Ontario Corn Fed Beef program expands market share in 2013

Thursday, January 16, 2014

by MATT MCINTOSH

The Ontario Corn Fed Beef program expanded its share of the retail market and received more government funding in 2013, said those representing the program at last week’s Beef Industry Convention in London.

In 2013, the province provided the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program with $2.5 million in funding for market development and export expansion, as well as $10 million for the new Corn Fed Beef ledger program.

“The ledger program is focused on risk mitigation and involves trading on behalf of producers,” says Jim Clark, executive director of the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, which promotes and maintains the Ontario Corn Fed Beef brand.

The brand’s website says the $10 million is being used to create a secure pool of capital for the ledger program. In turn, that capital will be used to help “stabilize pricing for participating producers.”

In a phone interview, another Ontario Corn Fed Beef representative said the program involved around 500 farm families in 2012 and 2013.

Dale Pallister, a Grey County farmer and Cattle Feeders president, says that the branding program expanded the number of cattle under its banner by 18 per cent over the past year. This, he says, is due in part to significant retail support.

Currently, between 50 and 55 per cent of all the cattle marketed in Ontario is being marketed under the Corn Fed label, says Pallister. The province processes around 600,000 head annually.

“The program has a lot of industry support, including Loblaws and many independent butcher shops, and we are all very grateful for that,” he says.

Pallister also says that he expects the competition from more cheaply produced animals, such as hogs and chickens as well as imported beef, to be an increasing challenge to Ontario beef producers in the coming year.

Ontario imported 182,118 tons (or $1.15 billion) of beef and veal in 2012. That is up from 170,834 tons ($996.3 million) in 2011, and 142,418 tons ($742.2 million) in 2010.

 “We would be a lot further behind our competitors if we didn’t have the corn fed program,” says Pallister. BF