Sunday, September 14, 2014

More photos from Europe

Big Ben, London, UK
Tower of London with WWI commemorative art installation

Hampton Court; Clock from King Henry VIII
Hampton Court Gardens, UK

Kitchen at Hampton Court

Drogheda, Ireland


IVERK Show, Piltown, Ireland

In front of the Louvre in the rain, Paris with a bus.


Vitre, France

Vitre, France architecture

Charolais Show, France

Bourges Cathedral, France

Deauville, France

Hotel in Deauville.

Monday, September 8, 2014

A Connection to Food Like No Other

In France especially but throughout Europe I find that consumers have a different relationship with food.  The savour it, take time to enjoy it and it has a much more regional basis to it.  I have not had a meal in France that was less than three courses.  The food and the regions have a notoriety to them.  That is ultimately one of the reasons why I am in France, to learn about European consumers one must visit the country that is know around the world for their fine cuisine.  I have found on this trip and others that I have taken to Europe that consumers want to eat food produced in the region they are living in or visiting.  A number of years ago I visited Belgium because why wouldn’t I want to go to a place that is internationally recognized for their beer, french fries and chocolate.  The regional pride in food in similar to Canadian’s loyalty to our team of choice.  

There is a pride in Normandy for example, that their food products; meat, cheese, caramel sauce in their opinion is the best.  They show off their products in restaurants and stores, competitions are held and ribbons and trophies are displayed in butcher shop windows and hung on the wall of the restaurants.  There is a loyalty to the traditions and an innovative spirit to work towards perfection.

I saw this in Northern Ireland as well with Food NI’s Taste of Ulster program.  This program publishes a list around 150 restaurants in Ulster each year that use a high proportion of locally sourced food products.  Annually, the establishments are inspected and audited to ensure they are of the highest standard and truly sourcing certain proportions of their products from Northern Ireland.  Taste of Ulster also works with farmers and suppliers to highlight their specific product and make the connections to the retail and food service providers when necessary.  

The Back British Farming campaign by the National Farmers Union (NFU) in the United Kingdom is doing something different yet similar.  They work to increase public awareness of what food is produced in the country and encourage consumers to ask for British produced products.  They are encouraging and maintaining the demand for locally produced food products.  They also have a verification program called Red Tractor Assurance to ensure the highest standards are used to maintain quality and confidence.



PGI (Protected Geographical Indicator) and PDO's (Protected Designation of Origin) are a big part of this. Since 1992, PGI's are a way to ensure that foods or food products originating in a certain region can only be labelled as such when produced within that geographic region.  Champagne is a perfect example; only grapes grown in the Champagne region of France can be labelled as such.  Products originating from a different region must be called Sparkling Wine.  This law allows producers of specific products to obtain a premium price for their authentic products and ensure that regional branding is maintained and that there is no opportunity for copycat products of possible inferior quality to enter the market place.  


In the end, all of these programs are about a brand.  Branding of agricultural products will be the key moving forward.  Historically the farming community as a whole has not been great at telling our story and a brand is largely about the story behind it.  This is starting to change and change is welcomed by those in the industry and by the consumers.  These three regions are prime examples of how it can be done successfully and can be tailored to individual needs.  The strong ties to specific regions in Europe means that it must be done at this level to have the most impact.  At home perhaps the best approach would be to have greater Canadian branding on products but I feel that an argument can be made that in the Maritimes there could be a regionally based program and be very successful with it.  Either way something needs to be researched, investigated and steps need to be taken to strengthen the relationship with our most important customers, those at home in Canada.  We are lucky to have great support from them especially in the meat industry and we need to ensure that they continually have the best Canadian products available to them. We also have the ability to showcase our beef, milk, cheese, bread etc to visitors and to the world.  Let’s make it easy for them to identify Canadian made and produced products so they can help us spread the word.  A strong brand at home will be crucial to having a strong brand internationally. 

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Traceability in the EU



While I don’t claim to understand the subtle differences in the traceability systems in each of the European Union countries nor did I have the time on this trip to dive in to get that much detail.  I have come away from this trip with a better understanding of the system as a whole and a good understanding of the Irish, UK and French methods.  
The ear tags are all similar, produced by Allflex and 2 tags in each animal are required.  The tags are individually numbered and includes a herd identification component.  Some countries use barcodes, electronic identification (EID) is not mandatory but is available to be used for on-farm management.  The places without barcoded tags or in the cases of the older cows in those areas, use pen and paper to keep records, the number has to be read and recorded by a person and then entered into the electronic system.  EID systems are coming but the exact date is yet to be determined.  A backgrounder that I spoke to is looking forward to that day so they can keep their own records electronically based on the EID number.  They would apply an EID tag now of their own but they can not justify the cost when they only have the cows on farm for something around 100 days.

The tags are produced by Allflex and most often in the production facility in Vitre, about 2 hours west of Paris by train.  Orders are submitted each day by the regional department of agriculture (for French producers) and tags are custom made for each producer or as a replacement tag when one is lost.  The system is efficient and has many checks and balances in place to ensure accuracy and quality in the products.  I was fascinated to see how the tags are actually manufactured from start to finish under one roof and the speed at which production happens.    

Each time an animal is sold and therefore moved from one operation to another it is recorded in the national database, either through a paper based passport system as in the United Kingdom or electronically as in Ireland.  The processor in Northern Ireland that I visited tells me that data entry errors and tags being listed as what we would call retired are seldom and if they occur the information is verified and the problem corrected before the animal is allowed to be processed.  The information stays with the carcass as it did in Australia and each quarter is tagged with all the animal information including producer, breed and country of origin data.  

All meat sold in the stores is labelled with country of origin information on them.  It clearly states where the animal was born, raised and processed.  In France, all restaurants are now required to have written country of origin information on beef cuts available to patrons.  In the case of the restaurant at the hotel in Bourges where we stayed,  there was a notation on the menu that the information was available so I went to find it and had no trouble.  They had it on paper in a stand near the entrance.

Required French National ID tag and Charolais Herd Book tag
In France registered Charolais animals are also required to have a tissue sample taken and they use a method which leaves a green tag in their ear.  In Ireland, all national tags are tissue sampling tags and their goal is to have DNA tissue samples on all animals registered and commercial on file.

Example of Country of Origin information from restaurant 
Producers seem to accept the system as it is,  the level of regulation is so high that perhaps it is just one more piece to that puzzle.  Beef operations for the most part are smaller holdings, cattle are handled often and if not sold to the feeding industry in Italy then are kept at home and finished by the cow/calf producer themselves.  Reading tags by hand isn’t a hassle.  The data management system is government run in each country and the interface for the producer or processor is quick and easy to use.  


No system in perfect and no two system can be exactly the same.  There were many positive things that I have seen in the European traceability system.  The databases are extensive and it will be interesting to see how the industry can use that data to improve going forward.  Sharing of information is also a key piece of the traceability puzzle and will become more important as traceability expands into other aspects beyond the live animal to increase transparency, marketing opportunities and food safety.  Hans Johr from Nestle said it well on Sunday “We should all work together to ensure there are no more food scandals.” 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Alltech Global 500 Beef & Dairy Conference, Deauville, France

When planning this trip to Europe as part of my Nuffield travels I actually built it around this conference being held in the Normandy region of France which brings together over 700 beef and dairy farmers from 42 countries.  My aim was to seek out new perspectives and to get a truly global perspective on beef production.  Conferences are efficient as they bring many people together in one location and I have an opportunity to talk to many of them, far more than I could if I was travelling around on my own.  As a company I wasn’t all that familiar with Alltech but I had heard about the conference a few years ago and caught part of it online last year so that was enough for me to make the trip and find out for myself.  Alltech is an American company based in Lexington, Kentucky that manufacturers and sells feed additives for ruminants.  They host this event annually and are present in countries around the world.  

The presentations were varied and included information on products available through Alltech and the technology behind them as well as outlooks and trends in a global context.  Surrounding the theme of “What if….” big questions were asked and the answers are complex and difficult but the discussion was good.  Labour shortages in agriculture, increasing efficiencies, traceability and sustainability were all topics covered during the two days.

Some interesting points I am taking home are:
  • Opportunities are often in worlds less travelled.
  • “You and I have a job thanks to consumers” Hans Johr, Nestle
  • It is always a good idea to invest in agriculture
  • Traceability will improve efficiency and innovation, decrease food waste and be necessary to sustain customer confidence.
For me the biggest feature was being in a group of farmers where I knew none of them.  Before leaving home, I expected to get here and run into someone I knew from home, the USA or by chance somewhere else but it did not happen.  It was refreshing.  I met many people from many countries, and met a few Canadians who live in the Calgary area as well.  

The town of Deauville, which hosted this event is beautiful.  The venue was right on the beach and the sun was shining.  The town had the old style wood buildings and is a popular vacation spot for well to do Parisians in the summer.  An American film festival is held every year in early September and the stars and stripes were already flying all around town.  


Over the past few days I have gathered plenty of material for my Nuffield project, gained knowledge and ideas that will be used at the office and had interesting conversations with a variety of people.  Another successful endeavour in my books. 

Monday, September 1, 2014

Beef Tour - Central Region of France


As part of the conference being held in France over Labour Day weekend they held a pre-conference beef tour, I decided to join so that I could see French beef operations and get a different view on things.  The tour started from Paris on Thursday noon and there were 13 of us plus a tour guide/translator and driver.  As a group we represented Australia, Croatia, India, USA and Canada; we had cow/calf producers, feedlot managers, nutritionists, veterinarians, breed association (me) and Alltech staff.  A true cross section of the beef industry around the world.

South from Paris we headed into the region where the Charolais breed originated.  Our headquarters would be the town of Borges about 2 hours directly south of Paris and our mission would be to visit three Charolais farms and attend the National Adult Charolais Show as part of the World Charolais Congress then make it up to Deauville for the start of the Alltech Global 500 Beef & Dairy Conference.  Challenge accepted and we thought we would add in a few additional fun things into the mix as well.  

Bailly Farm, first stop on the tour
The first operation we visited was a feedlot that fed Charolais cull cows for 60 days.  They purchased these cows from local auction markets, fed them for two months to add condition then shipped them off the processor.  It was a model than none of us on the tour had ever seen before but we found it interesting and since it was a 4th generation farm and there were three families living off of it there was obviously a market for this service and a reasonably large one at that.  
Our second stop the next day was a cow/calf operation (Charolais again) where we joined up with a tour group from the World Congress.  It was here that we began to realize just how big the cows were in France and a little about how cow/calf operations are run.  In this particular place they breed 75% of their 90 females by artificial insemination and they use 25 different bulls.  It has been a wet year in France and had rained the few days leading up to the tour so the cattle were all up close to the barn and we had a chance to see pretty much the entire herd.  There was greater uniformity than we had expected and were most surprised by the fact that they breed horned Charolais across France, although this operation was breeding some polled genetics into the herd.  

From there we headed to the National Adult Show where we had a magnificent lunch, after a day together we had gotten to know each other quite well and the conversation flowed almost as quickly as the Champagne.  The steak was delicious and I was quoted as saying “It was the best non-Angus steak, I’ve ever had”  Walking through the barns was the highlight for me.  I could write an entire post on my thoughts as to why the cattle are so big and how the traditions have been passed down from generation to generation very obviously in France and the pros and cons as I see it but I will only say that the “mountains of beef” that we saw were impressive.  The pictures hardly do the size and capacity of these animals justice.  I was also surprised to see the variety of Charolais branded beef products and even McDonald’s has a Charolais hamburger here.  My new American friends and I were nervous after seeing pasture and pasture of white cattle along the roads and in the farms we visited.  We asked one of the producers there why there are no other breeds present and he told us “black cattle will be shot in this region.”  Enough said.

Bulls at the National Charolais Show

Our final stop on the tour was a Co-operative Feedlot and Bull Test station.  Again, they work exclusively with Charolais.  Another interesting operation and the ideas of co-operatives of smaller scale farmers in Europe seems to be an opportunity from this outsider’s perspective.  


All in all the tour was fantastic, many hours on the bus but this provided plenty of time for discussion and  an opportunity to share experience and ideas from our respective countries with the group.  We arrived in Deauville in time for the Conference Welcome Reception and thus began the next phase of this weekend event.  A quick overview of a busy 48 hours but more posts to come.  Our two days was a success and it was an enjoyable trip and delivered on all the promises.  I am very glad I took the time to participate in it.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Northern Ireland and Ireland in Photos

Morning Star, Belfast member of Taste of Ulster and raise their own beef for the restaurant.

Bantry Bay, Co. Cork, Ireland

Co. Cork

Champion Irish Angus Bull Calf, Piltown

Co. Kilkenny at Delaney's

The view from the lookout near Kilkenny.

ICBF - Ireland



I met with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation on Friday of last week to learn more about what specifically they do and their role in agriculture in Ireland.  As it turned out I also had an excellent tour of the area where they are located as I got very lost driving to the meeting.  Their office is in Bandon, County Cork in the south west part of Ireland. From their website “ICBF exists to benefit our farmers, our agri-food industry and our wider communities through genetic gain. We do this by the application of science and technology to ensure that our farmers and industry make the most profitable and sustainable decisions, through the use of the services provided from the ICBF cattle breeding database.”  They work in both beef and dairy and are an interesting model.  

The centre of their operation is their database.  Like everything else right now, the more data you have the better and this organization has it all.  Also taken from their website is this graphic which represents the data flow that they use.  They use data points from all other organizations to provide a service that helps steer genetic progress and to help individual producers excel.


At first I had to think “Wow! they really have this data sharing concept down in Ireland” then after talking to people there realized that because of the high level of government involvement in agriculture and the subsequent regulations imposed on them, much of this data is mandatory and then can easily be shared.  Producers when they sign up are asked for authorized the sharing of the data with AI companies for example and producers do pay for the ICBF service (performance reports and consulting assistance).    

Having all the data from all the breeds allows ICBF to also do a number of benchmarking studies and offers the industry Across Breed Genetic Evaluations.  For an example of what their reports look like, you can view a bull on their site and can see their Euro Star ranking system that works within breed as well as across breeds. 

They also assist in the administration of a number of government funding programs which are linked to increased data collection for their database. Often to encourage data submission there is a financial incentive.  Currently there is also a program running where livestock producers participate in discussion groups with other producers in their area to discuss issues and learn from each other.  This has been very successful so far and I have come across this in other countries as well.  From the outside looking in, it appears to be a great mentoring opportunity for all involved.  I hope to see something like this happening in Canada in the near future.  


With  meetings such as this I always seem to come away with ideas and inspiration this meeting with ICBF was no different.  I hope to continue to observe what they are doing and to learn from them in the future as well.  

Monday, August 25, 2014

Ireland & Northern Ireland Overview

For 8 days I have toured Northern Ireland and Ireland.  1905 km on the rental car.   Fond memories, new places and great people.  If you flip back to the starting posts on this blog you will see the love affair that I have with Ireland that started last year while my friend Lisa and I were travelling here.  This country is warm, inviting, laid back and a place that I plan to visit again very soon.  The people here are what really puts the experience over the top and I have always had a friendly greeting, smile and offers for assistance whenever I needed it here (and a few times when I was perfectly fine on my own)


I learned some very interesting things this week.  Ireland is actually the 4th largest beef exporting country in the world; the majority of their product going into other EU countries.  The herds on average are small but there are 60,000 beef producers in the Country, it adds up quick.  The national herd from what I have seen is made up of Charolais, Simmental, Limousin with a splash of British Breed influence mixed in.  Angus cross Holstein also were very popular.  

Fertility was the issue that everyone I talked to seemed most concerned with but progressive young farmers are culling hard for it and ensuring that it is top of mind.  I met with a lady named Lisa from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation in Bandon, Co. Cork, Ireland the other day.  They are taking special note of it as well and working with producers to address the issue.  The ICBF focuses on genetic improvement to benefit farmers, agri-food industries and the wider community.  They are the keeper of all the data for dairy and beef production in Ireland.  I will post more on them next time.  


I have visited beef and dairy producers, auction markets, industry organizations, marketing groups, branded beef programs and a processor.  Covered the island almost from the far north down to the south west.  It has been a great experience and I urge everyone to visit Ireland at least once.  

Sunday, August 17, 2014

United Kingdom Part 1

I have spent the last 6 days travelling around Britain and my trip has taken me over many. many miles along motorways and back lanes.  I have visited with producers, attended an local fair and spent a considerable amount of time in grocery stores. I have tasted the Gold Award winner of England’s Best Burger Challenge and had the best fish & chips I’ve ever tasted.  All in, it has been a wonderful week.  The United Kingdom for me has been a country of contradictions which makes it, its own unique self.  

Also, I have been able to reflect on the similarities between the beef industry here and our Canadian system as well as contrast the strengths and weaknesses of both.  The similarities have been slightly startling.  The biggest commonality we share is the inability to have a strong marketing presence internationally.  I have been toying with a few ideas in my head as to why this happens in Canada.  After talking to some people this week I believe we share the exact same problem.  For years both Canada and the Untied Kingdom have had a large, affluent customer base for their meat exports right at their doorstep.  While Canada enjoys geographical proximity to the United States of America, the UK has Western Europe just across the channel.  Both markets take a lot of meat products and neither exporting country has to work very hard to fill the need.  

I am a strong believer that this will change very shortly and was pleased to find someone with a similar opinion in the United Kingdom.  Canada will need to do a better job of branding ourselves internationally if we want to be recognized as an exporter of quality, premium beef.  I believe the first step starts at home. There has been much progress made by Canada Beef through the Canadian Beef Advantage and I applaud the work done thus far.  I don’t think we can stop however until all meat sold domestically and internationally is branded with the Canadian beef logo.  It was amazing to see all British beef marked with their official designation.  The mark is exactly the same across all meat products as well which makes it easy for consumers to identify Canadian product.  Australia has a very similar system and I hope one day in the near future, Canada’s product will be similarly branded with the red maple leaf.  


This trip so far has reinforced for me the need for the Canadian beef industry to work together as when one sector succeeds we all succeed.  We are headed in the right direction and I am confident that we will get there sooner rather than later.

I am now off to Northern Ireland and Ireland for the next week.  More updates and photos to come soon.  

Agricultural Societies Alive & Well

I rearranged my schedule this week to catch the Okehampton Agricultural Fair in the South West part of the UK.  This one day event was a sight to see and I am delighted that I took the time to visit it.  Agriculture is alive and well in this part of the country and it was refreshing to see the community coming together to celebrate it.  After the hectic traffic and congestion that I have faced in other parts of the country, I was relieved to slow down for a day.  There was no midway to be found and I wish that Agiricultural Societies at home could have this type of success without the midway and overly commercial aspects that most fairs have adopted.  Even as the rain continued to pour down sporadically all day, it didn’t dampen the festivities or affect the competitions one bit.  

The cattle show was a small component of the day and by my estimation there were far more sheep entries than cattle (beef and dairy combined).  Exhibitors from the local area had however brought out their best Galloway, Limousin, South Devon, Blond Devon and Belgium Blue cattle.  You may wish to reread that list as I expect you are thinking I forgot a few breeds.  But, you have read it correctly there were no Angus or Hereford cattle at the show.  A bit surprising to me as we were mere hours from the birth place of both breeds.  The big framed Contintenal cattle were obvious the kings of this region.  Being in the Devon region I was not surprised to see the strong showing of Devon cattle there but have never been to a show where there wasn’t at least a handful of Angus.  

The display was impressive.  A lot of work went into the set up of those fairgrounds for a one day show.  I could compare the displays to that of Lindsay Fair (at least back 15 years ago) that is not taking the midway and demo/tractor pull into effect.  Much grander than anything we ever put on in Oakwood.  As I walked around I couldn’t help but think that perhaps the Oakwood Fair could have been saved if the community had rallied around it more and the ever growing Lindsay Exhibition wasn’t right next door.  (My apologies to my Western Canadian readers who may not understand my Ontario references)


The show went on through the pounding rain and I expect the tent selling Wellington boots was a hot spot through out the day.  It was a prime example of community spirit where you could tell friends were getting together and neighbours were catching up.  Amid all that as an outsider I still felt right at home, it was a pleasure to take in and a great day playing in the mud.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Kazakhstan



While it was work that took me to Kazakhstan last week, I am sure some of what I saw and learned there will sneak into my Nuffield report.  It is a beautiful country and I hope to go back again.

Medeo- World's highest skating rink in the mountains outside of Almaty

The cable car up to the ski hill from the top of the dam outside of Almaty.


The countryside a few hours north of Almaty, it ended up hitting 37 C on this day. 
The cattle auction near Kostanay during the Opening Ceremony.

The video I shot of the first lot selling is available on Youtube.


Astana, the new capital city.

Monday, May 26, 2014

China: Challenges and Opportunities

I have been home for almost two weeks now, things are getting back in order and I have had some time to reflect on my trip.  China was such an interesting place to visit within the context of Nuffield but it is hard to truly wrap my head around what will happen there in the next 10 years.  Their middle class is growing, this class includes farmers including the people I met.  With this growth there are greater demands put on the quantity and quality of food needed; at the same time cities are growing and overtaking quality farm land.  Problems not unique to China but which are amplified by having 1.34 billion people living in a country that is about 300, 000 square kilometres smaller than Canada (by comparison the population of Canada is only 34.6 million people).  2500 people every hour are leaving the Chinese countryside and moving to cities; where jobs are higher paying, more plentiful and working conditions are deemed superior.  No other country in the world is dealing with migration issues such as this, ultimately putting further strain on the food demand as these people no long produce any food for their own consumption relying entirely on purchased products.  

The Chinese government seems genuinely concerned regarding how they are going to feed their population in the future and they are working towards solutions, including buying foreign land and working towards Free Trade Agreements with food exporting countries.  The question remains will it be enough?  

At the same time from what I saw, the government isn’t doing enough to nourish agriculture on home soil.  Farmers, businesses and investors are taking it upon themselves to build a modern agriculture industry.  They have come a long way but will it be enough?  How can they continue to grow when the land is leased from the government for 70 years?  How can they keep healthy, productive soils when manure application is restricted?  How sustainable is it to continue to import alfalfa from the United States?  How will the horrific pollution problem affect the health of their animals, the ability of the plants to photosynthesize in the future?  

I feel they are at a fork in the road.  Turning around is not an option.  To the left lies continued reliance on imports to the point where the cities have swallowed all suitable farm land and the majority of the food required is produced offshore.  To the right lies a healthy agriculture industry, supported by Government, where imports are still needed but only to supplement what is produced for China by Chinese farmers.  Samuel Johnson said “Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.”  


It will be interesting to see which direction China takes.  She will always need imports, I’m not suggesting China will be self sufficient, no one is.  My hope for China is that they will create a thriving agriculture industry which has a bright future much like we are experiencing right now.

Additional Photos from China

Victoria Harbour from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Bruce Lee statue on the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong

Corn grinder in the shadow of The Great Wall, still used today

New bins at the beef farm in Qingdao

Lunch is served including fresh Wagyu beef

On The Bund, Shanghai

Promenade across the river from The Bund, Shanghai