Verified Beef Program back on track

The future of the Verified Beef Program was looking quite bleak after federal budget cuts threatened to shut down the three year-old program.

But thanks to the lobbying efforts of provincial coordinators the program is back on track—at least until the end of the year.

“One bright spot in all the difficulties cattle producers are facing right now is that we have an MP here in Manitoba who is willing to go to bat for agriculture,” Green said. “After we provided James Bezan with the information, he took the producers’ concerns forward to the right people.”

In early summer Green was notified that 85% of the Verified Beef Program had been cut. That meant there was virtually nothing left to cover workshop and administration costs.
With the increasing focus on on-farm food safety and quality assurance, the funding cut caught Green and everyone who heard about it by surprise.

“The program was really starting to take off,” she said. “To date we’ve had 1,000 producers enroll in the program so producer uptake wasn’t the problem.”

After a vigorous letter writing campaign Green met with Bezan. Within a week, the program funds were extended until the end of the year. Green says the Agriculture Policy Framework is in a transition year and in the process of putting forward a new generation of programming which will be introduced in 2009.She is confident it will continue next year.

“We will work with the government to ensure that the transition be smooth. “It is one of the requirements of the new Alberta Livestock Strategy, so if we’re going to sell feeders into the Alberta market, we need the program here as well.”

This also means more workshops will be held giving producers the opportunity to qualify for a $750 equipment rebate on equipment purchases.

“Our objective is to ensure food safety starting right at the farm and making these operations safer and more efficient.”

If you’d like to learn more about the program or attend a workshop see the ad in this issue or call Betty at (204) 372-6492 or visit the website at: CLICK HERE