Although the American border is now open to live Canadian cattle, northwestern B.C. beef producers continue to work hard to come up with solutions to bring home the beef to local consumers.

“We’re trying to change the system,” says Telkwa rancher Eugen Wittwer.

The system Wittwer refers to is factory-driven beef production in Canada, known to its critics as “the meatrix”: slaughter, processing and distribution are controlled by a few powerful corporations. Locally raised cattle are trucked to feedlots a province away to be fattened quickly in crowded conditions with antibiotic-laden feed. Large scale production processes demand ever more uniform products, and agribusiness-related waste disposal problems cause a stink in local communities. Against this backdrop, U.S. border closures threaten to deliver the coup de grace to smaller-scale, family-owned ranches which are dwindling in northwestern B.C. as they are elsewhere.

As producers, we have to know what the consumer is looking for. If we can give consumers a place to have input and raise concerns, we’ll ensure our consumers are happy.
– Wittwer

This is no starry-eyed idealist talking. With his burly 6’2”, 210-lb. frame, jovial confidence and frequently sported black cowboy hat, Wittwer fits right in at any Cattlemen’s Association meeting. Although a soft accent still hints at his immigration to Canada with his family from a small Swiss town only 11 years ago, Wittwer hails from a long line of farmers and loggers. He raises 150 calves annually on his W Diamond Ranch, which includes 640 acres of deeded land and an attached grazing license.

At least part of the solution, says Wittwer, is for local beef producers to strengthen ties with local meat consumers. That’s why he and long-time Quick rancher Harold Kerr are polishing plans for a co-operatively owned and run abattoir and meat packing facility to be built near Telkwa.

According to the business plan, the Northwest Premium Meat Co-op will be a $3-million 8,000-square foot facility that will inspect and process meat sourced from ranchers in the regional districts of Bulkley-Nechako, Kitimat-Stikine and Skeena-Queen Charlottes.

The products will be distributed direct to consumers and wholesale to selected retail outlets via a refrigerated reefer truck that makes regular rounds of northwestern B.C. communities.

One third of the start-up costs will come from memberships and RRSP-deductible investment shares; the remaining two thirds will be borrowed. It will create 25 new jobs and show a profit after one year in operation, forecasts show.

It’s a win-win, says Wittwer. The co-op will put more money in the pockets of local ranchers, who will no longer have to ship their animals 650 kilometres to inspection facilities in Horsefly and Dawson Creek, or to Alberta slaughterhouses owned by the two companies which control more than 80 per cent of Canada’s slaughter capacity.

Consumers won’t have to pay an additional 10 cents per pound to get it shipped back here; they can savour fresher, custom-cut meat, free of the antibiotics that characterize industrial feedlot diets, and choose between grass-fed or grain-finished meat.

Local economies will be more vibrant, as a vigorous stable farming sector spends its profits in the community. Pollution will be reduced along with the need for trucking, and animals will be raised in healthier, more humane environments than those found on factory farms.

Wittwer says the co-op’s proposed structure will be unique in Canada. Whereas most co-ops are typically funded and controlled by producers or consumers, Northwest Premium will offer memberships, investment shares and seats on the board of directors to both.

We really want to connect consumers to farmers and their goals … put the farmer’s name out there so he takes responsibility for producing a safe, high-quality product. A lot of farmers are doing a great job of preserving the environment, but right now there is no recognition for that.
– Wittwer

“As producers, we have to know what the consumer is looking for,” he explains. “If we can give consumers a place to have input and raise concerns, we’ll ensure our consumers are happy.”

Wittwer believes these ties between consumers and producers will also be fortified as the co-op distributes distinctively packaged products that tell consumers about the agricultural practices, and families, of the farms they come from.

“We really want to connect consumers to farmers and their goals … put the farmer’s name out there so he takes responsibility for producing a safe, high-quality product,” says Wittwer. “A lot of farmers are doing a great job of preserving the environment, but right now there is no recognition for that. I feel this will be a vehicle to show that.”

The Northwestern Premium Meat Co-op proposal has already cleared some significant hurdles.

Initially, Wittwer and Kerr had a tough time selling the concept to beef producers in Vanderhoof, where a relatively high proportion of producers was thought to make it the most logical site for the co-op, or in nearby Burns Lake.

“Five months ago, [beef producers] said there’s ‘no damn way that will work,’” remembers Wittwer.

Ranchers in Telkwa and Smithers were more receptive. The Bulkley Valley Credit Union provided a feasibility research grant, and Community Futures Development Corporation of Nadina helped with business planning.

A board of directors has since been established, and Wittwer has been hired as a general manager. A license has been secured to occupy a location on a 15-acre highway-side property north of Telkwa, and engineers are fine-tuning blueprints for an environmentally sound facility.

Meanwhile, Wittwer has honed his spoken English and public speaking skills, presenting the plan to peers throughout the northwest. In addition to the recent, lengthy border closures, the information sessions have softened farmer skepticism: 65 northwestern B.C. farms have committed more than $100,000 in membership funds so far.

“There are still some who feel it’s hopeless to fight the system,” says Wittwer. “But [producers] are starting to see a demand for a different product.”

Securing the remaining funds remains a challenge as the big banks haven’t clamoured to help—but Wittwer says BV Credit Union remains receptive to partnering on a loan. And he’s so confident that the Co-op will qualify for a start-up loan from the recently created Northern Development Initiative Trust that he expects to see concrete foundations poured this fall.

As far as Wittwer is concerned, U.S. borders are no longer a factor in the project’s predicted outcomes.

“The border closure has helped convince farmers to get involved,” he says but emphasizes that the proposal is just as strong regardless of border outcomes in the future.

For Wittwer, the co-op is critical to the viability of farming in the Northwest.

“If we leave [it up] to big corporations, they’ll tell us not what we pay for our food, but also what we eat,” he says. “Once you control water and food, you control people.”

© Larissa Ardis

Check it out!

• Tools and education about sustainable food production www.sustainabletable.com
• A humorous, award-winning animated short about factory meat production www.themeatrix.com
• A non-profit society celebrating sustainable food options in B.C. www.ffcf.bc.ca
• The Small Scale Food Processor Association, linking small-scale agriculture entrepreneurs in B.C. and Alberta for networking and profit: www.ssfpa.net