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    • VBP+ BLOG & NEWS

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    Page 4
    Explaining the fuss about the Canadian Beef Sustainability Acceleration Pilot

    The Canadian Beef Sustainability Acceleration Pilot (CBSA) hopes to achieve in one year what many in the industry have been trying to accomplish for years – deliver a certified sustainable supply chain to foodservice and retail customers.

    Led by Cargill, Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) and the Beef InfoXchange System, the CBSA aims to sate demand from foodservice and retail companies for gate to plate tracking that verifies the production practices used in raising an animal as sustainable. What’s more, foodservice companies and retailers are helping facilitate the development of a sustainable supply chain in Canada through providing financial incentives for qualifying cattle.

    VBP+ plays an important role in the development of a sustainable supply chain. Eligibility for the CBSA requires that all the places an animal stays throughout their lifetime are VBP+ Registered and that they be processed in an audited packing plant (currently Cargill High River). VBP+, a training and on-farm verification program for Canadian beef producers developed and managed by the CCA, is delivered through various provincial beef organizations across the country.

    McDonalds, Loblaws, Swiss Chalet, and Original Joe’s are among the foodservice and retailers that have come forward to provide financial incentives for qualifying cattle. This is significant in terms of timing because they are providing financial incentive before they can make claims back to their customers. In other words, McDonalds, Loblaws, Swiss Chalet, and Original Joe’s are so committed to supporting certified sustainable beef (a program that meets commercial Canadian beef industry standards, unlike most other “certified” programs) they are willing to support the development of supply chains to provide it before they can reap the benefits in their stores. Now it is up to us, as producers, to build those supply chains.

    Our role in CBSA as beef producers is simple. Complete the VBP+ verification process (including the audit) to become Registered and then try to ensure you sell your calves (or buy calves if you are a backgrounder or feedlot operator) to other VBP+ Registered producers. To get Registered and have your cattle qualify simply:

    1. Be or become a VBP+ Registered Producer;
    2. Be or become a BIXS member;
    3. Age verify or move your cattle to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) database (either directly or through BIXS).

    If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out directly to me or contact your local VBP+ Provincial Coordinator. Stay tuned for updates.(Reprinted with permission from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association)

    Verification Built By Producers, For Producers with the End User in Mind

    My name is Cecilie Fleming and I am a seedstock and cow calf producer from west of Granum, in southwest Alberta. Our operation is a longtime established farmstead surrounded by ranching and feedlot production. Our place consists of farmland, riparian areas, and tame and native grassland ecosystems supporting native species. Is everything perfect on our place? – No. But being a part of Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) as Registered Producers has helped us look inward at our operation to see how we can improve and minimize risk.

    I sit as the National Chair of the VBP+ Management Committee, the roll of which is to set policies ensuring the VBP+ program is meaningful and usable for beef producers and delivers value. The management committee consists of national producer representation by Province or Region. VBP+ is something that beef producers in Canada can be proud of as an excellent and affordable tool to help them tell their story of beef sustainability to the world.

    We are a business based on science, selling to consumers, who often choose based on emotion, through marketers who interpret what consumers need. This relationship is why it is critical for beef producers in Canada to be involved to ensure marketers are telling our truths. VBP+ is the national program that can help producers help themselves by being a part of the Sustainable Beef movement.

    Who: Registered VBP+ farms, ranches and feedlots are run by producers who recognize the need to be a part of a national verification system to meet the needs of some of our end users. They are producers willing to invest time and resources to confidently make the claim of VBP+ Registered status as VBP+ positions itself to be a delivery agent of beef sustainability verification nationally.

    What: A Registered VBP+ Producer takes training in on-farm food safety, biosecurity and animal care, they assess their operation’s environmental wellbeing, as well as the operation’s human resources and community involvement. The training and assessments ensure producers document, keep records, are prepared to meet a 3rd party audit, and take part in annual assessments to maintain their registered status.

    When: A producer can become involved with VBP+ any time of year by contacting their Provincial VBP+ Coordinator and initiating the process. There are 3 modes of training: scheduled in person workshops, scheduled webinars and anytime online training. Once training is complete, producers begin keeping appropriate records for a set period of time (6 months for cow-calf, 3 months for feedlots) leading up to their first audit. They prepare by completing a pre-audit checklist and then a 3rd party auditor will be assigned to their operation. The auditor contacts the producer to schedule the on-farm audit at the producer’s convenience.

    Where: Everywhere beef production takes place in Canada. VBP+ is a national verification program available to all beef producers in the supply chain.

    Why: We have end users asking for beef raised sustainably. If the end user is going to make the claim that some or all their beef products are ‘sustainably raised’, they must be a part of a robust program with documentation, audits, rigor and transparency to backstop those claims. VBP+ and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) are working together to establish equivalency so Registered VBP+ beef operations would qualify to be recognized as Verified Sustainable Operations. Clearly, we did not want multiple end users building lists of sustainability criteria where producers would face trying to meet the needs of many differing platforms. The CRSB has been a great venue to collaborate and come to consensus on what defines beef sustainability in Canada. The guidance enables producers to tell their story and demonstrate they are doing things right and on a path of continual improvement. Being a Registered VBP+ Producer in good standing would, in time, allow you to make the claim of Sustainably Raised Beef.