Canadian beef cattle farmers and ranchers take great pride in their animals, their operations, the environment and the product they raise. The Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program allows beef producers to prove to consumers, retailers and industry stakeholders that their operations adhere to the highest standards for food safety, animal care, biosecurity and environmental stewardship.
Modern consumers want to make responsible food choices, and retailers want to source beef from sustainable supply chains. VBP+ helps producers demonstrate that they are doing the right things by offering both training and third-party assessment to certify operations under the program standard. On-farm assessments and training are available for operations in the cow-calf, backgrounding, and feedlot sectors from coast to coast.
VBP+ is delivered in all provinces with national coordination and management under the umbrella of the Beef Cattle Research Council, a division of the Canadian Cattle Association.
Producers certified by VBP+ meet a set of guidelines that align with the following standards:
The goal of VBP+ is to support continuous improvement while recognizing and validating the responsible practices most producers already have in place. Although it may introduce new ideas for management practices, the VBP+ Standard is not intended to add significant cost or administrative burden. Program training guides best practices, and the on-farm assessment process enables producers to demonstrate their commitment to implementing these practices within their operations.
To learn more about the training and certification processes, see the Steps to Training and Steps to Certification pages or listen to this podcast.
As of August, 2025
Head Counts
Total: 1,648,816 (number of animals under management of VBP+ operations)
Certified Operations
1,212 VBP+ certified operations nationwide
Acreage
5,596,204 acres under the management of VBP+ certified operations
Training
6,554 producers trained under the VBP+ program
13,892 producers trained under the VBP program (before VBP+ was available)
Verified Beef Production (VBP) was developed in 2004 to validate producers’ responsible practices to ensure on-farm food safety. This version of the program was developed from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s educational initiative, Quality Starts Here. In 2013, the program began expanding to meet additional consumer demands and, in 2016, launched the VBP+ program, adding modules in animal care, biosecurity and environmental stewardship to training and certification.
Page Updated January 2026
