NEW SURREY SLAUGHTERHOUSE ‘WOULD OPEN DOOR’ TO NEW BEEF MARKETS

establishing Eickman’s Processing in Pecatonica in 1953. Now located in Seward, Ill., Eickman’s Processing now is run by Merlyn’s grandson, Tom Eickman, who took over the reins from his father, Mike, (Merlyn’s son) in 2020. The company provides custom processing services to farmers in Northern Illinois. In addition to award-winning cured products that the company sells at its own market, Eickman’s supplies fresh meat cuts to restaurants, producers, and distributors throughout Northern Illinois.

Tom Eickman credits his grandfather for laying the groundwork for Eickman’s current success, including his cure mixture. “I still refer to this as ‘grandpa’s cure,’ and it is the same cure that we have been working with as long as I have been here.” Tom says. “We still utilize the old smokehouses that grandpa had. He taught me to run them, and they keep putting out the same quality as they always have.”

Proposed 30,000-square-foot beef abattoir in Cloverdale would be B.C.’s largest such facility

“There’s a new building coming forward, a new abattoir, I think that’s the French pronunciation of slaughterhouse,” said Councillor Mike Starchuk. “So Surrey will have a newer facility with a better capacity so people will have the ability to not have to ship an animal to Alberta to have it processed. The applications have gone through the Agricultural and Food Sustainability Advisory Committee.” The facility is proposed on a 25-acre property within the Agricultural Land Reserve at 5175 184th St. The planned 30,000-square foot abattoir in Cloverdale would process up

According to a city report, that would make it larger than any other processing facility in B.C.. But it would still be small by industry standards, compared to the largest meat processing plants in Alberta that process 3,000 heads of

This year’s Small Processor Inductee Merlyn Eickman got his start in the meat industry working at plants in Rockford, Ill., and Pecatonica, Ill., eventually

David McDonald currently serves as president and chief operating officer of OSI Group, a premier global food provider that operates nearly 60 facilities across 17 countries.

Dave began his career with OSI shortly after graduating from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. In his 35 years with the company, Dave credits OSI’s family-like atmosphere and values-based culture as the foundational tenets of his professional development. Dave also cites the hard work of OSI’s impassioned team members as the catalyst to building the company into a respected, vital partner to the world’s leading foodservice and retail food brands. This recognition is a true result of the many exceptional teams with which he has worked.

Dave serves on the Board of Managers for OSI Group and many of its companies. He also served as the chairman of the American Meat Institute, the first chairman of the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), and is currently an active member of the Executive Board of NAMI.

Andrew Milkowski was born in Munich, Germany to parents displaced by World War II. His family soon immigrated to the U.S. and settled near Chicago, where he was raised. He received a bachelor’s of science degree chemistry at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Milkowski joined Oscar Mayer in Madison (now a division of Kraft-Heinz) as a research scientist initially working on by-products as raw materials for pharmaceuticals. At Oscar Mayer Foods, he led the Applied and Basic research programs. In 2006, he joined the Animal Sciences Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison as an adjunct professor and member of the Food Research Institute Executive Committee. He is a member of the American Meat Science Association and is a past member of AMSA’s board. Milkowski has provided his guidance to the North American Meat Institute as chairman of the Sodium Nitrite Advisory Committee, educating scientists and regulators about the safety of sodium nitrite as an essential ingredient in cured meat has really impacted us negatively one way or the other. We’ve traveled a lot, met a lot of other farmers and livestock producers in other parts of Canada, and

Milkowski is a food safety expert in the processed meats industry, with his expertise and leadership in food safety research exemplified by efforts of Oscar Mayer to address Listeria monocytogenes in processed, ready-toeat meats. His efforts led to the effective use of lactate, diacetate, and other antimicrobials to prevent the growth of this pathogen while preserving food quality.

was the first in Atlantic Canada to be

Yes, I think we were the first farm east of Ontario as far as I understand.

Chairman of the Board of Sugar Creek

associations wouldn’t have previously nominated anybody because there are many farms here on PEI doing every bit as much as we are as to attain a high level of sustainability. Anyway, we were very surprised when the PEI Cattleman’s Association nominated our farm.

CMB: And then you were attending the Canadian Beef conference in Calgary and you won.

Packing Co. John Richardson has more than 46 years of experience working in the meat industry as an innovative entrepreneur. As a teenager, he held various operations positions in his family’s business, manufacturing private-label bacon. After graduating from college, Richardson became a plant manager of a new facility and went on to take over the business after his father’s retirement.

DF: Yeah! That was a very nice moment for us. But I don’t like to use the word win actually. However, being recognized for our commitment was a real honour. If you want to know the truth, it was a pretty humbling experience. As I said to CBC when they phoned me after the conference, I was just floored, really couldn’t believe it.

CMB: So now that you have been recognized, do you think that will draw more attention and garner more nominations out of Atlantic Canada going forward?

Expansion plans under Richardson’s leadership focused on product and customer diversification. He remodeled plants and built new plants, including the 2016 Food Plant of the Year in Cambridge City, Ind. He made major investments in manufacturing technology and added several lines of ready-to-eat, fully cooked bacon, sausage, and other meat products, including sous vide proteins for the retail and foodservice. Sugar Creek’s diversified portfolio of products and customers has contributed to sales approaching $1 billion in annual revenue.

DF: Absolutely. We’ve gotten a lot of good press highlighting the island cattle industry. I’m positive you’ll see more farms in our neck of the woods nominated next year. And I have to give https://www.yesgroiup.ca https://www.tbsnews.net/bloomberg-special/fakemeat-was-supposed-save-world-it-became-justanother-fad-571714

Whatever critiques the meat industry is lobbing are the same ones plenty of consumers are figuring out for themselves. Like fat-free Snackwell's cookies or Lay's olestra-laden WOW Chips—or any other glut-withoutthe-guilt food trend that periodically cycles in and out of the zeitgeist—the incremental benefits are eventually offset by concerns over what else might be in there. Many meat eaters initially excited by fake meat, who didn't mind the not-quite-there taste or texture, eventually took a closer look at the ingredient list and couldn't figure out whether they were actually trading up. Were they eating these burgers to curb carbon emissions or lower their blood pressure? Was it a healthier alternative or a sodium-filled, overprocessed substitute? Plant meat still costs more than the real thing, and with inflation pushing up prices across the supermarket, many grocery shoppers have swapped the expensive imitation for chicken or, in some cases, beans and lentils.

Meatless meat, it turns out, seems less a worldchanging innovation than another food trend whose novelty is wearing thin. "Before we were seeing this incredible growth rate. But when you lose that momentum, you lose your certainty around how big plant-based meats can be," says Thomas George, portfolio manager at investment research company Grizzle, who in 2019 predicted plant-based meat could overtake 10% of the meat industry in 10 years if it could match meat's prices. "The opportunity for this category," he says now, "is more murky."

Before Beyond Meat unveiled the Beyond Burger, there was the Beast. When Ethan introduced the frozen patty in 2015, the company called it a "protein shake on a bun." Although he ended up ditching it, the Beast's health claims, such as high levels of protein and zero gluten or soy, remained front and center on Beyond Burger's packaging. (Whenever asked, Pat defended the health cred of Impossible's product against beef, though he preferred to talk about replacing animal agriculture by 2035.) But nothing preached the virtues of plantbased eating to the masses like The Game Changers, a James Cameron-produced documentary that hit Netflix in 2019.

The Game Changers followed world-class vegan athletes, with cameos by doctors, scientists and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, before he became mostly vegan, once told Sylvester Stallone that he "hit like a vegetarian." Veganism, according to the film, would make a person not only healthier but also stronger, with better endurance and even longer, harder erections.

Ethan added the film to his arsenal. "If you look at movies like Game Changers, etc.," he told Bloomberg Television in 2019, "you can affect even individual day performance, from a student-athlete, for example, through the consumption of our products over animal protein." He said Beyond's own athlete ambassadors, including NBA stars Kyrie Irving and Chris Paul—also investors in the startup—were "adopting our products in their training regimes, and they're seeing great results."

The Beyond Burger originally was sold in supermarkets, while Impossible went with celebrity chefs such as David Chang. By the end of 2019, Carl's Jr., Dunkin' and White Castle were all selling some Beyond or Impossible product or other—and Burger King had launched the Impossible Whopper nationwide. The food giants didn't want to get left behind either. Tyson had shown an interest in buying Beyond, according to former Beyond board member Greg Bohlen. When that didn't pan out, the meat company announced plans for its own plant-based "billiondollar brand." (Tyson declined to comment.) Nestlé SA introduced an Awesome Burger, and Conagra Brands Inc.'s CEO said it would create "the next generation of beefless burger."

Still, that criticism hadn't yet made its way to people such as Michelle Darby, a mother stuck at home with four kids, in Marlton, New Jersey, during the early days of the pandemic. She found The Game Changers on Netflix. "It gave a very compelling argument," she says. "And I'm on the borderline of high cholesterol."

Darby, like many others in lockdown, started buying faux meats. The real thing was scarce, and people had extra cash to try out this buzzy new product. Americans bought 5.3 million units of fresh-meat alternatives in the eight weeks ended April 25, 2020—three times the amount from a year earlier, according to Nielsen Holdings Ltd. Suddenly, Beyond's prediction in one of its investor pitch decks that fake meat was on track to become the new fake milk was looking increasingly plausible: Just as the alt-milk companies could claim to be 13% the size of the $16.1 billion dairy milk category with new products such as oat milk, alt-meat would similarly undercut the even bigger $270 billion US meat industry. ("That's the floor," Ethan said at a 2019 Barclays Plc conference.)

As Darby stocked up, she noticed that she and her family were gobbling up the chickenless nuggets at a much faster pace and that the imitation hot dogs left her feeling uncomfortable. At a checkup with her doctor she mentioned the diet changes they'd made—the fake chicken nuggets, the Impossible sausage sandwich at Starbucks—and their disappointment with the lack of results. The doctor had a simple explanation: "You are eating processed foods."

At first, fake burgers and sausages seemed like a potential solution to Americans' obsession with red and processed meats, which have been linked to cancer and other chronic diseases. But over the years, skepticism about their healthfulness grew. Within months of Beyond's IPO, onetime fan and whole-foods maven Mark Bittman criticized the fake meat products for their "hyperprocessing." Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.'s CEO said they didn't fit with the fast-casual chain's "food with integrity" mantra. Even John Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods Market Inc.—the grocer that had been instrumental in introducing the category—went on the record calling plant-based meat "super, highly processed foods." (The Center for Consumer Freedom, a front group that represents tobacco, alcohol and meat companies, ran a Super Bowl ad in February 2020 attacking fake meat's ingredients with a mock spelling bee that repeated long-held health advice: "If you can't spell it or pronounce it, maybe you shouldn't be eating it.")

Darby went home and looked at the packaging, taking particular notice of the salt content. "It should have been obvious to me the whole time," she says. She stopped buying plant-based meats, except for an occasional purchase of Impossible ground beef. Meanwhile, she's doing what a lot of consumers are: going back to meat. "If they [her family] want hamburgers, we'll occasionally buy ground meat or we'll make ground chicken, and they don't notice the difference," she says.

In 2020 half of Americans thought faux meats were healthy; now 38% think so, a recent report from Citi Global Insights shows. Dr. David Katz, founding director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center, who appears in The Game Changers, says the Beyond Burger and its ilk are "ultraprocessed"—made from processed ingredients such as pea protein, potato starch and potassium chloride. When comparing them with fast-food burgers, he cites the environmental and animal welfare advantages but says that any health benefits are still unclear. "At worst," he says, "it's a lateral move." A Beyond Meat spokesperson told Bloomberg Businessweek that there are "wellaccepted health benefits of plant-based meat" and directed Businessweek to two health professionals: Stanford's Christopher Gardner, who's received funding from Beyond Meat, conducted a small study that pointed to improvements in weight and cholesterol. He says the health benefits he identified, however, have yet to be replicated. "You can't answer a question with only one study," Gardner says. And Dr. Michael Greger, author of How Not to Die, says that fake meat is a better choice than a fast-food burger, but that doesn't make it good for you. "Nobody should be under the illusion that these are health foods," he says.

Nowhere is this more obvious than when you discover that a key ingredient in Beyond Meat has its origins in Dippin' Dots, the tiny "beads" of ice cream frozen with liquid nitrogen, available in flavors including banana split and cotton candy. Beyond started working with Dippin' Dots LLC in 2019. The Dots business was sold in June 2022, but Beyond still works with Scott Fischer, its former CEO, through his company, Cryogenic Processors LLC. Beyond buys fats such as expellerpressed canola oil and refined coconut oil, which Fischer processes into "little pellets or cryogenically frozen balls of fats," he says. Cryogenic Processors sends the fatty balls back to Beyond to mix with water, rice protein, cocoa butter, methylcellulose and more than a dozen other ingredients found in the Beyond Burger.

The white globules are meant to give the burgers a meaty juiciness, but plant-based fats can also emit an off-putting smell when some of these products are cooked, says Tom Mastrobuoni, who led the second Tyson investment in Beyond and is now chief investment officer at the food-tech-focused Big Idea Ventures LLC. Commenters online have compared the odor of Beyond's raw plant meat to that of cat food, and one message board poster said he had to ventilate his kitchen to clear the air after cooking it. "If any other food smelled that way, I would throw it out," says Jeremy Sklarsky, a former Beyond customer who tried the products out of health and environmental concerns before going back to beef.

In September, Beyond Meat Chief Operating Officer Doug Ramsey was arrested in Arkansas for allegedly biting someone's nose in an altercation after a college football game. Ramsey, a former Tyson executive, was one of the meat industry vets Ethan had wooed in 2021 to help Beyond expand. By mid-October, Ramsey, along with the company's chief financial officer, chief growth officer and chief supply chain officer, was gone.

The love affair between Beyond and the fast-food giants has faded, too. Dunkin'—once the company's biggestname partner—pulled the faux sausages in its breakfast sandwiches from almost all the menus nationally in 2021. Beyond's delayed chicken tenders rollout had no big-name chains in sight. Taco Bell tested Beyond's carne asada, but last month its CEO told Axios the reviews were "mixed" and a national rollout isn't likely coming anytime soon. Meanwhile, photos and documents from Beyond's plant in Pennsylvania— where both the KFC nuggets and Pizza Hut pepperoni were partially manufactured—revealed that listeria and foreign materials such as wood and string had been showing up in products made there as late as May 2022. (A spokesperson for Beyond Meat said at the time that the company's food-safety protocols "go above and beyond industry and regulatory standards.") Yum! Brands Inc., which owns Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, didn't respond to requests for comment.

Beyond also trialed its burger at about 600 US locations with McDonald's, its most important customer, with little to show for it. For a brief moment in April it looked like the McPlant meatless burger would stay for good. Fast Company misreported that the McPlant would become a permanent menu item, sending Beyond's stock price up as much as 34%—until McDonald's disputed the news, causing shares to fall just as quickly. In July a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst said he'd checked with 25 Mickey D's: None were offering the McPlant anymore. "Not surprisingly, the reason sometimes being cited is that the product did not sell well enough," he said. Then came the nosebiting fiasco. "Negative PR around a senior member of management with key MCD relationships likely hurts whatever slim chances may have remained," Piper Sandler Cos.' Michael Lavery wrote in a note.

McDonald's still sells the McPlant internationally, but it hasn't confirmed results of the US test or future plans.

When Beyond hired the world's biggest influencer, Kim Kardashian, it managed to flub that, too. In the spring of 2022 the company announced its splashy new "chief taste consultant." But it quickly led to viral mockery when online sleuths noticed she didn't seem to actually be eating the Beyond Burger in a commercial. (Kardashian later released footage from the set showing she had, in fact, swallowed the food.)

Impossible, meanwhile, is discovering that upending animal agriculture is difficult. Burger King has added another Impossible Burger to its mix, but after trying the company's faux chicken nuggets, a chicken sandwich and sausage patties, it didn't put any in its regular lineup. FAT Brands Inc. restaurants are selling a steady million Impossible Burgers a year—which is good, but not as good as beef, whose sales are climbing. At Bareburger, also an Impossible early adopter, the burger's sales went from "astronomical" to about 6% of all burgers and sandwiches in 2021 to 4% in 2022, says Euripides Pelekanos, the chain's CEO. "The fanfare has definitely subsided," he says. The price of the burger—more than that of the beef, elk and black bean versions—doesn't help.

Pat Brown's replacement at Impossible, McGuinness, an ad industry veteran who left yogurt maker Chobani last year, says he has new growth plans for the Redwood City, California-based startup. "I don't want to talk about the category declining—it doesn't exist," he says, even though Impossible has been trying to lead it for the better part of the past decade.

This time, though, McGuinness's plan is to "operate like a food company." Instead of predicting the end of the meat industry, the new CEO talks about reaching carnivores by boosting total distribution points, doubling consumer awareness and bundling promotions for his faux chicken nuggets with faux pork products, so shoppers who like one will try the other. Just like a yogurt shelf grabs customer attention with variety, so, too, will Impossible products. In October he laid off 6% of the staff as part of a broader restructuring, telling employees the company was focused on its "R&D and innovation pipeline." Pricing, which has already come down, could match beef as early as the end of the year, he says, as his costs continue to improve with increased efficiency. Then there's the burger's nutritional profile. "The cake for us is to make a delicious product," McGuinness says. "The icing—it's better for you, better for the planet."

The 2022 Expo felt a lot more like a regular old trade show. There were no signs of Beyond, unless it was from an exhibitor answering a question to differentiate itself from the onetime star. Booth after booth showcased products such as Shark Tank-backed faux deli slices and textured soy protein "jerky," but few were good enough to go back for seconds, many more so unpalatable that this meat-eschewing Bloomberg reporter spit them out. By far the best-tasting food at the event was in the Italian Pavilion, where chefs served cheeseless vegetable pizzas and pasta puttanesca sans the anchovies—no imitation animal protein to be found. Asked what he was doing at the fake meat show, Italian chef and restaurateur Fabrizio Facchini was taken aback. "We also have a lot of plant-based," he said, relying on the literal meaning of the phrase more than on the marketing term. "We don't use cheese on everything."

Three and a half years ago, New York's Javits Center hosted the first Plant Based World Expo. Amid hawkers of seitan corned beef, pea-and-tomato-based chorizo and mold-based dog treats, the real excitement was Beyond. Fresh off its IPO, the company's executive chair was a keynote speaker. "I wish I had invested in them," Andy Levitt, founder of vegan meal-kit startup Purple Carrot, said at the time. When Levitt started his company in 2014, vegans were the "tattooed girl with Birkenstocks in Vermont," he said. Beyond's products had catapulted an entire generation of startups, becoming the "gateway drug to plant-based foods."

When industry watchers were still figuring out whether plant-based meat might pull an alt-milk-size disruption, many missed two key differences: lactose-intolerant consumers and milk's primary use as an ingredient, not a main course. Many soy, almond and oat milk drinkers add it to their coffee because real milk simply isn't an option. But they're mostly not drinking it by the glass. Even predictions of a sales rebound for plant-based meat are dwarfed by what's happening in dairy. Bloomberg Intelligence's Jennifer Bartashus wrote in November that in the second half of 2023, "we expect plant-based dairy sales to rise 6-8% and meat alternatives 1-2%."

Beyond Meat's current market capitalization is about $1 billion—down from its peak of more than $14 billion. Bringing costs down is the company's priority as it pledges to finally become cash-flow positive in the second half of this year and tries to keep up its dwindling cash reserves. In the company's November earnings call, Ethan Brown talked up another limited-time offer with Panda Express Inc. and the company's 2022 food award from People magazine.

The analysts, though, peppered him with questions about high inventory levels and why Beyond was making only ingredients instead of prepared meals. Brown blamed inflation and shifting consumer tastes as blips in his long-term mission. "I am certain that as we hit price parity with that, as the products become indistinguishable, as the climate situation worsens, as people get a clear sense of what the real health benefits are," he said, "this conversion will happen."

The big food companies have cooled on the category, too. Tyson scrapped its plant-ish burger—a half-beef, half-pea-protein concoction that was supposed to launch its future "billion-dollar brand." Products from Kellogg's Morningstar Farms, Conagra Brands' Gardein and Nestlé's Sweet Earth are all still selling, some well, but none are breakout hits.

What remains looks more like a niche category than a meaningful displacement of an entrenched industry. After Beyond, Impossible and their copycats spent years trying to seduce everyone away from meat, it appears their best customers are, well, the 5% of the population who didn't eat meat in the first place. Kevin Lindgren, director of merchandising at food distributor Baldor Specialty Foods Inc. in New York, says more restaurants are ordering plant-based burgers simply to make sure they have something to serve vegetarians "that's not a salad or cauliflower." Alt-burgers' continued expansion into restaurants is largely being propped up by establishments protecting themselves against this "veto vote"—the lone nonmeat eater in a group of diners who can thwart a destination decision if there's not a suitable meatless entrée. "It's frozen, throw it in the freezer," Lindgren says, summarizing restaurants' enthusiasm. But even that's not a sure shot. Plenty of vegetarians would prefer a veggie burger made of actual vegetables, and definitely not one that "bleeds."

Impossible is now venturing beyond the coasts, where many have already moved on from fake meat, hoping to jump-start interest in the rest of the country. (Lindgren says he recently spotted an Impossible Burger on a menu in a South Dakota sports bar.) But when Impossible sausage was added to the menus of more than 600 Cracker Barrels last summer, the company quickly got a taste of this new customer base. "YOU CAN TAKE MY PORK SAUSAGE WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS," one of the thousands of angry commenters wrote when the Southern country-themed chain posted the new offering on Facebook.

Meanwhile, a new meat alternative has found its way into the next hype cycle: cellular meat. Grown in giant tanks from cells harvested from living animals, labgrown beef, chicken and fish are theoretically better for the environment than the real thing and should taste as good. Startups in this space have raked in $2.6 billion in funding from investors including, once again, Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio. The category will have to overcome even bigger hurdles than plant-based meat, from the massive amount of energy required to make the products to exorbitant costs. But for boosters, its potential is already limitless. "This," Whole Foods co-founder Mackey said after investing in cellular startup Upside Foods Inc., "could change the world."

Celebrating Women In Agriculture

On February 15th, we celebrate Canada’s National Agriculture Day and come together as a nation to appreciate those who work tirelessly to put fresh food on the table for every Canadian. Now with March quickly approaching bringing with it International Women’s Day on March 8, what better than to also designate time to celebrate the thousands of Canadian women who work in agriculture!

Our Canadian agriculture sector, like many other countries around the world, typically has always been and still is a male-dominated industry. To put it into perspective, a recent 2021 census by Statistics Canada (StatsCan) shows that out of 262,450 farm operators, 182,655 were male and only 79,795 were female – in other words, there are over two times as many male farm operators to female farm operators.

programs. While three-quarters of agricultural managers are male, only one-quarter are women. Similarly, the ratio of male Agricultural business owners to female owners are 7:3, and the ratio of male national and provincial ag-association chairs and presidents to female chairs and presidents are 9:1 (both respectively).

As an underrepresented group in the sector, women agri-business owners and workers continuously face challenges.

For instance, according to the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), women in agriculture are regularly underrepresented at the leadership level despite the fact that more women have participated in post-secondary education and leadership zzzAccording to the same study, the leading barriers that prevent women from reaching new heights include factors such as balancing career and family and the lack of role models. Longstanding issues that have often been a factor in dissuading women from dipping their feet into the vibrant sector. Fortunately, in recent times, there have been great supports from organizations that advocate for women in agriculture. For example, in Manitoba, the Manitoba Women in Agriculture & Food (MWAF) is an organization that champions the voices of women in the sector, facilitate training workshops and provide business resources for its members. Women are invaluable resources for agriculture. They always have been and always will be.

On top of managing their families and doing miscellaneous work to keep the business flowing - such as bookkeeping and childcare - women bring a special perspective to the sector, challenging traditional bounds of what we may think of and define as agriculture.

According to an article in 2021 written by Bob Tosh (Family Business Advisor for MNP), many of the women in the field are said to show more likeliness in exploring farm-based side businesses such as bed and breakfasts and retail shops, adding value to farms by increasing its product versatility and clientele.

Trends in economic styles also differ for male and female farmers. For instance, female farm operators who work other jobs off the farm is increasing at a faster rate compared to the male farm operators. StatsCan reported that in 2020, 38,610 Canadian female operators worked off the farm – a 10 per cent increase from 2015, compared to a 1 per cent increase for male operators. A large chunk of this off-farm work is due to full-time employment; in 2020, 28 per cent of female farm operators who worked off the farm had a full-time job.

Furthermore, according to StatsCan data, many women farm operators are increasingly using sustainable energy sources and/or technology for the betterment of the environment. In 2021, the number of female operators working on farms that reported renewable energy production totaled 10,340 (out of a total number of 22,576 of farms that reported renewable energy production) – more than doubling since 2015. The same research outlines, from 2015 to 2020 there was a 45 per cent increase of female farm operators who worked on farms with automated guidance steering systems. Numbers showcasing their wide range of skills and expertise.

The future is bright for women in agriculture as more are entering the field. For instance, StatsCan recently released a report in November 2022 showing that the number female farm operator increased for the first time in 30 years while the total overall number saw a decrease (from 271,935 in 2016 to 262,450 in 2021). As previously mentioned, in 2021, there were 79,795 Canadian female farm operators – up from 77,970 female operators in 2016. This positive net increase is not just important in the number of women agribusiness owners, but also for the sector itself that has seen a continual loss in the number of small farms for many years.

Aiding in the movement of recruiting more women into the sphere is a growing number of support programs becoming available for women. For example, mentorships for women are becoming increasingly accessible. Internationally, the Women in Food & Agriculture (WFA) has a Mentorship Program open to women in the agriculture sector, from hands-on farmers to client-savvy CEOs of agri-businesses, to female agricultural scientists, at no cost. The Ag Women’s Network in Ontario also has a mentorship program, open to all women and men who are involved in the agriculture industry in Ontario, over the age of 18.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) partnered up with Scotiabank on several occasions as well in effort to support our women in the field. Women-led agri-businesses were provided opportunities to attend a webinar on HR information (still available to watch on Scotiabank’s YouTube under the title HR for Agriculture | Recruitment and Performance Management Best Practices with CFIB), and there were segments with different sessions for different regions offering CFIB’s business tools. The webinar was open to both CFIB members and nonmembers in which all attendees received perks such as CFIB’s letter of offer template and an HR A to Z document. In November 2021, CFIB was invited to speak at Scotiabank’s Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference which allowed table talks, networking and breakout sessions. All great initiatives allowing businesswomen in the agriculture sphere to help advance themselves and one another.

When it comes to agriculture support, Scotiabank gets it. For over 185 years they've been providing financial services to Canadian farms and agri-businesses. They understand the ups and downs of agriculture and are committed to the future of our customers and businesses. Continuously improving their services for the needs of the sector, Scotiabank also offers an incredible support program for women called the Scotiabank Women Initiative™ that supports women in agriculture with networking events and expertise in succession planning, managing farm risk and more, thanks to their specialists and departments dedicated to the agriculture and the small business sectors.

The agriculture sector is becoming incredibly diverse and has graciously shown acceptance of vast changes – displaying the adaptive and strong character of the industry. We only hope that the support for all individuals in the field continues to evolve for an even more blooming sector.

Not a member? JOIN CFIB today for more help and information.

SeoRhin Yoo is a Policy Analyst for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 95,000 members (6,000 agri-business members) across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.

TOM KITTLE RETIRES, PATRICK MCGADY TO HEAD HANDTMANN USA

Harald Suchanka, CEO Handtmann Filling & Portioning Systems (F&P), recently announced the retirement of Tom Kittle effective March 31, 2023 and the appointment of Patrick McGady as President of Handtmann Inc as of April 1, 2023.

“Under the leadership of Tom Kittle, Handtmann Inc has grown to become an integral part of our global success over the past 14.5 years, while its role as a key player in the food processing industry of North America was further strengthened. I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Tom for his outstanding achievements and best wishes for a well-deserved retirement,” comments Suchanka. “Patrick has been working closely with Tom to build on our Handtmann performance culture that is so important to the success of our customers. He possesses deep market knowledge, respected senior management skills, and a clear strategic vision for the continued growth and success of Handtmann, Inc.”

McGady is a senior sales and marketing professional with extensive experience in inside and field sales, sales management, corporate management and international marketing gained during his more than 18 years with Handtmann. In his previous role as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, McGady saw the expansion of Handtmann from meat specialist to a more diverse range of processing sectors, including bakery, pet food, alternative proteins, and dairy. He has managed the company’s growth in sales and initiated the successful development of marketing and communications segmentation strategies.

“Patrick’s appointment concludes an extensive selection process. He understands our corporate values, has driven our vision, and brings bold leadership skills that make him the perfect senior executive to succeed Tom and grow our global Handtmann business in the U.S.,” emphasizes Suchanka.

As a family business in which the 5th Handtmann generation has recently taken over the company management, it is important for us to offer opportunities for development to our top performers. The USA is a key market for Handtmann, and the goals for the future are ambitious. The appointment of Patrick also ensures continuity in the extremely successful business development of Handtmann, Inc.

“I am honored to now lead this company,” says McGady. “We are a group of innovative professionals with industry leading technologies and a powerful commitment to growth and the success of our customers. I will work together with our Handtmann team, our partners, and our customers to achieve even greater successes.”

Company Overview

Handtmann F&P is a leading global capital equipment provider of grinding, mixing, emulsifying, portioning, depositing, forming, hanging, filling, extruding and co-extruding technologies to the food processing industry. Advanced Handtmann technologies and full line solutions are known for their reliability, accuracy and operational ease. Handtmann, Inc. is the wholly owned sales and service subsidiary of the Handtmann Group of Companies serving the United States with headquarters in Lake Forest, IL.

The global Handtmann Group is a family-owned business established in 1873 and headquartered in Biberach, Germany. Besides the Food Processing division with 1,400 employees, Handtmann Group divisions include Light Metal Casting (automotive industry), Plant Engineering (brewhouse, filling and filtration), Plastics Technology (LAURAMID® structural components) and System Technology (intelligent systems for the mobility of tomorrow). www.handtmann.com/food