Beef Advocacy Canada offers Canadian cattle producers, industry partners, and consumers a chance to learn how our beef gets from gate to plate
Canadian beef producers are being urged to do some bragging about the safety and quality of their product.
A new online program created by Beef Advocacy Canada aims to turn farmers into ambassadors for the Canada beef brand.
“We’re pretty excited to have this program for the entire industry,” said Annemarie Pedersen, director of industry communications for Canada Beef Inc. “Everybody will be able to benefit from this program in one way or another.”
Expected to launch early next year, Beef Advocacy Canada will blend education and key messaging to help producers, industry partners, and even consumers become better advocates for the industry.
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“We have all this excellent information all over the place, and we’d like to bring that together and give that information out to consumers as well,” said Jolene Noble, program director with Canadian Cattleman’s Association.
The association and Canada Beef began working on the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA)-funded program in January after learning about an American program called Masters of Beef Advocacy. The Canadian version adds in a consumer element.
“Similar to the American program, this program is for producers, but we also thought that there’s an opportunity to provide information and share our story with consumers or other people who might be interested in what brings beef to your table,” said Pedersen.
The online tool, which works on either computers or mobile devices, has an overview of Canada’s cattle industry, cattle production, beef processing, beef health, cooking information, and environmental stewardship. The first part of the two-level program will provide a basic understanding of the beef industry, while the second level will include messaging about sensitive topics such as feed additives, hormones, antibiotics, and animal care. The first level is open to the public, but producers need to apply to view the second level. The entire course should take no more than three hours to complete.
“We want our chapter content to be quite nice and concise to give a broad overview and the basic facts you need without being cumbersome,” said Noble.
A resource library will compile information from industry websites and resources to make it easier to find.
“There are a lot more questions that are being posed to our industry, and we’d like to provide those answers and that science-based information to our consumers,” said Noble.
Media training and regular industry updates will also be available to graduates of the program, including info that would be of use in the event of an industry crisis.
“This will give us an opportunity to have a pool of advocates at our fingertips that we can send key messaging to,” Noble said.
But the ultimate goal is for people representing the cattle industry — from primary producers to the people behind grocery store meat counters — to take this course and develop a basic understanding of how beef gets to consumers.
“This is an important thing for our industry — to put these tools in the hands of producers who are our best advocates,” said Noble. “They have their own story to tell, as well as the industry’s story, and they can make a well-rounded version out of it.”
