Farming Solutions-I can see right through your lack of transparency.

One of the mantras that was drilled into my head during years of managerial headshrinking and training was this:  “Don’t just give me your problems, offer solutions”.

So in an effort to follow through on it, here I am with some of my thoughts.

I have said it often on this blog, that I feel that what’s needed is the return to real customer service.  Some interaction between producer and consumer.

In this world where detached customer service is king ( just try talking to a real live person, when you call just about any company now a days), in order for the primary producers ( i.e. farmers) to survive, they need to get good at one thing.  And that is to provide their customers with added value in the way of direct contact.

This is invaluable during a time where consumers are becoming increasingly aware that their food may or may not be produced locally.  Often consumers do not know what’s contained in the food they eat.

How refreshing it would be if they could look the producer in the eye and be assured that the food that they are serving their loved ones is safe.

I find it interesting how some of our food safety systems are designed around big industry.  A lot of the systems they have to put in place center around traceability.  How shameful it is for producers to take advantage of the anonimity that came with dropping of your animal at an auction mart, walk away with your cheque, and never have to worry about who is eating what you have produced.  This led to abuses in antibiotics, growth hormones and yes, shipping diseased animals ( i.e. BSE) all in an effort to maintain profits.  Until recently there was no traceback to the producer ( eartags have recently been introduced as a result of the lost markets due to the BSE debacle).

So yes we have a traceback system in place now, but we also have an industry that was largely built on anonimity, and large scale production.  Is it still going to make sense in a few years, to ship our animals to Ontario, or the U.S. only to bring the meat back here?  At what point will the price of fuel make that proposition prohibitive?

A lot of producers out west, got caught by the BSE crisis.  When the borders closed, they found themselves with no local slaughter capacity left.  They had relied on the U.S. for so long that they couldn’t react quickly to take care of the animals that needed to get processed domestically.  They frantically tried to build some slaughter facilities, but all to late.

Also our “friendly” government didn’t help matters much by imposing some food safety rules, that were designed for factory style slaughter houses, on these local and small upstart abattoirs.  When I was growing up my uncle would sell his animals to the local butcher who processed maybe one large bovine per week.  The animal would literally be led to slaughter on a halter right into the abatoir that was attached to the butcher shop.  People could see the animal walk into the shop. The butcher knew that he could trust my Uncles quality, and my uncle in turn knew that if he was going to keep his market, he would have to provide him with a good quality product both now and in the future.  If he had a “downer” cow, he wouldn’t take it and drag it down the butcher, and expect him to take it.  No, he knew that any diseased animals where best disposed of to the pet food industry, and kept out of the human food chain.  This tightly controlled system worked very well, and provided high quality meats to the butchers customers.  There was no anonimity for the primary producer.  The butchers customers knew where the meat came from, and would know where to go to seek retribution.  And it is probably that fact that is a concern for producers now a days.  But since the advent of the traceability system, producers are responsible for their products anyways.

So what is my solution?  Smaller, local processing.  Production that meets the consumers needs and tastes at a local level.  Consumers involvement in where their food is produced ( I love the idea of consumers purchasing their pork, as weanling pigs, and being involved in the farm as shareholders of that pig ).  What a great and novel idea.  Of course then consumers will have to come to grips that their meat might have had a name at one time.  It would seem that the anonimity works both ways.  Some consumers would rather pretend that their meat magically appears cut and wrapped at the grocery store, rather than coming to terms with the process that’s involved in slaughtering and processing their beloved strips of back bacon.

As an agvocate I am all about promoting agriculture, and finding ways to break through the misinformation out there.  It’s time to get this conversation going.  We can’t afford to hide anymore.

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Tags: Agriculture, Farmers, Farming, Food Production, PEI Farm Crisis, Slaughter Plants, Social Media, Transparency, Youtube

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