Canadian food chain abysmal

After sitting through two mornings at the Value Chain Innovation Conference in Mississauga, I am distressed by the situation of Canada's agriculture and food industry.


We are so far behind competitors in other countries that it's hard to fathom how we will ever catch up.


There was a time when we were world leaders. We had total industry involvement in developing hogs that yielded Wiltshire-side carcasses for the British market.


For decades, that experience brought buyers from around the world for our swine genetics. I know because my father raised and sold purebreds to many countries.


There is nothing like that today. We don't have the researchers, the extension services, the government grading and inspection services, the innovative and progressive meat packers, and all of the many other stakeholders and service providers pulling together for a common goal - satisfying consumers.


We have poultry and dairy farming organized to serve farmers, often defying processors and paying little or no attention to retailers, restaurateurs, foodservice companies and Canadian consumers.


And the marketing boards don't even do a good job of serving farmers; too much of their energy is wasted infighting for provincial market shares and their processors. And the processors don't help by fighting back. Who can trust the others in this kind of atmosphere?


The main beneficiaries of supply management have been money lenders and retired farmers or their heirs.


We have a fractured, infighting beef industry that produces ever-larger cattle for packers trying to unload their beef on retailers whose customers want smaller cuts, especially in these times of penny-pinching household budgets.


We have pork packers trying to shove their meat through the system and paying scant attention to consumer demand that would pull the desired products to market.


The big three supermarket chains guard their sales data more carefully than National Defence in Ottawa is able to safeguard its computers. 


As we learned at the conference, everybody wins when retailers share sales data with their suppliers who can then respond as fast as possible with the desired products delivered to the right stores.


The result is better-satisfied customers who come back for more, lower inventories in the system, less waste and much lower costs.


The food processors who use this information to offer premiums to farmers to produce and deliver the livestock and poultry and crops that are in demand end up with a steady and secure supply, less waste and happier farmers. The improvements more than pay for themselves.


And we're only talking here of gains made from improving value chain management for the domestic market. As Wiltshire-side hog and pork production proved, the market benefits extend to exports.


The speakers all made it clear that good supply-chain management is hard work and takes a long time. And it's a never-ending process.
It requires leadership which in the Canadian context means the big three supermarket chains.


At best, they can only point to a random few examples of value chain management, such as Loblaws with peaches. And the peach example could quickly end if Loblaws loses interest with any of its many changes in management.


To make value chain management work requires willingness from everyone else in the supply chain to do whatever it takes to deliver what consumers want, and to do it every time, all the time, at the lowest cost.


There is no room for those who think they know what's good for consumers, and refuse to listen to consumers or to react to their purchasing power. 


There is no room for greedy and selfish people who seek to grab an unfair share or advantage over partners in the value chain. 


There is no room for cheating, lying, fraud or dishonesty of any kind.


There is a need for governments to be referees and to be able and willing to make sure that nobody is operating outside the four corners of laws and regulations. 


It would be nice if governments would also deliver some of the services that they are uniquely positioned to offer, such as basic research, education and transportation infrastructure.


When I consider the checklist of requirements for good value chain management, I end up distressed by the situation Canada finds itself in today.


It will take at least a generation to claw our way out of our mess that most of our commodities find themselves in today. 


And that's presuming we can figure out what we need to do and have the will to do it.


But the good news is that it can be done.