Conestoga - Committed to Sustainability

BUSINESS MEMBER PROFILE

Conestoga Committed to Sustainability

By Lois Harris

Conestoga Meats is committed to its employees, the farm families that own it, its community and to sustainably producing high-quality products.

“We’ve always had a very comprehensive system, and pride ourselves in wasting nothing,” says Arnold Drung, President of the company, which is based in Breslau, Ontario, processes 40,000 hogs a week and employs 1,300 local residents. It’s the second largest pork processor in Ontario and is a long-time member of Meat & Poultry Ontario (MPO).

Conestoga has also been recognized as one of Canada’s bestmanaged companies for the past two years.

Sustainable Practices Drung says that everything from the animals is used, right down to providing raw materials for rendered products that go into animal feed. As much as possible, packaging is either recyclable or reusable. For some customers – like further processors – who buy in bulk, they use hard plastic containers that can be sanitized and used again.

In terms of energy use, they’ve done a number of things over time, including switching over to an ammonia, rather than a freon-based refrigeration system. This dropped their hydro consumption by about 10 per cent. Conestoga refreshes its truck fleet every seven years, and each time, they’ve purchased more and more fuel-efficient vehicles and trailers. They have nine tractors and 20 trailers which are used for local deliveries. Much of the company’s products are exported via outside carriers, rail and ships.

“We’re currently testing a trailer that’s made from composite materials, which is lighter and more energy efficient, and we figure that will reduce unit operating costs by 15 per cent,” Drung says.

People First “In our values, we have put people first,” Drung says. “We want our people to be healthy, safe, productive and enjoy their work.”

He says that is what drives everything else – not only is it the right thing to do, he’s convinced it also drives good business results.

“I started my career as a student working on the kill floor and I learned the value of the people who work on the processing floor day in and day out and know how important they are,” he says. For example, he says the company has invested in livestock trailers made in Europe that are larger than those available here which means more animals per load, which reduces transportation costs for everyone.

There are 157 families who own the co-operative and the business continues to grow. In 2018, Conestoga expanded and revamped the entire front-end of the plant, including the livestock receiving and processing. The provincial government provided $5.3 million toward the total cost.

Pandemic Challenges Like most MPO members, Conestoga was considered an essential service, and continued operations through the pandemic.

“It meant we had to deal with a whole new set of circumstances,” he says.

As a result of Conestoga being a farmer-owned business, the company had to handle both the supply side and the food production side of the equation.

“We had to adapt extremely quickly to the situation – in fact we have invested over $11 million in COVID-19 mitigation measures,” Drung says, including hiring more people, making physical changes to the plant to allow for distancing, and monitoring everyone’s health.

In late April, the company was one of the first in the Kitchener-Waterloo region to have an on-site vaccination clinic with most of its employees receiving a shot. “We’re a new generation co-op and everyone is equal from a membership perspective,” Drung says, adding that members also have shipping shares which are based on the amount of livestock they ship to the plant. This means that the families have a significant investment in the plant, over and above the price they receive from their animals.

“We’re helping make hog farming more sustainable in southern Ontario,” he says. “Our farmers chose to make an investment in vertical integration, and it’s proven to be good for their farms, from many perspectives.”

This has meant that farmers who are with Conestoga have not had to deal with the plant closures and dwindling slaughter capacity that the province has experienced.

Conestoga has been a member of Meat & Poultry Ontario for many years – since it was a small provincial plant. Now that it’s a federallyregistered plant and is a member of national organizations, Drung says that the company still likes to stay connected to its roots.

Co-operative Business As a result of being a farmerowned co-operative, the entire production system is a virtuous environmental cycle. Farmers grow the feed to nourish their hogs, the hogs provide manure to nourish the crops. The hogs are then shipped to the plant for slaughter.

“For us, it’s an end-to-end model – so we look at the entire chain to drive out any waste and make it as efficient as possible,” he says. “Many of our customers are also MPO members, so we want to support them as well,” he says.

Conestoga Meat Packers Ltd Arnold Drung Breslau, ON 519-648-2506 info@conestogameats.com www.conestogameats.com