Two-thirds of Canada’s beef now comes from cattle operations that have been trained under the Verified Beef Production program, the program’s manager says in a release.
“Canadian beef producers do a good job and care about what they do,” said Terry Grajczyk, national manager of the VBP program for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. “Many have been loyal to the VBP program and it continues to grow. We are looking for ways to secure further recognition for beef production practices on behalf of cattle producers.”
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Participation grew three per cent last year with the training of another 17,103 producers.
The number of “registered” operations, those which have their operations audited by a qualified third-party validation auditor, increased 16 per cent over the previous year. That represents 1,004 beef cattle operations audited and 20 per cent of beef cattle production in Canada.
“This is a big industry and growth takes time, but there has been good interest in Western Canada, Quebec, and now starting in the Atlantic provinces,” Grajczyk said.
He noted farmers in some provinces can access partial support through the Growing Forward 2 program for equipment purchases.
The program is in early stages of exploring add-on modules for biosecurity, animal care, and environmental stewardship. This may include verification processes for those who want that option, and identifying key outcomes for Canadian producers.
General information on the VBP program is available at www.verifiedbeef.org including contacts for provincial VBP co-ordinators.
