January 31, 2023 • 31 mins
Consumers often wonder what is being done to ensure cattle are raised sustainably and humanely. Rancher Erika Stewart explains the audited Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program for Canadian cattle producers. The program focuses on three main practices: animal care, food safety and environmental stewardship to demonstrate to consumers the level of care that goes into producing beef.
Host: Clinton Monchuk
Clinton Monchuk grew up on a mixed dairy, beef and grain family farm outside of Lanigan, Saskatchewan. He received his Bachelors of Science in Agriculture majoring in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan and Masters of Business Administration in Agriculture from the University of Guelph. Clinton has enjoyed numerous roles across Canada, the United States and Mexico as a researcher, educator, manager, economist and director of trade policy.
In 2016 Clinton accepted the role of Executive Director with Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan to promote farming and ranching to consumers. Clinton understands the value of increasing public trust in agriculture and actively promotes engagement between the agriculture industry and consumers.
Clinton, Laura and their children Jackson and Katelyn, continue to be active partners on their family grain and layer farm in Saskatchewan and cattle ranch in Oklahoma
Guest: Erika Stewart
Erika Stewart alongside her husband Cyle and their three daughters ranch in Morse SK. They have a commercial cattle operation and also grass yearlings. The Stewarts are passionate about the grasslands they are fortunate enough to call home and are always trying to learn and improve their management practices on the ranch.
Erika is also the provincial coordinator for the VBP+ program in Saskatchewan. She is the first point of contact for producers in Saskatchewan to call and gain information about VBP+ and beef sustainability in Canada. Erika is also very passionate about ag-vocacy and sharing the beef industry's story with consumers.
Resources:
Life at Pine Ranch, Season 1
VBP+ program
Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB)
Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC)
CCFI research
Episode Credits: Research and writing by Dorothy Long and Penny Eaton, Produced and edited by Angela Larson, Music by Andy Ellison-Track title: Gravel Road
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Clinton Monchuk (00:07):
From Canadian Food Focus, this is Ask a Farmer
.
I'm your host Clinton Monchuk.
A Saskatchewan farmer.
In this podcast, we talk to foodexperts to answer your questions
about your food.
Here we are with the Ask aFarmer Podcast, and we have
(00:30):
Erika Stewart with us today totalk a little bit about the
Verified Beef Program.
Now, before we kind of get intoa little bit more of the
program, I just want to ask youa little bit about yourself.
Erika, I know, we've had theprivilege of, of walking with
you at Pine Ranch over the lastcouple years on Canadian Food
Focus, but maybe just give us alittle bit of a background of
(00:51):
your ranch and your family andjust help all our listeners know
a little bit more aboutyourself.
Erika Stewart (00:57):
Sure.
Thanks Clinton, and thanks forhaving me on the podcast today.
So my name's Erika Stewart, andI am a third generation rancher
and we currently ranch in MorseSaskatchewan, my husband Cyle
and I and our three girls ranchalongside my parents.
We have about, 300 mother cowsand then we grass some yearlings
as well.
Clinton Monchuk (01:17):
So Erika, one of the things that I noticed, I
watched really all of your,videos that you have on Canadian
Food Focus, but one of thethings that I really take note
of is the fact that you havethree little girls and they
follow you around and jump up onthe horse with you.
You havethem strapped to youryour chest or your back
(01:37):
depending on what you're doing.
How does that actually work?
I know you and you and Cyle arecommitted to your cattle, but
also obviously very committed toyour three little girls.
Erika Stewart (01:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's just so fun having themwith us and we try to take them
with us as much as we can.
Sometimes that means that we arenot very efficient, Cyle
actually calls us the efficiencycrew, so usually efficiency goes
down when we come and help.
But yeah, it's just we loveranching and the neat thing is,
(02:12):
is you can do that with yourfamily.
I mean, it is getting a littlebit harder now that they're
getting a bit older.
When they were younger, like yousaid, like they were on our back
or on our front or whatever.
And carriers are the bestinvention ever, but it is
getting harder in a way.
But then they're asking morequestions and they wanna be
outside with us, and all of themare just, yeah, they have their
(02:33):
own cows and they know theirnumbers.
And so just trying to hopefullyprovide them with an opportunity
to, know agriculture andhopefully love it like we do.
And it's just, it's such a funthing to do all of us together
too.
We just appreciate that we havethat opportunity to essentially
take our kids to work with usevery day.
Clinton Monchuk (02:54):
It is interesting because it just
sparks that interest of growingfood in their, lives and in
their hearts.
And I think back when I was youknow, around their age, I used
to play farming with my brother,now who I farm with.
It really kind of just feedsthat passion for agriculture.
Erika Stewart (03:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's pretty fun and special togrow up like this.
So yeah, we are just trying toprovide that for our girls too.
Clinton Monchuk (03:21):
So you're not originally from Saskatchewan
though.
Maybe tell us a little bit aboutthe story of how crazy it was to
move from some beautiful wintersout in British Columbia.
Into Saskatchewan.
Erika Stewart (03:32):
Yes, winters are different out here than what
we're used to, that's for sure.
So I'm actually originally fromMerritt B.C.
I grew up on my family's ranchthere, the same ranch my dad
grew up on, our first daughterwas born there.
And it was a place that, youknow, was very much a part of me
and I loved very much and just Ialways thought that we would
(03:53):
raise our family there and Iwould live there.
But, we made the really harddecision in about 2016 that it
was just where we were locatedanyhow, it was just too hard to
ranch there.
So we started looking for placesout here, which was actually a
really fun experience.
We got to see a lot ofSaskatchewan and like actually
see places, you know, so it was,it was really fun.
(04:15):
But then it got a bit stressful.
Our ranch sold and we didn'thave a place yet, so we had to
be out by April 22nd to 2017.
And we had no place for all ofour cows or us.
But then we did finally find aplace in Morse and we hauled all
of our cows out here.
Equipment like belongings,moving a whole ranch was, was
quite an interesting time.
Clinton Monchuk (04:39):
I can't even imagine.
So like, I've moved a few times,the first few times I've moved,
I could fit everything in theback of my Plymouth acclaim,
right.
And so it was everything I ownedkind of fit in a suitcase.
So moving a farm would've beenone heck of an experience.
Erika Stewart (04:55):
Well, and like going through the shop-dad's
tools, how many Crescentwrenches do we have?
Do we need this or, you know,just that.
Yeah, it was a lot.
Clinton Monchuk (05:03):
Quite the ordeal.
We want to talk a little bitmore about the Verified Beef
program and maybe if you couldjust give us a little bit of an
overview of what the program isto help everybody understand
what it is and then we'll talkabout some of the reasons around
why the cattle industry decidedto implement it.
Erika Stewart (05:22):
So the Verified Beef Program, or the Verified
Beef Production Plus as it'scalled now, is the quality
assurance program for theCanadian Beef Industry
essentially.
And so when it first came out inlike the late nineties, the
whole focus was food safety.
And then in 2016, with theinception of the Canadian
(05:43):
Roundtable for Sustainable Beef,the Verified Beef Program,
because we are actually acertification body for the CRSB,
the Canadian Roundtable forSustainable Beef, we wanted to
make sure that our program fitthe CRSBs definition of what
actually sustainable beef is.
So then there are three newmodules added and that's why now
it's VBP Plus or the VerifiedBeef Production Plus Program,
(06:06):
just to include those newmodules.
So the new modules are animalcare, biosecurity and
Environmental Stewardship.
Along with the initial module offood safety.
Clinton Monchuk (06:16):
Maybe what we could do is just talk a little
bit about each of those threecomponents of it.
So the first one is aroundanimal care.
So do you want tp just kind ofwalk us through what that means
for a typical rancher here inthis country?
Erika Stewart (06:29):
Each module has standard operating procedures
that are taught in the training.
So the first step of theVerified Beef Plus training
would be to actually take thetraining and it's offered online
all the time.
Or a big part of my job as theprovincial coordinator in
Saskatchewan is to organizein-person workshops.
So times that I can go aroundthe province and deliver the
(06:50):
training in-person to producers.
And the point of that training,or kind of what happens is, I
would go over each of thosemodules and the standard
operating procedures that arerequired by the program through,
for each of those four modules.
For the animal care component,it's a lot like any of the
requirements of the Beef Code ofpractice then become a
(07:13):
requirement of the VBP Plusprogram.
And so most of these are thingsthat most of the time producers
are already doing, right?
We want to make sure we'reproviding animals with shelter
from extreme weather conditions.
We want to make sure we'reproviding them access to quality
and quantity, nutrition andwater.
So most of these things are,common practices, but the
(07:36):
Verified Beef program just helpsmaybe formalize them or, give
actual protocol to producers tofollow.
Clinton Monchuk (07:44):
So are you an auditor?
Actually I should ask.
Erika Stewart (07:47):
No, definitely not.
The programs made that quitedistinctive.
So I am the provincialcoordinator.
I'm the first point of contact for producers and my role's
education.
So I'm there to teach thetraining to make sure producers
are prepared for their audit.
But I'm not an auditor inSaskatchewan.
We have three trained auditorsin the province.
So they actually go out and dothe audit just so there's that
(08:10):
clear distinction, right?
If I was helping educate andtrain a nd being an auditor, we
could say there's could be alittle bit of gray area there.
So they wanna make sure theaudit process i s rigorous and
it would be the same findingsthat we would find in
Saskatchewan on an operation andin B C and in Ontario.
C ause VBP Plus is a nationalprogram, so I'm not an auditor.
Clinton Monchuk (08:30):
So that's interesting.
So I think a lot of peoplesometimes think the auditing of
these programs is done by thosewho are kind of teaching the
program.
And it's nice to see thatthere's that division to make
sure there's independentauditors that if there is, you
know, things that need to beimproved upon on, on different
ranches or in feedlots, that itactually takes place.
Erika Stewart (08:50):
That's exactly right.
We want to make sure our programis, is rigorous and we're able
to provide a standard and makesure that, you know, producers
are doing that standard.
Clinton Monchuk (09:01):
This kind of gets into the consumer side of
things.
So we work a lot with theCanadian Center for Food
Integrity and one of the studiesthat just came out this last
year was talking about consumersviews or beliefs on different
pieces of the food system.
And one of them is around thehumane treatment of animals.
(09:22):
And it's interesting becausewhen you look at the numbers,
there's a lot of conversation Ithink about people say switching
their diets, but within thenumbers it shows fairly clearly
that the vast majority in 95-96%of Canadians still consume
animal proteins.
But what's concerning is thelevel of Canadians that actually
(09:44):
don't believe animals are raisedhumanely.
And the figure that came out was, roughly only a third of
Canadians actually feel thatanimal agriculture raises their
livestock or poultry humanely.
So based on this then, Erika, doyou feel that this is a program
that kind of drums up a littlebit more of that support for the
(10:09):
humane treatment and the care ofcattle here in this country?
Erika Stewart (10:13):
Yeah, I think that was one of the goals.
So one of the focuses of theprogram is to instill consumer
confidence in Canadian beef andhow we're raising that beef.
So I think that does align.
I do just want to say kind ofbefore I get into the verified
beef answer, if that's okay.
Like when you say that stat,that actually like hurts my
(10:33):
heart as a producer myself, ifyou think about it in terms of
that this is my career, this iswhat we strive to be better at
all the time and we take a lotof pride in, producing beef for
our family, for families inCanada and around the world.
So just to hear that, thatconsumers are that unsure about
how we're treating animals isyeah, like actually like hurts a
(10:57):
little bit.
I mean I just think about ourranch and the things that we do
on a daily basis.
Like the animals are thepriority when it's cold out,
like the last two years, calvingseason's been hard, we calve in
April, so you're hoping greengrass and a little bit of
sunshine.
But we've caught some really badsnowstorms at the end of April
and it's cold.
(11:18):
We're out there, we're trying tomake sure that those calves are
okay, we're up at all hours ofthe night.
We've actually taken to wearingski goggles.
They become really handy whenit's cold and windy out.
I just find that fascinating.
I think it's good.
Like, don't get me wrong, Ireally encourage people to try
to ask questions about how theirfood's being produced and
(11:41):
raised.
That's good.
Like I, I'm all for that, but Ijust think if you have questions
about it, try to dig a littledeeper and find out, don't just,
you know, believe the firstthing that comes up on your
social media feed becausethere's a lot of organizations
out there that are actually antianimal agriculture.
They have agendas, they have bigbudgets to try and stop this.
So, you know, when you hearsomething I just super encourage
(12:04):
like a little bit of criticalthinking or find another side to
the argument or ask a producer.
There's lots of producers outthere like myself who are just
passionate about what we do andtelling our story and like we're
just do doing our job.
But then we're trying to shareour story on social media and
there is quite a few people outthere.
So I just, yeah, I do encouragethat because you see those
(12:25):
numbers and it's a little bithard to see when we're here
doing it in minus 40 water'sfreezing.
Well when water freezes it'susually really cold, but then
we're out there trying to makesure we can get it thawed for
them because we know they needwater or a nice hot vacation in
Mexico sounds lovely inSaskatchewan winters.
(12:46):
But we can't do that because wehave cattle to feed.
So I would just yeah, lovesomehow for that side of the
story to, to get out there alittle bit more and just be able
to Yeah.
Tell consumers what we'reactually doing.
Clinton Monchuk (12:59):
You talk about the trip to Mexico.
So we have a layer farm on ourfarm back in Lannigan,
Saskatchewan.
And we have similar to a lot ofpoultry or swine farms when
they're in confined agriculturethere's a lot of sensors that
are in our barn.
And a sensor went off when mybrother was in Mexico indicating
(13:20):
that the, the barn was startingto get a little cold and kind of
came up with the sensors.
And I went back through actuallya closed highway, highway 16 was
closed, but I drove through itbecause I knew I had to get back
to that barn in an effort toclose down some vents where the
electric winches had frozen upand there was a strong north
(13:41):
wind blowing into the barn.
And of course you, you k ind o frisk your own life and make sure
that things are okay with theanimals i n the barn.
So I'm with you on that one.
I see that and it kind of hurtsme because I think of, so again,
we're close to the, theYellowhead highway so two out of
every three vehicles that go byaren't too sure whether or not,
(14:03):
you know, we're producing ouranimals humanely and that's a
tough pill to swallow, right?
Erika Stewart (14:10):
Oh absolutely.
So I can kind of circle back andanswer your question if you.
I wasn't trying to get out ofit.
The short answer would be, yeah,programs like V BP Plus are
trying to help consumers maybeunderstand what we're doing and
provide that verification.
So in the verified beef programthere's two streams.
(14:32):
So there's a training stream, sothat's the o ne I talked about
initially was j ust providingproducers with continuing
education o r opportunities tolearn more or new things that
are coming out in the eggindustry or the beef industry.
And then there's a certificationstream.
So all of this i s voluntary.
So if producers take thetraining and w ant to implement
(14:54):
those requirements of theprogram on their operation, then
they can request the on-farmaudit.
And I think that the word auditis a little bit scary for
producers, makes them a littleuneasy, unsure.
But we hope that that word isalso comforting for consumers.
So it means there's been a thirdparty verifying humane treatment
of animals that they're incompliance with the beef code of
(15:16):
practice and that they havethese protocols in place on
their operation.
But then take it a step furtherbecause we also require records
like treatment records.
And so this one I find veryinteresting and something I like
to share about the programbecause I think it really, the
VBP plus program really providesa good framework to discuss
this.
(15:36):
So there's a lot of negativenarrative about antibiotics not
using antibiotics in animalagriculture.
And so again, I think that'sanother good one.
If you see the commercials, youhear the negative narrative,
maybe just ask a producer whatthey do.
Do you use antibiotics or why.
Personally we do whensomething's sick.
But I want to be able to havethat ability just like I want to
(16:00):
be able to take my kids whenthey're sick to the doctor and
if needed get antibiotics totreat whatever infection they
have.
So with products in Canada, welllike our vet products,
everything has what's called awithdrawal time.
So if an animal on our operationhas a minor infection, we might
use a common productoxytetracycline if I give them a
(16:23):
shot of it subcutaneously.
So under the skin.
The withdrawal time is 42 days.
So on all of our vet productsthere's these withdrawal times
and they can be measured in daysor hours and so it's the time
that when, after given an animalhealth product to the time
before that animal can beprocessed for human consumption.
So if we adhere to thatwithdrawal time as producers,
(16:46):
which we do, all meat isantibiotic free.
So I think that's a reallyinteresting piece to this that
doesn't get discussed enough.
And so with verified beef wetalk a lot about responsible
antimicrobial use and then oneof our record requirements would
be anytime you treat an animalthat you record it.
So we would require allproducers to record the date the
(17:08):
animal is treated, the animal'sidentification, the dose and
route.
So how much they were givenaccording to the labeled
instructions, um, how it wasgiven.
So it can be givensubcutaneously, so under the
skin or some in the muscle.
And again it tells you on theproducts and then the withdrawal
time.
And so that's really important.
So we're producers that arecertified with the program are
(17:31):
proving that they're recordingthis information.
And again, most like producersare doing this, we're just
taking it a step farther andactually having them record it.
And then that's one of the otherthings the auditor would verify
when they're doing their on-farmvisit is they would actually
look through those records andmake sure that everything that
we require is there.
(17:51):
And then another record werequire is called the shipping
record.
So before a producer sells theiranimals, we require them to go
through their treatment recordsto make sure that none of those
animals they're selling isinside a withdrawal time.
I mean some producers have a lotof cattle, you know, we don't
want things to be forgotten.
So this is just another stepwhere they would check those
(18:13):
treatment records and check offthis group of cattle that I'm
selling today.
None of them are inside ofwithdrawal time.
So again, we're just puttingprotocol in place to make sure
there's no chance of residue inthe beef for consumers.
Clinton Monchuk (18:27):
See it's interesting when I think about
this, I think that this is kindof similar to the my health
records that I have for myselfand my family, right?
.
And it's very thorough andsomething that goes back to
verify to consumers what'sactually going on in the cattle
industry.
Erika Stewart (18:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then I guess the opportunityt hat w e're, the beef
industry's trying to respond toconsumers saying they want a
certified sustainable product.
So this is the opportunity forthat as well.
I mean the beef industry's doingthese things anyhow, these are
common protocol, but it's justif a producer wants to make sure
(19:05):
and buy products that haveclaims on them like this, this
is an opportunity to do that.
So we're trying to listen towhat consumers are telling us t
oo.
Clinton Monchuk (19:14):
Exactly.
And you think of how theindustry has evolved over time
and here we are at, at a statein really the world today where
the consumers are demandingcertain things from us as
producers of food and we have tolisten to what they're saying to
make sure that we provide theproducts that they want.
So it's great to see the uptakeof this.
(19:40):
So I, I think we're gonna do afun farm fact.
Did you know that the Canadiangrassland sequester the same
amount of carbon as taking off3.62 million cars from the road?
Isn't that awesome?
Erika Stewart (19:55):
Yeah, it's truly amazing.
Clinton Monchuk (19:59):
The fun farm fact kind of gets into the next
kind of area of conversationthat I want to talk about and
it's the environment.
So when I say that thegrasslands are sequestering this
amount of carbon, from yourperspective, how many consumers
do you think actually realizethat here in this country we
have 40 million people roughlywho live in this country.
We have a lot of land thatobviously cannot be used for uh,
(20:23):
crop production.
I'm just kind of curious, haveyou had some conversations with
individuals, especially maybeback in British Columbia that,
did not realize, what anenvironmental benefit the cattle
industry is to our country?
Erika Stewart (20:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that's sointeresting too, these
narratives saying that cattleare bad for the environment and
then you hear a stat like thatand without these cattle we
wouldn't have these grasslandsand they wouldn't be
sequestering that amount ofcarbon.
So again, I just find thatfascinating and it's just the
other side, there's missingparts to these stories that are
being told right now.
(21:01):
And yeah, I have had thoseconversations.
I am fortunate enough to, Iactually went to university in
Edmonton to the U of A and Iplayed rugby there and I'm so
grateful for it because I met alot of people outside
agriculture that I wouldn't havebefore.
So I feel like sometimes we do agreat job of telling our story
to ourselves, but I feel we havetrouble breaking out into
(21:24):
consumer space and where we needto be.
And they've really helped merealize that I guess we'll have
conversations and they'll saythings like that, like, well,
but beef's bad for theenvironment.
And you're like, what?
And I feel like I've done aterrible job as a rancher
friend, but you know, to havethose conversations and they've
made me really cognizant ofwe're at a good starting point,
(21:44):
but we do need to still make alot of ground to get that
message out there to the peoplein the city that it's not their
fault, they don't have aconnection with agriculture.
So just yeah, trying to becognizant of that and really
help to reach out and help fillthat gap because if we don't
provide our side of the storysomebody else out there is.
So I just think we need to be inthat space as well.
Clinton Monchuk (22:07):
It is interesting too to, to kind of
think of the history of thiscontinent too, before European
settlers came over and it wasjust the indigenous people here
in on this land, what controlledthe grasslands?
Right?
Like it was the bison.
So y ou, you look at theruminants that w ere doing the
job back then and you know, wehave the ruminants doing the job
(22:29):
right now, so it's great to see.
One of the other things that youhad mentioned with th e V BP
plus program is theenvironmental side of t he
program.
Do y ou wa nna j ust expand alittle bit on that holistically
looking at sustainability, howis t his environmental side co
me i nto play with VBP Plus?
Erika Stewart (22:48):
So yeah, there is the environmental stewardship
module portion of the programand a lot of that module like
we're wanting to make sure thatwe're conscious of our practices
and say if we're storing manureto compost it, it's not beside
water like for runoff, leachingissues, but I mean most of
that's being done because asfarmers or ranches we're working
(23:08):
with the land and lots of theseoperations are generational
operations.
So we have to have been takingcare of the water and land.
So, another portion of it wouldbe kind of more continuing
education I guess, likeproviding producers opportunity
with, you know, what are somenew grazing management practices
that are happening that arecontributing to improved soil
(23:29):
health?
Which you know, if there's ahealthier plant and soil health
is improved, then we're actuallytaking more carbon out of the
air and putting it into theground.
So what are we doing for grazingmanagement?
What could you improve a littlebit with air?
And the Verified Beef program,the national program has
actually just launched a newwebsite that is going to house
(23:51):
the verified beef training butalso we're hoping it can be a
hub of continual learning orcourses for the beef industry.
And then you mentioned BCRC(BeefCattle Research Council) before,
so BCRC has great webinars andgreat resources for producers to
just, you know, make sure theytry and stay current with what's
(24:11):
going on.
Because I mean we're in like anamazing age and time where
research is changing all thetime and we can find out
information so easily and theneasily adapt t hem to our
operations or learn a little bithere and and see what works for
our place and try things.
Yeah c uz it is, it is trulyamazing what's happening right
now i n the research that'sgoing on or even different
(24:33):
species of grasses to plant orgrazing practices like I've
said.
Or there's some governmentprograms that can help with
water management.
Like you can fence out thatdugout and put in a water system
that'll actually help put onmore pounds of beef for your
cattle and protect that riparianarea.
C uz that's the thing aboutthese grasslands too.
(24:54):
Like t hey're home to so manyother species and lots of t imes
species at risk.
So us as producers and ranchers,if we have good grazing
practices, it actually helps theother species on these
grasslands too.
Clinton Monchuk (25:09):
So Erika I hear a lot more when it comes to just
general food production andwaste, right, So we're looking
to different portions of theindustry to kind of reduce our
waste of what we produce forfood based on a lot of what
we've talked about.
What are some of those ways thatthe cattle industry is actually
proving to be a waste reducer?
Erika Stewart (25:33):
I think that's such a great question Clinton,
because that's another side ofthis story that I don't think is
being shared enough when theytalk about eliminating an animal
agriculture or you know, that'sgonna help save our planet.
In reality, beef production inCanada only represents 2.4% of
the total greenhouse gasemissions.
So I think that's a reallyinteresting fact that I don't
(25:55):
think that's large enough to tryand get rid of it altogether.
And then like you're saying, ifwe did get rid of animal
agriculture, how much more foodwaste there would be?
Cuz I don't know if peoplerealize how great of a job cows
do it actually up cycling foodproducts that can't be used by
humans, whether that be thegrasslands.
Cuz most of the areas thatcattle are grazing are areas
(26:17):
that cannot be used for crops.
But then also there are feedlots right now that are using
waste from the groceries, Ishouldn't say waste, but produce
that isn't going to be used byhumans.
So maybe it's a little bit offor it's not the right shape,
it's not appealing- that can befed to cattle obviously
alongside nutrition consultationcuz all these feedlots have a
(26:41):
nutritionist.
We have a nutritionist toworkwith, so we're making sure
that the cattle are getting whatthey require in their diet, but
isn't that a really neatattribute of cattle that they
can really help us eliminatefood waste.
So if we got rid of them, wewould just have all these other
parts of the food chain thataren't being used that's just
wasted.
(27:02):
Last year in my area we had aterrible drought and so feed was
really scarce to find and weactually sourced some pea
powder.
So I was just listening to avery interesting podcast with
Diana Rogers about this and shesaid that for every one pound of
protein that's produced fromplant sources creates four
(27:23):
pounds of waste.
So if that's a huge number, butcattle can use that.
When we grow a plant, the onlypart humans are using is the
protein part, but cattle canactually use the rest of that
plant.
So I, I thought it was veryironic that we were feeding our
cows byproducts from these plantbased products, but it was a
(27:45):
great protein source for ourcattle.
So it just goes to show howcattle can really be there to
support a nd up c ycle theseproducts that would be wasted
otherwise into a super dense,high q uality protein for
humans.
Clinton Monchuk (28:00):
The way I look at it, and I grain farm, we have
a lot of grain land, my goal atthe end of the day is to get
Canadian number one millingwheat or malting barley or peas
or whatever it happens to bethat we're growing.
But nature doesn't always workthat way and I don't always get
number one Canadian grade onthose products and without
(28:21):
having a source to have mybarley or feed barley or feed
wheat go into a feed lot or ahog operation, whatever it
happens to be, that's waste,right?
And I think therein lies some ofthat, trying to make sure people
understand the full food systemthat goes on in agriculture and
(28:42):
how it's really interconnected.
Like your ranch is connected tomy grain farm and it's connected
to the local fertilizer and agchemical dealership, right?
So there's a lot ofinterconnected cogs to the wheel
that go around, so
Erika Stewart (28:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Clinton Monchuk (29:01):
So I wanna thank you Erika for being on the
program today and talking alittle bit about the Verified
Beef Production Plus programthat's really implemented
throughout Canada and how thatis really an assurance program
not only for farmers andranchers here in this country,
but but gives consumers a littlebit more of a background and,
and comfort knowing how theircattle are being raised and
(29:24):
grown for food in this country.
So we want to thank you and wewant to encourage all the
listeners to look at yournumerous videos that are on
Canadian Food Focus.
I know I've taken theopportunity to watch actually
all of them and I absolutelylove watching not only your
family grow, but seeing thedifferent positives and
negatives that are happening onyour ranch.
(29:45):
So, thank you very much fortaking the time to be a part of
this program.
Erika Stewart (29:50):
Well, thank you very much Clinton.
Thanks for having me today.
I really enjoyed our visittoday.
Clinton Monchuk (29:58):
I want to thank you for taking the time to
listen to our Ask A Farmerpodcast.
We at Canadian Food Focus valuethe input from our listeners and
ask that you share this podcastwith your friends and family.
Remember, this is a two-waystreet, so we seek your input
for future segments that are ofinterest to you about food and
(30:19):
farming.
To do this, please click on theAsk us icon at the top of our
website, canadianfoodfocus.org.
While you're there, feel free tofollow our numerous social media
links and sign up for ournewsletter.
This segment was produced andedited by Angela Larson,
research and Writing by DorothyLong and Penny Eeaton.
(30:40):
Music by Andy Ellis.
I'm your host Clinton Monchuk,and from all of us here at
Canadian Food Focus, we wish yougood health and great eats.
From Canadian Food Focus, this is Ask a Farmer
.
I'm your host Clinton Monchuk.
A Saskatchewan farmer.
In this podcast, we talk to foodexperts to answer your questions
about your food.
Here we are with the Ask aFarmer Podcast, and we have
(00:30):
Erika Stewart with us today totalk a little bit about the
Verified Beef Program.
Now, before we kind of get intoa little bit more of the
program, I just want to ask youa little bit about yourself.
Erika, I know, we've had theprivilege of, of walking with
you at Pine Ranch over the lastcouple years on Canadian Food
Focus, but maybe just give us alittle bit of a background of
(00:51):
your ranch and your family andjust help all our listeners know
a little bit more aboutyourself.
Erika Stewart (00:57):
Sure.
Thanks Clinton, and thanks forhaving me on the podcast today.
So my name's Erika Stewart, andI am a third generation rancher
and we currently ranch in MorseSaskatchewan, my husband Cyle
and I and our three girls ranchalongside my parents.
We have about, 300 mother cowsand then we grass some yearlings
as well.
Clinton Monchuk (01:17):
So Erika, one of the things that I noticed, I
watched really all of your,videos that you have on Canadian
Food Focus, but one of thethings that I really take note
of is the fact that you havethree little girls and they
follow you around and jump up onthe horse with you.
You havethem strapped to youryour chest or your back
(01:37):
depending on what you're doing.
How does that actually work?
I know you and you and Cyle arecommitted to your cattle, but
also obviously very committed toyour three little girls.
Erika Stewart (01:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's just so fun having themwith us and we try to take them
with us as much as we can.
Sometimes that means that we arenot very efficient, Cyle
actually calls us the efficiencycrew, so usually efficiency goes
down when we come and help.
But yeah, it's just we loveranching and the neat thing is,
(02:12):
is you can do that with yourfamily.
I mean, it is getting a littlebit harder now that they're
getting a bit older.
When they were younger, like yousaid, like they were on our back
or on our front or whatever.
And carriers are the bestinvention ever, but it is
getting harder in a way.
But then they're asking morequestions and they wanna be
outside with us, and all of themare just, yeah, they have their
(02:33):
own cows and they know theirnumbers.
And so just trying to hopefullyprovide them with an opportunity
to, know agriculture andhopefully love it like we do.
And it's just, it's such a funthing to do all of us together
too.
We just appreciate that we havethat opportunity to essentially
take our kids to work with usevery day.
Clinton Monchuk (02:54):
It is interesting because it just
sparks that interest of growingfood in their, lives and in
their hearts.
And I think back when I was youknow, around their age, I used
to play farming with my brother,now who I farm with.
It really kind of just feedsthat passion for agriculture.
Erika Stewart (03:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's pretty fun and special togrow up like this.
So yeah, we are just trying toprovide that for our girls too.
Clinton Monchuk (03:21):
So you're not originally from Saskatchewan
though.
Maybe tell us a little bit aboutthe story of how crazy it was to
move from some beautiful wintersout in British Columbia.
Into Saskatchewan.
Erika Stewart (03:32):
Yes, winters are different out here than what
we're used to, that's for sure.
So I'm actually originally fromMerritt B.C.
I grew up on my family's ranchthere, the same ranch my dad
grew up on, our first daughterwas born there.
And it was a place that, youknow, was very much a part of me
and I loved very much and just Ialways thought that we would
(03:53):
raise our family there and Iwould live there.
But, we made the really harddecision in about 2016 that it
was just where we were locatedanyhow, it was just too hard to
ranch there.
So we started looking for placesout here, which was actually a
really fun experience.
We got to see a lot ofSaskatchewan and like actually
see places, you know, so it was,it was really fun.
(04:15):
But then it got a bit stressful.
Our ranch sold and we didn'thave a place yet, so we had to
be out by April 22nd to 2017.
And we had no place for all ofour cows or us.
But then we did finally find aplace in Morse and we hauled all
of our cows out here.
Equipment like belongings,moving a whole ranch was, was
quite an interesting time.
Clinton Monchuk (04:39):
I can't even imagine.
So like, I've moved a few times,the first few times I've moved,
I could fit everything in theback of my Plymouth acclaim,
right.
And so it was everything I ownedkind of fit in a suitcase.
So moving a farm would've beenone heck of an experience.
Erika Stewart (04:55):
Well, and like going through the shop-dad's
tools, how many Crescentwrenches do we have?
Do we need this or, you know,just that.
Yeah, it was a lot.
Clinton Monchuk (05:03):
Quite the ordeal.
We want to talk a little bitmore about the Verified Beef
program and maybe if you couldjust give us a little bit of an
overview of what the program isto help everybody understand
what it is and then we'll talkabout some of the reasons around
why the cattle industry decidedto implement it.
Erika Stewart (05:22):
So the Verified Beef Program, or the Verified
Beef Production Plus as it'scalled now, is the quality
assurance program for theCanadian Beef Industry
essentially.
And so when it first came out inlike the late nineties, the
whole focus was food safety.
And then in 2016, with theinception of the Canadian
(05:43):
Roundtable for Sustainable Beef,the Verified Beef Program,
because we are actually acertification body for the CRSB,
the Canadian Roundtable forSustainable Beef, we wanted to
make sure that our program fitthe CRSBs definition of what
actually sustainable beef is.
So then there are three newmodules added and that's why now
it's VBP Plus or the VerifiedBeef Production Plus Program,
(06:06):
just to include those newmodules.
So the new modules are animalcare, biosecurity and
Environmental Stewardship.
Along with the initial module offood safety.
Clinton Monchuk (06:16):
Maybe what we could do is just talk a little
bit about each of those threecomponents of it.
So the first one is aroundanimal care.
So do you want tp just kind ofwalk us through what that means
for a typical rancher here inthis country?
Erika Stewart (06:29):
Each module has standard operating procedures
that are taught in the training.
So the first step of theVerified Beef Plus training
would be to actually take thetraining and it's offered online
all the time.
Or a big part of my job as theprovincial coordinator in
Saskatchewan is to organizein-person workshops.
So times that I can go aroundthe province and deliver the
(06:50):
training in-person to producers.
And the point of that training,or kind of what happens is, I
would go over each of thosemodules and the standard
operating procedures that arerequired by the program through,
for each of those four modules.
For the animal care component,it's a lot like any of the
requirements of the Beef Code ofpractice then become a
(07:13):
requirement of the VBP Plusprogram.
And so most of these are thingsthat most of the time producers
are already doing, right?
We want to make sure we'reproviding animals with shelter
from extreme weather conditions.
We want to make sure we'reproviding them access to quality
and quantity, nutrition andwater.
So most of these things are,common practices, but the
(07:36):
Verified Beef program just helpsmaybe formalize them or, give
actual protocol to producers tofollow.
Clinton Monchuk (07:44):
So are you an auditor?
Actually I should ask.
Erika Stewart (07:47):
No, definitely not.
The programs made that quitedistinctive.
So I am the provincialcoordinator.
I'm the first point of contact for producers and my role's
education.
So I'm there to teach thetraining to make sure producers
are prepared for their audit.
But I'm not an auditor inSaskatchewan.
We have three trained auditorsin the province.
So they actually go out and dothe audit just so there's that
(08:10):
clear distinction, right?
If I was helping educate andtrain a nd being an auditor, we
could say there's could be alittle bit of gray area there.
So they wanna make sure theaudit process i s rigorous and
it would be the same findingsthat we would find in
Saskatchewan on an operation andin B C and in Ontario.
C ause VBP Plus is a nationalprogram, so I'm not an auditor.
Clinton Monchuk (08:30):
So that's interesting.
So I think a lot of peoplesometimes think the auditing of
these programs is done by thosewho are kind of teaching the
program.
And it's nice to see thatthere's that division to make
sure there's independentauditors that if there is, you
know, things that need to beimproved upon on, on different
ranches or in feedlots, that itactually takes place.
Erika Stewart (08:50):
That's exactly right.
We want to make sure our programis, is rigorous and we're able
to provide a standard and makesure that, you know, producers
are doing that standard.
Clinton Monchuk (09:01):
This kind of gets into the consumer side of
things.
So we work a lot with theCanadian Center for Food
Integrity and one of the studiesthat just came out this last
year was talking about consumersviews or beliefs on different
pieces of the food system.
And one of them is around thehumane treatment of animals.
(09:22):
And it's interesting becausewhen you look at the numbers,
there's a lot of conversation Ithink about people say switching
their diets, but within thenumbers it shows fairly clearly
that the vast majority in 95-96%of Canadians still consume
animal proteins.
But what's concerning is thelevel of Canadians that actually
(09:44):
don't believe animals are raisedhumanely.
And the figure that came out was, roughly only a third of
Canadians actually feel thatanimal agriculture raises their
livestock or poultry humanely.
So based on this then, Erika, doyou feel that this is a program
that kind of drums up a littlebit more of that support for the
(10:09):
humane treatment and the care ofcattle here in this country?
Erika Stewart (10:13):
Yeah, I think that was one of the goals.
So one of the focuses of theprogram is to instill consumer
confidence in Canadian beef andhow we're raising that beef.
So I think that does align.
I do just want to say kind ofbefore I get into the verified
beef answer, if that's okay.
Like when you say that stat,that actually like hurts my
(10:33):
heart as a producer myself, ifyou think about it in terms of
that this is my career, this iswhat we strive to be better at
all the time and we take a lotof pride in, producing beef for
our family, for families inCanada and around the world.
So just to hear that, thatconsumers are that unsure about
how we're treating animals isyeah, like actually like hurts a
(10:57):
little bit.
I mean I just think about ourranch and the things that we do
on a daily basis.
Like the animals are thepriority when it's cold out,
like the last two years, calvingseason's been hard, we calve in
April, so you're hoping greengrass and a little bit of
sunshine.
But we've caught some really badsnowstorms at the end of April
and it's cold.
(11:18):
We're out there, we're trying tomake sure that those calves are
okay, we're up at all hours ofthe night.
We've actually taken to wearingski goggles.
They become really handy whenit's cold and windy out.
I just find that fascinating.
I think it's good.
Like, don't get me wrong, Ireally encourage people to try
to ask questions about how theirfood's being produced and
(11:41):
raised.
That's good.
Like I, I'm all for that, but Ijust think if you have questions
about it, try to dig a littledeeper and find out, don't just,
you know, believe the firstthing that comes up on your
social media feed becausethere's a lot of organizations
out there that are actually antianimal agriculture.
They have agendas, they have bigbudgets to try and stop this.
So, you know, when you hearsomething I just super encourage
(12:04):
like a little bit of criticalthinking or find another side to
the argument or ask a producer.
There's lots of producers outthere like myself who are just
passionate about what we do andtelling our story and like we're
just do doing our job.
But then we're trying to shareour story on social media and
there is quite a few people outthere.
So I just, yeah, I do encouragethat because you see those
(12:25):
numbers and it's a little bithard to see when we're here
doing it in minus 40 water'sfreezing.
Well when water freezes it'susually really cold, but then
we're out there trying to makesure we can get it thawed for
them because we know they needwater or a nice hot vacation in
Mexico sounds lovely inSaskatchewan winters.
(12:46):
But we can't do that because wehave cattle to feed.
So I would just yeah, lovesomehow for that side of the
story to, to get out there alittle bit more and just be able
to Yeah.
Tell consumers what we'reactually doing.
Clinton Monchuk (12:59):
You talk about the trip to Mexico.
So we have a layer farm on ourfarm back in Lannigan,
Saskatchewan.
And we have similar to a lot ofpoultry or swine farms when
they're in confined agriculturethere's a lot of sensors that
are in our barn.
And a sensor went off when mybrother was in Mexico indicating
(13:20):
that the, the barn was startingto get a little cold and kind of
came up with the sensors.
And I went back through actuallya closed highway, highway 16 was
closed, but I drove through itbecause I knew I had to get back
to that barn in an effort toclose down some vents where the
electric winches had frozen upand there was a strong north
(13:41):
wind blowing into the barn.
And of course you, you k ind o frisk your own life and make sure
that things are okay with theanimals i n the barn.
So I'm with you on that one.
I see that and it kind of hurtsme because I think of, so again,
we're close to the, theYellowhead highway so two out of
every three vehicles that go byaren't too sure whether or not,
(14:03):
you know, we're producing ouranimals humanely and that's a
tough pill to swallow, right?
Erika Stewart (14:10):
Oh absolutely.
So I can kind of circle back andanswer your question if you.
I wasn't trying to get out ofit.
The short answer would be, yeah,programs like V BP Plus are
trying to help consumers maybeunderstand what we're doing and
provide that verification.
So in the verified beef programthere's two streams.
(14:32):
So there's a training stream, sothat's the o ne I talked about
initially was j ust providingproducers with continuing
education o r opportunities tolearn more or new things that
are coming out in the eggindustry or the beef industry.
And then there's a certificationstream.
So all of this i s voluntary.
So if producers take thetraining and w ant to implement
(14:54):
those requirements of theprogram on their operation, then
they can request the on-farmaudit.
And I think that the word auditis a little bit scary for
producers, makes them a littleuneasy, unsure.
But we hope that that word isalso comforting for consumers.
So it means there's been a thirdparty verifying humane treatment
of animals that they're incompliance with the beef code of
(15:16):
practice and that they havethese protocols in place on
their operation.
But then take it a step furtherbecause we also require records
like treatment records.
And so this one I find veryinteresting and something I like
to share about the programbecause I think it really, the
VBP plus program really providesa good framework to discuss
this.
(15:36):
So there's a lot of negativenarrative about antibiotics not
using antibiotics in animalagriculture.
And so again, I think that'sanother good one.
If you see the commercials, youhear the negative narrative,
maybe just ask a producer whatthey do.
Do you use antibiotics or why.
Personally we do whensomething's sick.
But I want to be able to havethat ability just like I want to
(16:00):
be able to take my kids whenthey're sick to the doctor and
if needed get antibiotics totreat whatever infection they
have.
So with products in Canada, welllike our vet products,
everything has what's called awithdrawal time.
So if an animal on our operationhas a minor infection, we might
use a common productoxytetracycline if I give them a
(16:23):
shot of it subcutaneously.
So under the skin.
The withdrawal time is 42 days.
So on all of our vet productsthere's these withdrawal times
and they can be measured in daysor hours and so it's the time
that when, after given an animalhealth product to the time
before that animal can beprocessed for human consumption.
So if we adhere to thatwithdrawal time as producers,
(16:46):
which we do, all meat isantibiotic free.
So I think that's a reallyinteresting piece to this that
doesn't get discussed enough.
And so with verified beef wetalk a lot about responsible
antimicrobial use and then oneof our record requirements would
be anytime you treat an animalthat you record it.
So we would require allproducers to record the date the
(17:08):
animal is treated, the animal'sidentification, the dose and
route.
So how much they were givenaccording to the labeled
instructions, um, how it wasgiven.
So it can be givensubcutaneously, so under the
skin or some in the muscle.
And again it tells you on theproducts and then the withdrawal
time.
And so that's really important.
So we're producers that arecertified with the program are
(17:31):
proving that they're recordingthis information.
And again, most like producersare doing this, we're just
taking it a step farther andactually having them record it.
And then that's one of the otherthings the auditor would verify
when they're doing their on-farmvisit is they would actually
look through those records andmake sure that everything that
we require is there.
(17:51):
And then another record werequire is called the shipping
record.
So before a producer sells theiranimals, we require them to go
through their treatment recordsto make sure that none of those
animals they're selling isinside a withdrawal time.
I mean some producers have a lotof cattle, you know, we don't
want things to be forgotten.
So this is just another stepwhere they would check those
(18:13):
treatment records and check offthis group of cattle that I'm
selling today.
None of them are inside ofwithdrawal time.
So again, we're just puttingprotocol in place to make sure
there's no chance of residue inthe beef for consumers.
Clinton Monchuk (18:27):
See it's interesting when I think about
this, I think that this is kindof similar to the my health
records that I have for myselfand my family, right?
.
And it's very thorough andsomething that goes back to
verify to consumers what'sactually going on in the cattle
industry.
Erika Stewart (18:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then I guess the opportunityt hat w e're, the beef
industry's trying to respond toconsumers saying they want a
certified sustainable product.
So this is the opportunity forthat as well.
I mean the beef industry's doingthese things anyhow, these are
common protocol, but it's justif a producer wants to make sure
(19:05):
and buy products that haveclaims on them like this, this
is an opportunity to do that.
So we're trying to listen towhat consumers are telling us t
oo.
Clinton Monchuk (19:14):
Exactly.
And you think of how theindustry has evolved over time
and here we are at, at a statein really the world today where
the consumers are demandingcertain things from us as
producers of food and we have tolisten to what they're saying to
make sure that we provide theproducts that they want.
So it's great to see the uptakeof this.
(19:40):
So I, I think we're gonna do afun farm fact.
Did you know that the Canadiangrassland sequester the same
amount of carbon as taking off3.62 million cars from the road?
Isn't that awesome?
Erika Stewart (19:55):
Yeah, it's truly amazing.
Clinton Monchuk (19:59):
The fun farm fact kind of gets into the next
kind of area of conversationthat I want to talk about and
it's the environment.
So when I say that thegrasslands are sequestering this
amount of carbon, from yourperspective, how many consumers
do you think actually realizethat here in this country we
have 40 million people roughlywho live in this country.
We have a lot of land thatobviously cannot be used for uh,
(20:23):
crop production.
I'm just kind of curious, haveyou had some conversations with
individuals, especially maybeback in British Columbia that,
did not realize, what anenvironmental benefit the cattle
industry is to our country?
Erika Stewart (20:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that's sointeresting too, these
narratives saying that cattleare bad for the environment and
then you hear a stat like thatand without these cattle we
wouldn't have these grasslandsand they wouldn't be
sequestering that amount ofcarbon.
So again, I just find thatfascinating and it's just the
other side, there's missingparts to these stories that are
being told right now.
(21:01):
And yeah, I have had thoseconversations.
I am fortunate enough to, Iactually went to university in
Edmonton to the U of A and Iplayed rugby there and I'm so
grateful for it because I met alot of people outside
agriculture that I wouldn't havebefore.
So I feel like sometimes we do agreat job of telling our story
to ourselves, but I feel we havetrouble breaking out into
(21:24):
consumer space and where we needto be.
And they've really helped merealize that I guess we'll have
conversations and they'll saythings like that, like, well,
but beef's bad for theenvironment.
And you're like, what?
And I feel like I've done aterrible job as a rancher
friend, but you know, to havethose conversations and they've
made me really cognizant ofwe're at a good starting point,
(21:44):
but we do need to still make alot of ground to get that
message out there to the peoplein the city that it's not their
fault, they don't have aconnection with agriculture.
So just yeah, trying to becognizant of that and really
help to reach out and help fillthat gap because if we don't
provide our side of the storysomebody else out there is.
So I just think we need to be inthat space as well.
Clinton Monchuk (22:07):
It is interesting too to, to kind of
think of the history of thiscontinent too, before European
settlers came over and it wasjust the indigenous people here
in on this land, what controlledthe grasslands?
Right?
Like it was the bison.
So y ou, you look at theruminants that w ere doing the
job back then and you know, wehave the ruminants doing the job
(22:29):
right now, so it's great to see.
One of the other things that youhad mentioned with th e V BP
plus program is theenvironmental side of t he
program.
Do y ou wa nna j ust expand alittle bit on that holistically
looking at sustainability, howis t his environmental side co
me i nto play with VBP Plus?
Erika Stewart (22:48):
So yeah, there is the environmental stewardship
module portion of the programand a lot of that module like
we're wanting to make sure thatwe're conscious of our practices
and say if we're storing manureto compost it, it's not beside
water like for runoff, leachingissues, but I mean most of
that's being done because asfarmers or ranches we're working
(23:08):
with the land and lots of theseoperations are generational
operations.
So we have to have been takingcare of the water and land.
So, another portion of it wouldbe kind of more continuing
education I guess, likeproviding producers opportunity
with, you know, what are somenew grazing management practices
that are happening that arecontributing to improved soil
(23:29):
health?
Which you know, if there's ahealthier plant and soil health
is improved, then we're actuallytaking more carbon out of the
air and putting it into theground.
So what are we doing for grazingmanagement?
What could you improve a littlebit with air?
And the Verified Beef program,the national program has
actually just launched a newwebsite that is going to house
(23:51):
the verified beef training butalso we're hoping it can be a
hub of continual learning orcourses for the beef industry.
And then you mentioned BCRC(BeefCattle Research Council) before,
so BCRC has great webinars andgreat resources for producers to
just, you know, make sure theytry and stay current with what's
(24:11):
going on.
Because I mean we're in like anamazing age and time where
research is changing all thetime and we can find out
information so easily and theneasily adapt t hem to our
operations or learn a little bithere and and see what works for
our place and try things.
Yeah c uz it is, it is trulyamazing what's happening right
now i n the research that'sgoing on or even different
(24:33):
species of grasses to plant orgrazing practices like I've
said.
Or there's some governmentprograms that can help with
water management.
Like you can fence out thatdugout and put in a water system
that'll actually help put onmore pounds of beef for your
cattle and protect that riparianarea.
C uz that's the thing aboutthese grasslands too.
(24:54):
Like t hey're home to so manyother species and lots of t imes
species at risk.
So us as producers and ranchers,if we have good grazing
practices, it actually helps theother species on these
grasslands too.
Clinton Monchuk (25:09):
So Erika I hear a lot more when it comes to just
general food production andwaste, right, So we're looking
to different portions of theindustry to kind of reduce our
waste of what we produce forfood based on a lot of what
we've talked about.
What are some of those ways thatthe cattle industry is actually
proving to be a waste reducer?
Erika Stewart (25:33):
I think that's such a great question Clinton,
because that's another side ofthis story that I don't think is
being shared enough when theytalk about eliminating an animal
agriculture or you know, that'sgonna help save our planet.
In reality, beef production inCanada only represents 2.4% of
the total greenhouse gasemissions.
So I think that's a reallyinteresting fact that I don't
(25:55):
think that's large enough to tryand get rid of it altogether.
And then like you're saying, ifwe did get rid of animal
agriculture, how much more foodwaste there would be?
Cuz I don't know if peoplerealize how great of a job cows
do it actually up cycling foodproducts that can't be used by
humans, whether that be thegrasslands.
Cuz most of the areas thatcattle are grazing are areas
(26:17):
that cannot be used for crops.
But then also there are feedlots right now that are using
waste from the groceries, Ishouldn't say waste, but produce
that isn't going to be used byhumans.
So maybe it's a little bit offor it's not the right shape,
it's not appealing- that can befed to cattle obviously
alongside nutrition consultationcuz all these feedlots have a
(26:41):
nutritionist.
We have a nutritionist toworkwith, so we're making sure
that the cattle are getting whatthey require in their diet, but
isn't that a really neatattribute of cattle that they
can really help us eliminatefood waste.
So if we got rid of them, wewould just have all these other
parts of the food chain thataren't being used that's just
wasted.
(27:02):
Last year in my area we had aterrible drought and so feed was
really scarce to find and weactually sourced some pea
powder.
So I was just listening to avery interesting podcast with
Diana Rogers about this and shesaid that for every one pound of
protein that's produced fromplant sources creates four
(27:23):
pounds of waste.
So if that's a huge number, butcattle can use that.
When we grow a plant, the onlypart humans are using is the
protein part, but cattle canactually use the rest of that
plant.
So I, I thought it was veryironic that we were feeding our
cows byproducts from these plantbased products, but it was a
(27:45):
great protein source for ourcattle.
So it just goes to show howcattle can really be there to
support a nd up c ycle theseproducts that would be wasted
otherwise into a super dense,high q uality protein for
humans.
Clinton Monchuk (28:00):
The way I look at it, and I grain farm, we have
a lot of grain land, my goal atthe end of the day is to get
Canadian number one millingwheat or malting barley or peas
or whatever it happens to bethat we're growing.
But nature doesn't always workthat way and I don't always get
number one Canadian grade onthose products and without
(28:21):
having a source to have mybarley or feed barley or feed
wheat go into a feed lot or ahog operation, whatever it
happens to be, that's waste,right?
And I think therein lies some ofthat, trying to make sure people
understand the full food systemthat goes on in agriculture and
(28:42):
how it's really interconnected.
Like your ranch is connected tomy grain farm and it's connected
to the local fertilizer and agchemical dealership, right?
So there's a lot ofinterconnected cogs to the wheel
that go around, so
Erika Stewart (28:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Clinton Monchuk (29:01):
So I wanna thank you Erika for being on the
program today and talking alittle bit about the Verified
Beef Production Plus programthat's really implemented
throughout Canada and how thatis really an assurance program
not only for farmers andranchers here in this country,
but but gives consumers a littlebit more of a background and,
and comfort knowing how theircattle are being raised and
(29:24):
grown for food in this country.
So we want to thank you and wewant to encourage all the
listeners to look at yournumerous videos that are on
Canadian Food Focus.
I know I've taken theopportunity to watch actually
all of them and I absolutelylove watching not only your
family grow, but seeing thedifferent positives and
negatives that are happening onyour ranch.
(29:45):
So, thank you very much fortaking the time to be a part of
this program.
Erika Stewart (29:50):
Well, thank you very much Clinton.
Thanks for having me today.
I really enjoyed our visittoday.
Clinton Monchuk (29:58):
I want to thank you for taking the time to
listen to our Ask A Farmerpodcast.
We at Canadian Food Focus valuethe input from our listeners and
ask that you share this podcastwith your friends and family.
Remember, this is a two-waystreet, so we seek your input
for future segments that are ofinterest to you about food and
(30:19):
farming.
To do this, please click on theAsk us icon at the top of our
website, canadianfoodfocus.org.
While you're there, feel free tofollow our numerous social media
links and sign up for ournewsletter.
This segment was produced andedited by Angela Larson,
research and Writing by DorothyLong and Penny Eeaton.
(30:40):
Music by Andy Ellis.
I'm your host Clinton Monchuk,and from all of us here at
Canadian Food Focus, we wish yougood health and great eats.
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