Martin Gooch of the Value Chain Management Institute has
released a report on the traceability system in Australia and says Ontario’s
beef industry could profit by implementing some of the ideas.
The key is going beyond simply identifying cattle and
capturing information right to the retail level and using it to improve
genetics, management, processing and marketing.
In Australia there’s a national system that requires farmers
to keep track of the movement of cattle from birth to market.
That’s similar to the mandatory system in Canada.
There’s opportunity for a second tier at the state level in
Australia and some are using it to capture information along the marketing
chain.
Gooch says Ontario could do this and profit by showing
customers that the industry here can deliver what they want.
There’s a
significant opportunity to profit now from the trade deal with Europe that
opens a new market for Canadian beef.
The Europeans are going to want a traceability system that
enables them to track an animal back to the time and place where it was born.
“The lessons learned in Australia demonstrate that there is
opportunity for Ontario to differentiate itself from other jurisdictions by
implementing full chain traceability,” says Richard Horne, manager of policy
and issues for the Beef Farmers of Ontario.
Gooch says “the cost
of establishing and maintaining an effective traceability system need not be
prohibitive or penalize one level of the value chain in favour of another.
“To be sustainable
and effective, traceability systems must be designed from a management
perspective, with the entire chain contributing financially to its operation
and evolution,” Gooch says.
The Australians set
out clear terms so everyone involved in the system knows what’s expected of
them, knows who pays how much and can tap into the data base.
The system is
managed by an independent body.
Among those who can
look at the data are researchers and government departments.
In the case study
that is outlined in the report released this week, a farmer tells how he is
using the information to improve his breeding and management to deliver the
market cattle that are most desirable and profitable.
Gooch has often told
farmers that a good value chain management system will yield benefits for
everybody involved, farmers, packers, supermarkets, restaurant chains, etc. it’s
not one sector benefiting at the expense of another, but everyone sharing
gains.
The aim is to
improve efficiencies and profitability by delivering products consumers prefer.
