed Beef branded program.