BC to Help Fund New Beef Plant

From: Food in Canada

Prince George, BC – The BC government is helping to bring the dream of a federally inspected meat packing plant to the northern part of the province closer to reality.

In a statement, BC’s minister of Agriculture, Lana Popham, says the “project has the potential to ensure BC cattle are bred, raised and finished in the province.”

Popham announced the province would commit $450,000 in funding. She made the announcement at the BC Cattlemen’s Association (BCCA) annual general meeting on June 1, 2018.

The statement says the funding will specifically support the next step in bringing the project to reality, which is developing “the partnerships to organize and build the plant.”

The statement goes onto explain that “the funding will be used to develop an industry-led cooperative business model, to support BC ranchers, and determine what role they could have in the plant’s ownership and operation.”

Those behind the BC plant are looking at a similar cooperative that was developed in Ontario for its pork industry.

The BCAA is leading the BC beef packing plant and says “the vision for the project is to provide differentiated, branded high-quality beef products to serve the specific needs of domestic, and select international, customers.”

The statement says the plant is expected to create 80 full-time, good-paying jobs in the area and about 620 spin-off jobs.

Kevin Boon, general manager at BCAA, says in the statement that before the new plant is built, they will “need to look at establishing a finishing process, and increasing feeding capacity.”