Livestock producers all over the world understand the positive impact tracking and sharing animal data can have on the marketplace. They know that, due to recent "food scares," consumers want to know the food they are going to feed their families is safe. They want to know where it comes from, how it was raised, and what chemicals or drugs were used to create it.
Not all farmers and ranchers are on board with the trend. Even though the use of RFID ear tags to identify cattle is mandatory, in some areas of Western Canada, where most of the cattle herd exists, compliance ranges near 50 per cent. As a result, the cattle industry is failing to take advantage of growth opportunities by giving consumers what they want: reliable information about the history of their beef.
To increase profits, improve the world perception of the quality of our beef, and expand domestic and international markets, the movement toward industry-wide traceability must be taken seriously. We have all heard it many times before. We live in a global market and we must do what the world market demands.
This is why the beef industry must learn something from Canada's pork and lamb producers.
Canada's pork industry is one of the few in the world to offer a nation-wide traceability system - PigTrace - a system that provides a competitive advantage as consumers look for verifiable pork products. PigTrace also helps producers safeguard their businesses and bottom lines during a market disruption caused by food safety or animal health issues. The Canadian Lamb Producers Cooperative is also creating a system for true traceability of meat from the farm, through processing, to the retailer, and right to the consumers' plates. The system will allow the lamb industry to grow, gaining a stronger foothold in growing international markets. Most of all, the grading system is increasing farm cash receipts, which is every farmer and rancher's goal.
That's great news for the lamb and pork folks, but what does it mean for cattle producers?
Despite the size and significance of the cattle industry, true traceability throughout the supply chain is still a distant dream. Without it, the industry is missing out on an enormous opportunity for growth that the pork industry has already seized and the lamb producers will be unveiling soon.
Traceability provides for the kind of collaborative economics that is vital for the industry's long-term sustainability and growth. Boosting revenues and profitability is a direct result of traceability and improved beef quality. It's as simple, and as complicated, as that.
But tracking has to flow throughout the supply chain-from lineage, to history of care, to production, and processing-to provide fast, credible, accurate, and consistent data to everyone. Integration is the only way to provide the kind of high quality and credible information consumers demand-and producers need.
By Ted Power President ViewTrak Technologies www.troymedia.com
