The centre’s Value Chain Management team found that those in
the business could benefit from market intelligence, from management training,
from learning how to approach retailers and by adopting standards that match
global-trading standards.
Market intelligence is important to identify opportunities
and to develop production and
marketing plans, but neither Statistics Canada nor AC Neilson provides this
type of information for Canadians,
says the report.
This “contrasts markedly” from what’s available to the
farmers and processors in the United States and other jurisdictions, says the
report.
Another major impediment is the fact these special foods are
outside the mainstream Canadian markets and therefore they face “regulatory
challenges.”
The report says governments should review their regulations
for “unintended consequences.”
And the Canadian Food Inspection Agency needs to “redefine
its culture and the way it interacts with individual businesses, as well as
sectors, through changing how the CFIA’s performance is measured,” says the
report.
Good luck on that one! There are a host of federal government agencies that have long been in dire need of cultural transformation, but continue to flounder - immigration, Indian affairs and employment insurance, to name only a few.
Farmers and food processors find the CFIA to be “more of an
obstacle than a valued service provider,” says the report. No kidding!
The study team reviewed the literature available and
conducted many interviews with business leaders, says the introduction to the
executive summary.
The team chose red meats produced, processed and marketed to
meet religious law, such as halal standards for Muslims, and goat meat and
products.
It also looked into buckwheat and pulses for the gluten-free
market and shellfish and Kazunoko from Canada’s East and West coasts.
The executive summary is posted on the George Morris Centre
website.
