2023 Beef Farmers of Ontario Annual Report

REFLECT, RESET & RECONNECT

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

WHO WE ARE

For over sixty years, the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) has been a tough and credible advocate and unified voice for the province’s 19,000 beef farmers, representing all sectors of the industry. On behalf of its members, BFO advocates in the areas of sustainability, animal health and care, environment, food safety, and domestic and export market development. BFO’s vision is to foster a sustainable and profitable beef industry, and have Ontario beef recognized as an outstanding product by consumers.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT JACK CHAFFE

One year ago, I was gratefully elected as BFO President, and I have been navigating the transition to my new leadership role over the last 365 days. I’ve come to understand the vulnerability that comes with establishing new relationships and the learning curve in understanding the duties and responsibilities of the BFO President. Thankfully, I was fortunate to serve the organization as vice president under the helm of past president, Rob Lipsett. My time with Rob and BFO over the last eight years served me well, and I have appreciated the challenge of leading the organization and representing our members throughout 2022. On behalf of the BFO Board of Directors, we are extremely appreciative of Rob’s leadership during the pandemic, which was such a difficult time for our sector. We wish him all the best as he retires from the board this month.

As we reflect, reset, and reconnect at this year’s AGM, I am reminded of some of the activities in which I participated in 2022.

As we wrapped up our 60th annual meeting last year, in early March, I attended the

Ontario Food Summit hosted by Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Lisa Thompson. I was joined by over 125 leaders from across the food supply chain to discuss food security and strategies to strengthen our food system, and increase the competitiveness of our agriculture products. Next, I attended the Ontario Feeder Finance Annual Meeting, which returned to an in-person event in Guelph. It was nice to enjoy some good company and discussion, and celebrate some good news for the Ontario Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee Program. On February 23, the Government of Ontario announced an increase in the loan limits from $500,000 to $1 million for individual members and $1.5 million for corporate members. There’s no doubt this increase in the loan limits has helped ensure that financing limits keep pace with the price of cattle and in turn, maintain the program’s relevancy and benefits for our cattle feeding sector here in Ontario.

Later that month, I travelled to Ottawa for the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) Annual Meeting where I was appointed cochair of the Foreign Trade Committee along

with CCA Past President, Bob Lowe. I was also thankful to be invited to a couple of local association meetings in Lambton and Perth. It was nice to see our associations resuming meetings and gatherings for discussions and much-needed fellowship.

We returned to the BFO office for our in-person board meetings beginning in March, and at that meeting, with the advent of online meetings, we developed a more flexible meeting schedule to be more inclusive to all directors from across the province with respect to their travel times. We have moved to a combination of in-person and virtual meetings with some full days and some half days scheduled to support our current directors and their time away from home, but to also encourage others to think about joining the board.

Throughout the year, our number one priority with the Ontario government remained firm in seeking increased investment in Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) to provide financial stability for our farmers who are being faced with so much volatility both in the

raising and production of beef, but also in the marketplace. To further articulate this needed investment, BFO with our partners in the Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition (beef, grains, horticulture, pork, sheep and veal) invested our own resources and worked with a third-party economist to conduct a study on the economic value and impact of RMP in Ontario. The positive results from this study have been well-used in our lobby for increased RMP funding.

Leading into Canada Day weekend, BFO was relieved to see a favourable outcome on Health Canada’s proposed front-ofpackage labelling requirements, which now includes an exemption for ground beef. CCA in partnership with BFO and the provincial members executed a successful lobby and Don’t Label My Beef campaign that generated attention from policymakers, the media, and the general public. We are pleased the Government of Canada listened to our sector’s concerns and reversed the policy proposal on ground beef, a nutrient-dense, affordable protein. I would like to thank Premier Ford, Minister Thompson, CCA, and the grassroots members who helped ensure

a well-deserved exemption was provided for our sector.

In early July, we hosted small regional meetings to discuss some of the looming issues in our industry, and what BFO can do to help address them, mitigate risks to our sector, and position the Ontario beef industry for growth and sustainability. For years now, BFO has been exploring a number of ideas to maintain our cow herd and ultimately help spur expansion. Despite relatively stable feeding and processing numbers, the size of our cow herd continues to decline. As the bedrock of the beef industry, our discussions during these meetings primarily focused on what can be done to help stabilize the cow herd. We appreciated the participation of our advisory councillors and local presidents in these meetings. The feedback will play an integral role in the development of our renewed strategic plan, which is set to launch in 2023.

In the summer, we were briefed on the agreement that was reached in principle by federal, provincial, and territorial (FPT) ministers of agriculture regarding the next

agricultural policy framework, now named the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The new agreement is set to begin April 1, 2023 when the current agreement “CAP”, formally expires. While we were pleased to learn of the commitment to increase cost-share funding for strategic initiatives for farmers and agri-food businesses by 25 per cent, bringing $500 million nationally in new funds, many details remain unanswered.

I was happy to attend a couple of producer events. I attended a pasture walk and talk event hosted by the Prior family and a twilight meeting at the award-winning (Ontario Environmental Stewardship Award) Grey-Dufferin Community Pasture. Despite some of the aforementioned looming issues we have in our sector, I left both events feeling optimistic about our future from the conversations I joined. Both events highlighted some exceptional environmental and management practices that are envied by many.

In mid-August, I, along with a number of BFO Directors, attended the Canadian Beef Industry Conference, which visited Penticton in beautiful British Columbia. Upon arrival, I attended the B.C. Farm Tour, which is always a great way to become acquainted with the area and landscape prior to spending a week in the region. Those of us from Ontario found it interesting to hear about the connections between farm operations and local land trust and conservancy groups from the local ranchers, which sparked some investigation by our staff to see if there might be similar opportunities in Ontario to help protect grazing land. As a board member of the Canadian Beef Cattle Checkoff Agency, I participated in the Agency AGM, which took place early in the week. Within my role on this board, I also sit on the Marketing Committee, which is responsible for planning and establishing Canada Beef’s strategic, business and operational goals and objectives, and for the overall management and operation of the business and affairs. Coming out of the AGM, I was fortunate to be elected chair of the Agency’s Finance Committee for 2022.

Throughout the rest of that week, I attended a number of CCA committee meetings, as well as participated in discussions with representatives from the U.S. and Mexico. The most significant action item

materializing from the week was the desire for greater emergency preparedness surrounding the potential threat of foot and mouth disease (FMD) and the need for a dedicated vaccine bank to help protect Canada’s beef sector should we ever be faced with a case of FMD in the country.

After returning from Penticton, we headed to Kanata, Ontario for our BFO Summer Meeting, which returned to an in-person meeting. It was great to catch up with everyone and provide some timely updates for advisory councillors on BFO activities. Special thanks to Corad Farms, owned by Chad and Sarah Hunt and family, for hosting our farm tour portion of the meeting.

On September 7th, we made our debut return to the Ontario Legislature and hosted our 15th Annual Beef Barbecue on the lawn of Queen’s Park for MPPs and legislative staff. We had a terrific day and positive reception from MPPs both at the barbecue and during our individual meetings throughout the day. We sincerely appreciated the support of Minister Lisa Thompson and House Speaker Ted Arnott who helped us convene the event, as well as the opportunity to meet at length with Premier Ford to talk about Ontario’s Risk Management Program, the review of the PAWS Act and Canada’s investment in an FMD vaccine bank.

In early November, my wife Diane and I had the chance to visit the 100th anniversary celebration of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. With the return of the fair in person, BFO resumed our annual sponsorship commitment for the Junior Beef Heifer Show. Following the Royal, we attended Farm and Food Care Ontario’s annual Harvest Gala in Guelph. As an organization, we had a prosperous night. Ontario beef was featured on the gala menu, we took home the Paul Mistele Award in recognition of our annual food bank beef program with Feed Ontario, and we were given the opportunity to recognize the Dibble Family for their unwavering willingness to help us with our public engagement work.

I’ve also been busy in my new role as a mentor with the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders (CYL) program. There are a variety of mentorship focus areas this year, including sustainable grazing practices, agriculture technology, business management, cattle genetics, feedlot production, marketing strategies and livestock handling techniques to name a few. I have been paired with Madi Lewis and have enjoyed our chats over the last several months. I am sure I will learn just as much from her, as she will from me! I’d also like to thank Sandra Vos for accepting her role as mentor with Danika Mayer, and we wish Holly McGill all the best with

As we closed the year, I spent some time reflecting on the highs and lows of the last 365 days. Our collective return to events, meetings and celebrations, and the energy we all felt as we began to meet face-toface once again has been so refreshing and provided the human connection we’ve all needed. I’ve also been reflecting on some of the significant personal losses over the year both experienced by our organization and entire industry. In December, I was deeply saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Reg Schellenberg, President of CCA. This significant loss has sent ripples throughout the Canadian beef industry and gave us all a moment of pause. I’ve served our industry alongside Reg for a number of years, including our most recent time together on the CCA Executive Board of Directors. He was always a strong voice for Canadian farmers and ranchers and had a thoughtful national approach to all issues impacting the cattle sector. My thoughts will continue to be with his family, and his legacy will no doubt be felt by all of us for years to come.

In January, we wrapped up another year of local association annual general meetings. It was so nice to see many producers out at these meetings and we do appreciate

the participation of our members and the active discussion on a number of files like beef sustainability, vet access, farmland preservation and the transportation regulations.

Just after the new year, a delegation from CCA and BFO attended the State Agriculture and Rural Leaders Ag Chairs Summit in Charleston, South Carolina. Attending the event presented a great opportunity for us to meet intimately with Minister Thompson and other influential agriculture leaders from across Canada and the U.S. Following that trip, I travelled to London, Ontario to attend the 25th anniversary of the Ontario Beef Industry Convention hosted by the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association. The full-house event featured excellent speakers, an all-star meal, a lively auction and the perfect venue to catch up with friends. On behalf of the BFO Board of Directors and staff, we congratulate the OCFA Board, Jim Clark and staff on their silver celebration and on hosting another successful sold-out convention.

Earlier this month, I along with a number of directors travelled south to New Orleans to attend the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Tradeshow. Attendance at this event, together with CCA, allows us to work on our U.S./Mexico relations and discuss common

issues impacting producers across North America. While we travelled to the U.S., BFO Vice President Craig McLaughlin joined Minister Thompson and OMAFRA on their trade mission trip to Japan and Vietnam. Both countries are extremely important trade markets for Ontario beef, and we appreciate the opportunity to be invited to continue to build our relations in Asia.

In closing, we were disappointed to hear that a new contract couldn’t be negotiated to keep Wallace Meats in operation as part of the Joyceville Institution, and then in recent weeks we have been informed of the pause in operations at TruHarvest Meats. On a positive note, we are encouraged by the progress with the Penokean Hills brand and the recent opening of their new abattoir in the Algoma region. All of this underpins the importance of our advocacy priority for increased investments in meat processing capacity, infrastructure, and the training, recruitment, and retention of meat cutters and industrial butchers.

I wish you all the best in the year ahead.

her mentor Shannon Borden who is from western Canada.

UN MESSAGE DU PRÉSIDENT JACK

Il y a un an, j’ai été élu président de la BFO et j’ai fait la transition vers mon nouveau rôle de leader au cours des 365 derniers jours. J’en suis venu à comprendre la vulnérabilité qui accompagne l’établissement de nouvelles relations et la courbe d’apprentissage dans la compréhension des fonctions et des responsabilités du président de la BFO. Heureusement, j’ai eu la chance de servir l’organisation en tant que vice-président sous la direction de l’ancien président, Rob Lipsett. Le temps passé avec Rob et la BFO au cours des huit dernières années m’a bien servi, et j’ai apprécié le défi de diriger l’organisation et de représenter nos membres tout au long de l’année 2022. Au nom du conseil d’administration de la BFO, nous sommes extrêmement reconnaissants du leadership de Rob durant la pandémie qui a été une période si difficile pour notre secteur. Nous lui souhaitons bonne chance dans sa retraite du conseil d’administration ce mois-ci.

Alors que nous réfléchissons, faisons le point et reprenons contact à l’occasion de l’AGA de cette année, je me souviens de certaines des activités auxquelles j’ai participé en 2022.

CHAFFE

Alors que nous clôturions notre 60e assemblée annuelle l’an dernier, j’ai participé, au début du mois de mars, au Sommet de l’alimentation de l’Ontario organisé par la ministre de l’Agriculture, de l’Alimentation et des Affaires rurales de l’Ontario, Lisa Thompson. Plus de 125 dirigeants de toute la chaîne d’approvisionnement alimentaire se sont joints à moi pour discuter de la sécurité alimentaire et des stratégies visant à renforcer notre système alimentaire et à accroître la compétitivité de nos produits agricoles. Ensuite, j’ai assisté à l’assemblée annuelle de l’Ontario Feeder Finance, qui est redevenue un événement en présentiel à Guelph. C’était agréable d’être en bonne compagnie, de discuter et de célébrer de bonnes nouvelles pour le Programme ontarien de garanties d’emprunt pour l’élevage de bovins d’engraissement. Le 23 février, le gouvernement de l’Ontario a annoncé une augmentation des limites de prêt de 500 000 $ à 1 million de dollars pour les membres individuels et 1,5 million de dollars pour les membres corporatifs. Il ne fait aucun doute que cette augmentation des limites de prêt a permis de s’assurer que les limites de financement suivent le rythme

du prix des bovins et, par conséquent, de maintenir la pertinence et les avantages du programme pour notre secteur de l’engraissement des bovins ici en Ontario.

Plus tard dans le mois, je me suis rendu à Ottawa pour l’assemblée annuelle de l’Association canadienne des bovins (ACB) où j’ai été nommé coprésident du comité du commerce extérieur avec le président sortant de l’ACB, Bob Lowe. J’ai également été heureux d’être invité à quelques réunions d’associations locales à Lambton et à Perth. C’était agréable de voir nos associations reprendre les réunions et les rencontres pour des discussions et la camaraderie dont nous avons tant besoin.

Nous sommes retournés au bureau de la BFO pour nos réunions du conseil en présentiel à partir du mois de mars, et lors de cette réunion, avec l’avènement des réunions en ligne, nous avons élaboré un calendrier de réunions plus souple afin d’inclure tous les administrateurs de toute la province en ce qui concerne leurs temps de déplacement. Nous avons opté pour une combinaison de réunions en présentiel et de réunions

virtuelles, avec des journées entières et des demi-journées, afin de soutenir nos administrateurs actuels et le temps qu’ils passent loin de chez eux, mais aussi pour encourager d’autres personnes à envisager de se joindre au conseil d’administration.

Tout au long de l’année, notre priorité numéro un auprès du gouvernement de l’Ontario est restée ferme : il s’agit d’obtenir un investissement accru dans le Programme de gestion des risques (PGR) de l’Ontario afin d’assurer la stabilité financière de nos agriculteurs qui sont confrontés à tant de volatilité à la fois dans l’élevage et la production de bœuf, mais aussi sur le marché. Pour mieux articuler cet investissement nécessaire, la BFO et ses partenaires de l’Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition (bœuf, céréales, horticulture, porc, mouton et veau) ont investi leurs propres ressources et ont travaillé avec un économiste indépendant pour mener une étude sur la valeur économique et l’impact du PGR en Ontario. Les résultats positifs de cette étude ont été bien utilisés dans notre lobbying pour l’augmentation du financement du PGR.

À l’approche de la fin de semaine de la fête du Canada, la BFO a été soulagée de voir une issue favorable aux exigences d’étiquetage sur le devant des emballages proposées par Santé Canada, qui comprend maintenant une exemption pour le boeuf haché. L’ACB, en partenariat avec la BFO et les membres provinciaux, a mené à bien une campagne de lobbying et la campagne N’étiquetez pas mon boeuf qui a attiré l’attention des décideurs, des médias et du grand public. Nous sommes heureux que le gouvernement du Canada ait écouté les préoccupations de notre secteur et ait renversé la proposition de politique sur le bœuf haché, une protéine dense en nutriments et abordable. Je tiens à remercier le premier ministre Ford, le ministre Thompson, l’ACB et les militants locaux qui ont contribué à faire en sorte que notre secteur bénéficie d’une exemption bien méritée.

Au début du mois de juillet, nous avons organisé de petites réunions régionales pour discuter de certains des problèmes imminents de notre industrie, et de ce que la BFO peut faire pour aider à les résoudre,

atténuer les risques pour notre secteur et positionner l’industrie bovine de l’Ontario pour la croissance et la durabilité. Depuis des années, la BFO explore un certain nombre d’idées pour maintenir notre cheptel de vaches et, en fin de compte, aider à stimuler l’expansion. Malgré des chiffres relativement stables en matière d’alimentation et de transformation, la taille de notre troupeau de vaches continue de diminuer. En tant que pilier de l’industrie bovine, nos discussions au cours de ces réunions ont principalement porté sur ce qui peut être fait pour aider à stabiliser le cheptel de vaches. Nous avons apprécié la participation de nos conseillers consultatifs et des présidents locaux à ces réunions. Les commentaires recueillis joueront un rôle essentiel dans l’élaboration de notre nouveau plan stratégique, dont le lancement est prévu en 2023.

Au cours de l’été, nous avons été informés de l’accord de principe conclu par les ministres fédéral, provinciaux et territoriaux de l’agriculture (FPT) concernant le prochain cadre stratégique pour l’agriculture, désormais appelé Partenariat canadien pour une agriculture durable (PCAD). Le nouvel

accord devrait entrer en vigueur le 1er avril 2023, date à laquelle l’accord actuel, le “ PAC “, prendra officiellement fin. Bien que nous ayons été heureux d’apprendre l’engagement d’augmenter de 25 % le financement à frais partagés des initiatives stratégiques pour les agriculteurs et les entreprises agroalimentaires, ce qui représente 500 millions de dollars de nouveaux fonds à l’échelle nationale, de nombreux détails demeurent sans réponse.

J’ai eu le plaisir d’assister à quelques événements organisés par des producteurs. J’ai assisté à un événement de marche et de discussion sur les pâturages organisé par la famille Prior et à une réunion au crépuscule au pâturage communautaire Grey-Dufferin, qui a reçu un prix (Prix de gérance de l’environnement de l’Ontario). Malgré certains des problèmes imminents susmentionnés dans notre secteur, j’ai quitté les deux événements avec un sentiment d’optimisme quant à notre avenir à la suite des conversations auxquelles j’ai participé. Les deux événements ont mis en évidence des pratiques environnementales et de gestion exceptionnelles que beaucoup nous envient.

À la mi-août, j’ai assisté, avec un certain nombre de directeurs de la BFO, à la Conférence de l’industrie canadienne du bœuf, qui s’est déroulée cet été à Penticton, dans la belle province de la ColombieBritannique. À mon arrivée, j’ai participé au B.C. Farm Tour, qui est toujours une excellente façon de se familiariser avec la région et le paysage avant de passer une semaine dans la région. Ceux d’entre nous qui viennent de l’Ontario ont trouvé intéressant d’entendre parler des liens entre les exploitations agricoles et les groupes locaux de conservation et de fiducie foncière par les éleveurs locaux, ce qui a incité notre personnel à enquêter pour voir s’il n’y aurait pas des possibilités similaires en Ontario

pour aider à protéger les pâturages. En tant que membre du conseil d’administration de l’Agence canadienne de prélèvement du boeuf, j’ai participé à l’AGA de l’Agence, qui a eu lieu au début de la semaine. Dans le cadre de mon rôle au sein de ce conseil, je siège également au comité de marketing, qui est responsable de la planification et de l’établissement des buts et objectifs stratégiques, commerciaux et opérationnels de Bœuf Canada, ainsi que de la gestion et du fonctionnement général de l’entreprise et des affaires. À l’issue de l’AGA, j’ai eu la chance d’être élu président du Comité des finances de l’Agence pour 2022.

Pendant le reste de la semaine, j’ai assisté à un certain nombre de réunions de comités de l’ACB et participé à des discussions avec des représentants des États-Unis et du Mexique. Le point d’action le plus important qui s’est dégagé de la semaine est le désir d’une plus grande préparation aux situations d’urgence entourant la menace potentielle de la fièvre aphteuse et le besoin d’une banque de vaccins spécialisée pour aider à protéger le secteur canadien du bœuf si jamais nous devions faire face à un cas de fièvre aphteuse au pays.

Après être rentrés de Penticton, nous nous sommes rendus à Kanata, en Ontario, pour notre réunion d’été de la BFO, qui est redevenue une réunion en présentiel. Ce fut un plaisir de retrouver tout le monde et de fournir aux conseillers consultatifs des mises à jour opportunes sur les activités de la BFO. Nous remercions tout particulièrement Corad Farms, propriété de Chad et Sarah Hunt et de leur famille, d’avoir accueilli la partie de la réunion consacrée à la visite de la ferme.

Le 7 septembre, nous avons fait notre premier retour à l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario et avons organisé notre 15e barbecue annuel de bœuf sur la pelouse

du Queen’s Park pour les députés et le personnel législatif. Nous avons eu une journée formidable et un accueil positif de la part des députés tant au barbecue que lors de nos rencontres individuelles tout au long de la journée. Nous avons sincèrement apprécié le soutien de la ministre Lisa Thompson et du président de la Chambre des communes Ted Arnott qui nous ont aidés à organiser l’événement, ainsi que l’occasion de rencontrer longuement le premier ministre Ford pour parler du programme de gestion des risques de l’Ontario, de l’examen de la Loi sur les services provinciaux visant le bien-être des animaux et de l’investissement du Canada dans une banque de vaccins contre la fièvre aphteuse.

Au début du mois de novembre, ma femme Diane et moi avons eu la chance de nous rendre à la célébration du 100e anniversaire de la Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Avec le retour de la foire en présentiel, la BFO a repris son engagement de parrainage annuel pour le Junior Beef Heifer Show. Après la Royal, nous avons assisté au gala annuel de la récolte de Farm and Food Care Ontario à Guelph. En tant qu’organisation, nous avons eu une soirée prospère. Le boeuf de l’Ontario figurait au menu du gala, nous avons remporté le prix Paul Mistele en reconnaissance de notre programme annuel de boeuf pour les banques alimentaires avec Feed Ontario, et nous avons eu l’occasion de rendre hommage à la famille Dibble pour sa volonté inébranlable de nous aider dans notre travail d’engagement du public.

J’ai également été très occupé par mon nouveau rôle de mentor dans le cadre du programme des Jeunes leaders canadiens de l’industrie bovine. Cette année, le mentorat porte sur une variété de domaines, notamment les pratiques de pâturage durable, la technologie agricole, la gestion des affaires, la génétique bovine, la production en parc d’engraissement, les

stratégies de marketing et les techniques de manutention du bétail, pour n’en nommer que quelques-uns. J’ai été jumelé avec Madi Lewis et j’ai apprécié nos discussions au cours des derniers mois. Je suis sûr que j’apprendrai autant d’elle qu’elle apprendra de moi ! J’aimerais également remercier Sandra Vos d’avoir accepté son rôle de mentor avec Danika Mayer, et nous souhaitons bonne chance à Holly McGill avec son mentor Shannon Borden, qui vient de l’Ouest canadien.

En cette fin d’année, j’ai pris le temps de réfléchir aux hauts et aux bas des 365 derniers jours. Notre retour collectif aux événements, aux réunions et aux célébrations, ainsi que l’énergie que nous avons tous ressentie lorsque nous avons recommencé à nous rencontrer face à face, ont été très rafraîchissants et ont apporté le lien humain dont nous avions tous besoin. J’ai également réfléchi à certaines des pertes personnelles importantes subies au cours de l’année par notre organisation et l’ensemble du secteur. En décembre, j’ai été profondément attristé d’apprendre le décès soudain de Reg Schellenberg, président de l’ACB. Cette perte importante a fait des vagues dans toute l’industrie canadienne du boeuf et nous a donné à tous un moment de pause. J’ai servi notre industrie aux côtés de Reg pendant un certain nombre d’années, y compris lors de notre plus récente collaboration au sein du conseil d’administration de l’ACB. Il a toujours été une voix forte pour les agriculteurs et les éleveurs canadiens et avait une approche nationale réfléchie de toutes les questions ayant un impact sur le secteur bovin. Mes pensées continueront d’accompagner sa famille, et son héritage sera sans aucun doute ressenti par nous tous dans les années à venir.

En janvier, nous avons clôturé une autre année d’assemblées générales annuelles des

associations locales. Nous avons été ravis de voir de nombreux producteurs présents à ces réunions et nous apprécions la participation de nos membres et les discussions actives sur un certain nombre de dossiers tels que la viabilité du bœuf, l’accès aux vétérinaires, la préservation des terres agricoles et la réglementation des transports.

Juste après le début de la nouvelle année, une délégation de l’ACB et de la BFO a participé au Sommet des présidents agricoles de la State Agriculture and Rural Leaders à Charleston, en Caroline du Sud. Cet événement nous a donné l’occasion de rencontrer le ministre Thompson et d’autres leaders agricoles influents du Canada et des États-Unis. Ensuite, je me suis rendu à London, en Ontario, pour assister au 25e anniversaire du Congrès de l’industrie bovine de l’Ontario, organisé par l’Association des engraisseurs de bovins de l’Ontario. Cet événement complet a permis de rencontrer d’excellents conférenciers, de déguster un repas exceptionnel, de participer à une vente aux enchères animée et de retrouver des amis. Au nom du conseil d’administration et du personnel de la BFO, nous félicitons le conseil d’administration de l’Association des engraisseurs de bovins de l’Ontario, Jim Clark et son personnel pour la célébration de leur 25e anniversaire et pour avoir organisé un autre congrès à guichets fermés.

Au début du mois, je me suis rendu, avec un certain nombre de directeurs, dans le sud de la Nouvelle-Orléans pour assister à la Cattle Industry Convention et au NCBA Tradeshow. La participation à cet événement, de concert avec l’ACB, nous permet de travailler sur nos relations entre les États-Unis et le Mexique et de discuter des problèmes communs qui touchent les producteurs de toute l’Amérique du Nord. Pendant notre voyage aux États-Unis, le vice-président de la BFO, Craig McLaughlin, s’est joint au ministre Thompson et au MAAARO lors de

leur mission commerciale au Japon et au Vietnam. Ces deux pays sont des marchés commerciaux extrêmement importants pour le bœuf de l’Ontario, et nous sommes heureux d’avoir été invités à poursuivre le développement de nos relations en Asie.

En conclusion, nous avons été déçus d’apprendre qu’un nouveau contrat n’a pu être négocié pour maintenir Wallace Meats en activité au sein de l’établissement de Joyceville, puis, au cours des dernières semaines, nous avons été informés de la pause dans les activités de TruHarvest Meats. Sur une note positive, nous sommes encouragés par les progrès de la marque Penokean Hills et l’ouverture récente de leur nouvel abattoir dans la région d’Algoma. Tout cela souligne l’importance de la priorité que nous accordons à l’augmentation des investissements dans la capacité de transformation de la viande, dans l’infrastructure et dans la formation, le recrutement et la rétention des découpeurs de viande et des bouchers industriels.

Je vous souhaite le meilleur pour l’année à venir.

BFO PAST PRESIDENTS

1963 Bruce Mehlenbacher, Haldimand

1964 Ross Beattie, Simcoe

1965 George Morris, Kent

1966 Harvey Ackert, Bruce

1967 - 1968 Walter Beath, Ontario County

1969 Vern Kaufman, Oxford

1970 Lawrence Markusse, Lambton

1971 Hugh Grace, Lanark

1972 Tom Jackson, Peel-Halton

1973 Stewart Brown, Elgin

1974 Grant Burroughes, York

1975 Clarence Hardy, Middlesex

1976 Ronald Oswald, Bruce

1977 Archie Etherington, Huron

1978 Alex Connell, Wellington

1979 - 1980 Morley Shepherdson, Temiskaming

1981 Gus Lask, Ontario County

1982 Tony Noorloos, Lambton

1983 Robert Chapple, Kent

1984 - 1985 Gerhard Schickedanz, York

1986 Edgar Wideman, Waterloo

1987 Hugh Sharpe, Lennox and Addington 1988 Robert Gregson, Elgin

1989 Jim Magee, Oxford

1990 David Whittington, Peterborough

1991 Glenn Coultes, Huron

1992 Doug Gear, Dufferin

1993 Robert Kerr, Kent

1994 Ken Summers, Victoria

1995 Harvey Graham, Durham East

1996 Dale Pallister, Grey

1997 Linda Barker, Haldimand

1998 Bob Dobson, Renfrew

1999 Darlene Bowen, Temiskaming

2000 Stan Eby, Bruce

2001 Dick van der Byl, Glengarry

2002 Mike Buis, Kent

2003 - 2004 Ron Wooddisse, Wellington

2005 - 2007 Ian McKillop, Elgin

2008 - 2009 Gord Hardy, Middlesex

2010 - 2011 Curtis Royal, Simcoe

2012 - 2013 Dan Darling, Northumberland

2014 - 2015 Bob Gordanier, Dufferin

2016 - 2017 Matt Bowman, Temiskaming

2018 - 2019 Joe Hill, Wellington

2020 - 2021 Rob Lipsett, Grey

2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BFO’s Board of Directors consists of 12 elected officials - three from the cow-calf sector, three from the feedlot sector, one from the backgrounder sector, one each representing the southern, northern and eastern regions of Ontario, and two elected at-large. Directors are elected for three-year terms on a rotating basis.

JACK CHAFFE PRESIDENT Feedlot Director

CRAIG MCLAUGHLIN VICE PRESIDENT Eastern Director

JASON LEBLOND Cow-Calf Director

JASON REID At-Large Director

RICHARD HORNE Executive Director

JACK CHAFFE PRESIDENT Feedlot Director CCA Director CBCA Director

CRAIG MCLAUGHLIN VICE PRESIDENT Eastern Director CCA Director

DON BADOUR Cow-Calf Director CRSB Director

DON HARGRAVE Cow-Calf Director CCIA Director

JASON LEBLOND Cow-Calf Director CCA Director

DAVID MILLSAP Feedlot Director JOE DICKENSON Feedlot Director

ROB LIPSETT Backgrounder Director

RON STEVENSON Southern Director BCRC Director

JORDAN MILLER Northern Director TSYLDB Director

JASON REID At-Large Director

KIM JO BLISS At-Large Director

CHARLENE YUNGBLUT Youth Director (Non-Voting)

A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RICHARD HORNE

2022 is a year many will not soon forget. The Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked the world, stunned global markets and disrupted supply chains. It made the costs of goods more expensive and difficult to obtain, further exposed the limitations of farm risk management programs, and set our collective level of uncertainty to highs rivalled by the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. To make matters worse, we also saw consecutive increases in the Bank of Canada rate that led to interest rate levels not seen in more than 15 years, which put further pressure on our sector and the broader economy by making borrowing and debt servicing costs much more expensive. To boot, rampant inflationary pressures made life more expensive for everyone, and directed some consumers to more affordable protein options.

Despite this, the Ontario beef sector showed great resiliency and adaptability to these extraordinary global events. Calf and feeder prices showed tremendous strength for the majority of the year, beef output was

strong, fed cattle prices led the North American market, and Ontario cow herd numbers increased by 3.2 per cent. Ontario beef exports continued to grow in value and volume in key export markets, driven in-part by the Ontario Beef Market Development Program run in partnership with the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association. Our continued focus on engaging consumers also set new highs in 2022 in terms of impressions and the overall reach of our activities.

Despite the positive impact our core market and consumer focused programs had in 2022, and the relative strength in cattle prices that prevailed for much of the year, the pressure from rising costs of production and the constant challenges and threats that the beef and broader livestock sector continue to endure will require a much more strategic and collaborative focus moving forward.

In light of these issues, the BFO Board of Directors and senior staff dedicated

the latter part of the year to reviewing and refreshing BFO’s strategic plan. The new plan, which will be finalized sometime in the new year, will focus on five key areas, including: continued commitment to market development and consumer engagement, producer excellence, sector growth and stability, advocacy and government relations, and leadership and governance. While these areas are broad by design, the actions being contemplated to underpin these areas of focus will set out an ambitious plan for the association to pursue for the next three to five years.

The 2023 AGM program theme, Reflect, Reset & Reconnect, was set as a fitting response to the peaks and valleys endured throughout the pandemic and the 2022 year, and our renewed focus on reconnecting with our members, government, and industry partners, resetting and renewing our strategic priorities, and reflecting on our successes and the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.

Throughout the remainder of this report, we will update you, the members, on how your check-off dollars were used and the programs, events, research and advocacy activities we undertook on your behalf. I would like to thank the BFO Board of Directors, Advisory Council, committee representatives and the BFO team for their continued dedication to the Ontario beef sector, and the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association for their continued partnership in pursuit of a sustainable and profitable beef sector.

As an eternal optimist, I fully subscribe to the principle that in order to carry out a positive action, we must develop a positive vision. With that I would like to wish each of you and your families a healthy, prosperous, and positive year ahead.

The Ontario beef industry contributes $2.69 BILLION to Ontario’s GDP on an annual basis from primary production, processing and retail.

$2.69 BILLION $13 BILLION

Gross sales from Ontario beef production, processing and retail exceed $13 BILLION annually.

FARM GATE SALES REVENUE OF ALMOST $1.4 BILLION

PROCESSING REVENUE OF $3.5 BILLION

RETAIL SALES OF $9 BILLION

Ontario’s beef industry sustains more than 61,000 JOBS.

61,000 JOBS

9,500 JOBS IN PRIMARY PRODUCTION

9,000 JOBS IN PROCESSING

ALMOST 43,900 JOBS IN RETAIL

CONTACT THE BFO STAFF TEAM

RICHARD HORNE Executive Director x 234 richard@ontariobeef.com

TAMMY PURDHAM Office Manager x 221 tammy@ontariobeef.com

THOMAS BRANDSTETTER Manager of Policy and Issues x 236 thomas@ontariobeef.com

EVAN CHAFFE Policy Advisor x 233 evan@ontariobeef.com

JENNIFER KYLE Manager of Public Engagement & Digital Strategy x 229 jennifer@ontariobeef.com

CATHY GOLUBIENKO Board Secretary cathyg@ontariobeef.com

AMBER MCINTYRE Accountant x 222 amber@ontariobeef.com

DARBY WHEELER Policy Advisor x 226 darby@ontariobeef.com

LEAANNE WURMLI Director of Communications x 230 leaanne@ontariobeef.com

BETHANY STOREY Communications Specialist x 224 bethany@ontariobeef.com

JAMIE GAMBLE Market Information Coordinator x 235 jamie@ontariobeef.com

GRIFFIN PURDHAM Summer Student summerstudent@ontariobeef.com

DAN FERGUSON Manager of Producer Relations 905.375.8551 dan@ontariobeef.com

JACLYN HORENBERG Senior Producer Relations Specialist 519.608.2429 jaclyn@ontariobeef.com

ROBERT MCKINLAY Producer Relations Specialist 226.668.0775 robert@ontariobeef.com

CHRIS MILLAR Check-off Inspector 613.324.2207 chrism@ontariobeef.com

CHERYL RUSSWURM

Provincial Supervisor: Ontario Feeder & Breeder Co-op Programs 519.367.5590 crfeederfin@wightman.ca

CATHY LASBY BFO Contract Ontario Beef Advertising Manager 519.763.8833 pams@sentex.net

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

In late 2020, BFO made a public commitment to advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the beef sector and broader agri-food industry, and to fight racism and discrimination in all its forms. The intention is to help lead a culture shift that sees the industry become a welcoming and inclusive environment for anyone who lives in, works in, and interacts with our sector.

DEI remained a priority for the BFO Board of Directors and staff throughout 2022 and we would like to share some of the activities we have undertaken in effort to live up to our commitment.

LEARNING

The Ontario beef industry is an ally against discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, and ability (visible and invisible), as well as linguistic discrimination. We recognize that we are not always a diverse industry, but we believe in fighting racism and discrimination in all its forms.

DEI, and all it encompasses, is an ever-evolving topic and there is always more to learn. As our facilitator, Avery Francis, Founder and CEO of Bloom, explained to us during the preparations for our 2021 learning experience, when we are talking about DEI, we are talking about hundreds of years of oppression. Digging into the truths, looking for ways to reconcile those truths, listening, learning, unlearning common but hurtful language and practices, becoming aware of our biases, developing confidence to speak up as allies, none of these things are easy

and none can be accomplished in a 90-minute workshop. It takes time and a commitment to ongoing learning to create a cultural shift. With that in mind, the board continued to look for learning opportunities throughout the year. BFO was invited to send a couple of representatives to attend two Indigenous Awareness and Indigenous Relations workshops hosted by the Canadian Cattle Association. Jordan Miller, Charlene Yungblut and Jennifer Kyle attended and found the sessions provided some very valuable insights into how we might better establish and strengthen our relationships with Indigenous and First Nations communities as an organization. As such, the BFO Board has committed to taking these courses as a group in early 2023, once the new board has been installed.

As part of the organization’s recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the board and staff participated in a virtual tour and debrief of the former Mohawk Institute

Residential School located in Brantford, Ontario. It was a very hard tour to watch as the guide took us through each of the rooms of the school, explaining what life was like for the children who attended. There were also a number of survivors who shared their personal stories as part of the tour. As more unmarked graves are and will continue to be uncovered across the country, including at the Mohawk site we toured, it is important for us all to know what happened in those institutions and understand how that trauma has impacted generations of Indigenous and First Nations peoples and our relationships with them. As farmers and folks in the ag sector, it’s also important to be cognizant of how agriculture and farm labour was weaponized as part of the atrocities that took place. The truth is horrific to hear, but essential to be able to reconcile and find paths forward.

ACTIVITIES

In addition to the above-mentioned learning, BFO continued to participate in and undertake a number of different activities throughout the year:

• Participated in several meetings and speaking engagements with other commodity and ag sector organizations to keep the conversation moving forward in the broader industry. We were invited to meet with groups including 4-H Canada, Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, and Chicken Farmers of Canada in 2022.

• Rebranded what was Cattlemen’s College to Cattle Academy

• Made a $2,500 donation to the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund as part of our recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and our own organizational commitment to

reconciliation. The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Their goal is to improve the lives of Indigenous people by building awareness, education, and connections between all peoples in Canada.

• Ensured DEI was top of mind when selecting influencers, spokespeople and companies to partner with for our consumer engagement and PR work. In 2022, well over 50 per cent of the folks and businesses we worked with were BIPOC, women, members of the LGBTQ+2S community, and BIPOC- and or women-owned businesses (or both!).

• Continued to strongly support community organizations like Feed Ontario, AgScape and 4-H that provide important service, support, education and programming to diverse communities all across the province.

• Further increased support to AgScape to specifically support their efforts to translate and deliver their resources and programming in French language and FrenchImmersion schools.

• Increased advocacy for mental health resources and support services for farmers.

• Participated in a DEI-focused project through the Canadian Agriculture Human Resource Council.

• Participated in a media interview with ag advocate Ryan Goodman during Pride Month.

ACCOUNTABILITY

The DEI Committee continues to put effort toward ensuring we remain accountable to our commitments as we move forward with our DEI work. In the spirit of inclusivity, the committee remains an open committee. Any board or staff member is welcome to join the committee at any time. The committee is tasked with keeping the organization accountable, as well as ensuring the work continues to move forward and addressing any DEI-related issues and questions as they arise.

We continue to actively look at our organization and current activities to see where we can do better, and how we can weave education and advocacy around diversity, equity and inclusion into existing activities and programming. As we continue to listen and learn, our commitments and actions will continue to develop over time as we work to evolve the culture within the sector to be more welcoming to and supportive of all members of our communities. We are also so pleased to see a number of other organizations, including our own Canadian Cattle Association, join us in this important work to make our ag sector a safe and inclusive place for everyone. If you have questions or if you have thoughts or ideas on actions to consider or areas for improvement, please connect with us.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS & ADVOCACY

In 2022, BFO continued to monitor, research and respond to a high volume of legislative proposals, bills, and proposed policy and program changes. In addition, BFO’s Board of Directors and senior staff maintained close contact with MPs, MPPs, and political staff to keep the priorities for Ontario’s beef industry top-of-mind with decisionmakers.

Likely the highest profile issue of the year surrounded Health Canada’s proposed warning labels for ground beef and other ground meat products. BFO was early out of the gate in response to this issue, launching our own provincial letter writing “click and submit” campaign, and securing meetings with

key Ontario MPs to raise our concerns. We also had the opportunity to meet directly with Minister Thompson and Premier Ford who played important roles in advancing our concerns with Minister Bibeau and the federal government. BFO then joined the CCAled Don’t Label My Beef campaign, in collaboration with the National Cattle Feeders’ Association and the provincial cattle organizations. The campaign was hugely successful, garnering significant local, provincial, and national media attention. In the end, the Canadian beef sector was successful at convincing policymakers, and the public, that the labelling rules did not align with health science. The best defense is a good offense, and it showed.

BFO also spent a considerable amount of time meeting with MPPs and the Solicitor General’s office to outline our concerns with the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, or PAWS for short. BFO’s request for a full review of this legislation was one of our top provincial priorities this year. While a review of

the Act and legislative amendments are hopefully on the horizon, BFO was successful at getting the province to enter into formal negotiations with us on the development of a memorandum of understanding, which began in the fall. We also received commitment from the Parliamentary Assistants to begin discussions with the livestock sector to voice our concerns with the legislation in a more formal capacity, as well as some of the internal processes we have raised issue with in regards to the practices employed by inspectors on farms.

2022 also saw the return of our Queen’s Park Beef Barbecue, which had not been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The BFO Board

Meetings with MPs, MPPs, and political staff.

Hosted over 500 MPPs, legislative and bureaucratic staff as part of our 15th Annual Queen’s Park BBQ.

of Directors and staff proudly served an all-Ontario meal featuring Ontario Corn Fed Beef to 500 attendees over lunch. BFO representatives also took part in 17 separate MPP meetings, including individual meetings with four ministers and Premier Ford where we discussed the need for increased investment in the Risk Management Program, protecting grazing and pasture lands, initiating a full review of the PAWS Act, and the need for Canada to develop a foot and mouth disease vaccine bank to help respond to a potential future outbreak.

BFO also rang the alarm with the province over the reduction of deadstock pickup and disposal services as a result of the pullback announced by Atwood Resources. In collaboration with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, BFO was able to convince OMAFRA to provide a grant to the Livestock Research and Innovation Corporation (LRIC) to investigate policy and program options that would help address deadstock pickup and disposal service gaps in the province, a project that is anticipated

to be completed in the spring of 2023. BFO participated in several meetings with the province, waste disposal companies, Atwood, and other stakeholders such as municipal landfill sites and oversight bodies in an attempt to find solutions to this issue. We expect continued focus on this issue will occur in 2023 with partner organizations, the province, and LRIC.

BFO also co-authored a report in 2022 outlining the rising rate of cattle condemnations in the province, specifically at provincially inspected abattoirs. In collaboration with Meat and Poultry Ontario, Veal Farmers of Ontario, and the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, we struck a working group with OMAFRA’s meat inspection branch to find solutions. This group met a number of times over the course of the year and, to OMAFRA’s credit, a number of proposed improvements are in the works to be implemented in 2023 in an attempt to ensure better consistency in assessments, and to better align with the processes employed by CFIA

at federally inspected plants. The report BFO co-authored provided data that clearly showed a disparity in condemnation rates between the two meat inspection systems, with the federal system producing far fewer condemnations of cattle compared to the provincial system.

Advocacy activities surrounding access to veterinary services also occurred throughout the year. BFO continued to participate in the Veterinary Medicine and Beef Farming Sector Working Group created to discuss how best to solve access to large animal veterinary care in historically and newly underserved areas of the province. A strategy document was formalized in 2022 to guide our collective actions in response to this issue.

Government consultation submissions across five different ministries, departments and agencies.

In addition, BFO was pleased to support the proposal put forward by the University of Guelph and Lakehead University that would train 20 per cent more veterinarians annually with targeted recruitment from northern and rural areas through a collaborative DVM in Rural and Northern Community Practice Program. We hope to see this proposal supported by the province and the College of Veterinarians of Ontario soon. BFO also provided recommendations in response to the Veterinarians Act public consultation included in the new red tape reduction bill tabled by the province in November. Finally, BFO was very pleased to see a commitment by the province in the new Grow Ontario strategy for the development of a new Veterinary Incentive Program that we hope to see launched in 2023.

Heading into the fall, concerns began to ramp up regarding the introduction of

Funding Commitments that Support Ontario’s Beef Farmers and Beef Sector

electronic logs for livestock transporters, and conflicts with the humane transport regulations under the Health of Animals Act. Provincial and federal livestock groups, as well as livestock transporters, began to lobby Transport Canada to take immediate steps to harmonize Canadian regulations for live animal transport with the U.S. legislation. Our position remains that Canadian regulations have put livestock transporters in the impossible position of either complying with hours-of-service regulations or doing what they know is best for the humane and safe transportation of live animals. As a result, the coalition of farm groups that BFO is a part of has called on the federal government to create regulatory flexibility so that transporters can safeguard the welfare

of the livestock being transported due to unforeseen delays during transport, which cause drivers to go over duty hours. We continue to work on this issue with CCA, the Ontario Livestock Transporters Alliance, and others.

Federally, BFO remains concerned with the lack of progress on the SRM removal requirement file. We continue to press CCA and MPs to expedite these discussions in pursuit of harmonization with U.S. practices. Unfortunately, progress has been slow despite the significant cost the existing rules create for Canadian producers and packers, relative to our U.S. counterparts.

$111,213

Up to $9 million for the Livestock Veterinary Innovation Initiative and the proposed Veterinary Improvement Program, and up to $95,900 to LRIC to investigate deadstock pickup and disposal options.

in direct funding to BFO to support export development and antimicrobial resistance projects for the Ontario beef sector.

$5 million was made available in the 2022 Ontario Budget to address potential meat processing capacity challenges via the set-aside program, and $35 million to support food processing capacity in Ontario.

Up to $55,000 to BFO to support the provincial supervision of the feeder cattle loan guarantee program.

$200 million announced by the federal government to establish the Indo-Pacific Strategy for the agri-food sector, a key region for Ontario/Canadian beef exports.

Finally, BFO and our partners at the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition (OASC) continue to press the province to increase the investment in the Ontario Risk Management Program (RMP). OASC held numerous meetings throughout the year with Minister Thompson, and other key decision makers in finance, treasury, and the Premier’s Office to promote the program and the need for additional funds. As part of this work, OASC commissioned a report on RMP to assess the return on taxpayer investment into the program, and the impact the program has on individual farm operations to help justify our request for additional funds.

Highlights from the study include:

• Every dollar spent on RMP returns between $2.01 - $3.60 to the provincial economy.

• Over 47,000 full-time, parttime and seasonal farm jobs are supported by RMP investment.

• Respondents found that lenders view producers enrolled in the program more favorably.

• Total RMP claims exceeded the available allocation by 82-130 per cent between 2016 – 2020.

• In 2021, OASC commodities accounted for $10.6 billion in farm cash receipts and contributed $22.7 billion to Ontario GDP in farm products, food manufacturing, and retail. This activity accounted for approximately 333,000 jobs in Ontario.

This ROI study was completed in the summer and promoted broadly throughout the fall months at a number of key political events. We would encourage all members to reach out to their local MPP to request that funding be increased for this important program. In 2022, OASC remained committed to the request for an additional $100 million in annual contributions, which would bring total annual program spending to $250 million.

In addition to what has been covered in this report, BFO was actively engaged in a number of land use consultations in 2022, and provided recommendations to the province in the development of the proposed interprovincial meat trade pilot.

While significant financial commitments and policy, program, and regulatory improvements were made that benefit the Ontario beef sector in 2022, we continue to press government and regulators on a number of other files and issues of importance. As always, we strongly encourage all local associations and members to engage directly with their elected officials on issues impacting the beef cattle business. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us for assistance with those meetings.

Policy & Program Achievements

for corporations.

Increased claim threshold for reasonable care plans from five claims to 10, under the Wildlife Damage Compensation Program.

Repealed Health Canada’s ground beef labelling requirements.

Obtained commitment to begin review discussions with the livestock sector in regards to the PAWS Act.

Entered into formal negotiations with the Solicitor General on the development of a BFO-SolGen MOU to help guide joint welfare visits on Ontario beef farms.

Feeder Finance loan limits increased from $500,000 to $1 million, and to $1.5 million

RESEARCH & INNOVATION

The 2020-2023 BFO Research Program saw the organization fund 11 different research projects ranging from forage production to antimicrobial use and resistance. BFO was able to obtain excellent research data from these projects for both the advancement of best management practices and to assist the organization in our lobby efforts. One project that wrapped up in 2022 was led by Dr. Claudia Wagner-Riddle, which investigated the whole net carbon footprint of the Ontario cattle

Research Achievements

industry and the important work our producers are doing in sequestering carbon via our pasture lands. Another project that is wrapping up in early 2023 is a project from Dr. Pensini out of the University of Guelph that investigated different bio-materials that could replace traditional plastic products that producers use to wrap bales and cover bunks. All research program final reports can be found on the BFO website.

As the current research program concludes, the organization is in the middle of the next research call that is slated to fund research projects for the next three years. BFO has comitted to an investment of $645,000 over the next three years (2023-26) in beef research here within the province. Our research program is guided by the BFO Research Strategy that was recently updated. It focuses on the main themes of Environmental Sustainability, Animal Health, Economic Sustainability, Forage and Feed Production, and Food Safety. Any research funded by BFO has both economic benefits for producers

and a Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) plan to ensure research information gets in the hands of our members.

Ontario Beef Research Centre

BFO is delighted to inform our members that all parts of the Ontario Beef Research Centre are now operational. BFO Directors and Advisory Councillors had the privilege to tour the facility in November during BFO’s Fall Meeting. The facility has the ability to hold 288 cows, 190 replacement heifers, and 288 feedlot animals. The property has also updated its 121 hectares of pasture land, added four laboratory spaces, including a sample storage lab and a clean lab for genomics research, four animal care and handling facilities with five top-of-the-line hydraulic chutes, and 280 digital feed intake monitoring systems. The Ontario Beef Research Centre facility is now open for group tours through the University of Guelph.

Funded 11 different research projects ranging from forage production to antimicrobial use and resistance.

All facilities of the Ontario Beef Research Centre are now operational.

BFO has committed to an investment of $645,000 for the next three years (2023-26) in beef research.

Canadian Beef Goals 2030

BFO continues to support the goals of the Canadian Beef Advisors and the development and iterations of Canada’s National Beef Strategy.

The Canadian beef industry is working to improve water and soil quality, support the health and safety of all people throughout the supply chain, improve beef quality, and incorporate technology to strengthen farmers’ bottom lines. Building upon five-year goals that were outlined in the 20202024 National Beef Strategy, the industry has now identified a suite of ambitious ten-year goals that will provide positive and clear messaging about the process to continually improve practices, product quality, enhance natural environments and utilize technologies to benefit people health, safety and profitability.

These goals will be used by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) to inform the update of their Sustainability Strategy. They will

also inform the Beef Cattle Research Councils (BCRC) update of the National Beef Research and Extension Strategy for 2023-28. As well as, positioning the Canadian beef industry as part of the solution on these topics, rather than the problem, in Ottawa. In setting these goals, industry is aiming to build government and public support for beef

production and its activities through a clear consistent message that addresses the challenges faced head on while also communicating its benefits.

For more information, visit beefstrategy.com

Ontario Beef Magazine

Ontario Beef was published five times in 2022 (February, May, August, October and December) and distributed to approximately 16,000 of BFO’s members, industry partners, MPs and MPPs. The magazine provides BFO members and industry stakeholders with timely information, updates on current industry issues, upcoming events, market statistics and more. We continue to update our circulation database to better reflect our active and current membership data, with the goal of ensuring all active members of BFO are receiving this publication. If you have had interruptions in receiving Ontario Beef, please contact the BFO office to verify your complete mailing address.

Bull-etin Board E-Newsletter

The Bull-etin Board e-newsletter was issued weekly to our subscribers in 2022. The e-newsletter captures the headlines of the week, news releases, upcoming events and weekly market information. If you would like to receive The Bull-etin Board in your inbox, please visit the homepage of BFO’s website to sign up.

Social Media

BFO’s social media platforms continue to keep our members informed of the latest news, events and opportunities within the beef industry. We are currently active on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, posting daily to our social channels. Our

following continues to grow, and we are always focused on increasing our engagement and reach with our members.

Industry Updates and Breaking News

To expand our reach, we worked diligently in 2022 to increase contact with our members through important industry updates and breaking news sent direct by email from BFO. While this is similar to the Bull-etin Board e-newsletter, the information through this channel is shared as it happens and provides background on issues in more detail impacting the beef sector.

Sharecost Program

The Sharecost Program continues to provide financial support to BFO’s local associations for their hosted producer and consumer engagement activities. In 2022, 35 local

associations received a total return of just over $97,000. Local associations continue to find new ways to reach consumers in their communities, and to connect and inform their local producers. Qualifying producer applications in 2022 included youth programs and scholarships, and educational workshops, while consumer activities included generous support of local food banks throughout the province, engaging consumers at agriculture awareness events and advertisement campaigns with both radio and newspapers.

Sponsorship, Partnerships & Events

BFO continued to support a number of groups and initiatives in 2022:

• 4-H Ontario

• AgScape

• AALP Dream Gala

• Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario

• Farm & Food Care Ontario

• Feed Ontario

• Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund

• Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week

• Livestock Research Innovation Corporation

• OAC Beef Science Club

• Ontario Federation of Agriculture

• Ontario Forage Council

• Ontario Legislature Internship Programme

• Ontario Outstanding Young Farmers’ Award

• University of Guelph, College Royal

• University of Guelph, Veterinary Scholarships

• Youth Events and Cattle Shows

Lending a Helping Hand

In 2014, BFO and Feed Ontario created an Ontario Beef Program to ensure familyfarmed, nutritious Ontario beef is available to all Ontarians. The program continues to provide Ontario food banks with fresh ground beef to support people facing hunger. Since the program’s inception, the Ontario Beef Program has provided over 340,000 servings of fresh Ontario beef to local and community food banks to support folks and families across the province.

At Farm & Food Care Ontario’s Harvest

Gala in November, BFO was honoured to be named as the recipient of the Paul Mistele Award, and we gratefully acknowledge the

286,187

VISITS TO WWW.ONTARIOBEEF.COM

Market data is the number one reason why folks visit our site.

partnership we have established over the years with Feed Ontario.

Unfortunately, now more than ever, Ontarians are struggling to absorb the increased cost of goods and services, including food. We continue to be committed to our beef program to supply food banks with ground beef, and finding ways in which we can help address food security to support our communities and those in need across the province.

The Paul Mistele Memorial Award recognizes agricultural partners who have shown a significant and enduring commitment to ending hunger in Ontario.

PRODUCER ENGAGEMENT

With the return to in-person events, 2022 was an exciting year for BFO’s producer engagement team to connect with beef farmers across the province. The highlight of the year was hosting three in-person tours: the Feedlot Management School in June, and two events in August - the Ontario Beef Youth Alliance (OBYA) Summer Tour and the Cow-Calf Management Tour.

The Feedlot Management School was hosted in conjunction with the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association and featured tours of four progressive feedlots in Southwestern Ontario, along with speaker sessions on feedlot health, financial risk management, and Ontario Beef marketing.

The OBYA began in 2021 and now has more than 170 people between the ages of 18-35 subscribed to the group. We were thrilled to host our first inperson event for this new group, which featured a tour of the Kawartha Ethanol Plant, and three integrated beef farms in Hastings/Prince Edward County.

We encourage anyone who is interested in becoming a member of the OBYA to visit the BFO website to subscribe. Members must have an active interest in the Ontario beef industry, but do not need to be BFO check-off paying members.

The Cow-Calf Management Tour was hosted in beautiful Simcoe County with tours of four innovative beef farms. With a focus on pasture management and rotational grazing, this event was approved as a Knowledge Sharing Event (KSE) for the On Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF). We had a fantastic turn out for these summer tours, and we are looking forward to doing more in 2023.

In January 2022, in conjunction with OMAFRA, the University of Guelph, and Beef@Guelph, we hosted a virtual Beef Symposium. With this joint group, we also hosted a new in-person event called Beef Day at Guelph in November. This event showcased current research, carcass evaluation in the University of Guelph meat lab, and a tour of

the Ontario Beef Research Centre. Following that event, BFO hosted an OBYA dinner and farm tour to continue the networking.

Grazing Cover Crops webinars were hosted in conjunction with OMAFRA and Ontario Sheep Farmers (OSF) in November, and BFO supported the Advance Grazing Sessions with Ontario Forage Council. A webinar was organized with CFIA for a discussion on the federal transportation regulations in March. In The Know Mental Health workshops were also offered to our members. The producer engagement team continued to speak and provide support at many industry meetings, Farm & Food Care Ontario’s culinary tours, and BFO consumer events and tradeshows.

The producer engagement team continued to support and promote quality assurance programming through the provincial delivery of the Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program. With the goal to increase the supply of

Ontario certified sustainable calves for Ontario certified sustainable feedlots, we administered the Ontario Beef Quality Assurance Rebate Incentive Program, which helps offset VBP+ audit costs for our members. We also hosted a webinar with the bovine veterinarian community to increase the awareness of the VBP+ program, and continued to offer webinar training for the VBP+ program.

The Rural Ramble on the Road video series is another way we engage with our members. As always, we welcome feedback and suggestions on how we can continue to bring value to our members, and we thank you for your continued engagement with our activities.

Producer Engagement Achievements

Hosted the Feedlot Management School together with the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, which attracted over 125 producers.

Hosted the Cow-Calf Management Tour in Simcoe County, which attracted over 40 producers.

Hosted the Ontario Beef Youth Alliance Summer Tour, which attracted over 25 producers. Met again with this group in the fall in conjunction with the Beef Day @ Guelph event at the University of Guelph.

72 in attendance for the Beef Day @ Guelph event hosted together with OMAFRA and the University of Guelph.

Met with the veterinarian community to share the mechanics of the Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program.

170 OBYA members and counting!

Administered the Ontario Beef Quality Assurance Rebate Incentive Program and provided a 100 per cent rebate on VBP+ audit fees to first-time operations.

OBYA SUMMER TOUR

FEEDLOT MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT

The Ontario Beef brand supports all Ontario beef industry stakeholders by laying the foundation for the promotion of ALL Ontario beef products and the entire industry. Our focus is entirely on Ontario consumers and our efforts support the Ontario Beef Market Development Program, as well as individual farmers, brands, retailers, etc. As a reminder, 25 cents of the $1.50 check-off increase, implemented in November 2019, stays with BFO to support producer and consumer engagement activities. 2022 saw us build on the great momentum we established the year before.

In short, 2022 was a banner year for our consumer engagement efforts. Working with an enhanced budget for our activities, we were able to expand some of our existing activities, as well as undertake a couple of largerscale projects. While our budget was enhanced, it’s important to note that, in the realm of marketing and advertising dollars, our budget was still modest. As a result, remaining crafty to ensure we

got the most out of every dollar spent was a priority. While we did see the return of some in-person events, we kept our plans mostly focused online and were able to execute our digital media strategy with excellent results again this past year.

2022 was a busy year and we continued with our “simmer and boil” approach for our work. This means a continual stream of content and activity happening throughout the year (simmering), but at certain points, we ramped up to a boil to execute our two large-scale campaigns, as well as our other big projects. The following is the re-cap of the work we undertook in 2022.

To build on the good news stories about beef and the environment, we extended our 2021 environmental public relations campaign through March 2022, undertook a high-profile influencer campaign focused on sustainability, and used our enhanced podcast advertising to further the message.

When the PR campaign wrapped, we had received 152 pieces of media coverage as part of the efforts and over 45 million impressions. For reference, our target was 15 million impressions at the outset of the campaign. While the focus was on earned media (ideas we pitch to media), we incorporated some paid media to complement. We had paid coverage in MacLean’s magazine, the Toronto Star and Toronto Life. Capping off the campaign success was an op-ed piece by then-BFO President Rob Lipsett, which was picked up by the Financial Post, syndicated across 87 outlets, run in the print edition of the National Post that day, and garnered over 15 million impressions…on its own. This was a huge win. Having an oped picked up by a major daily paper is considered public relations gold.

New last year was our high-profile influencer campaign, which aimed to build on the PR campaign and increase the good news content around beef and the environment. We invited three influencers to each tour a beef farm and

learn more about farming and how the farmers are stewarding the land. They each then created content to share what they learned with their followers in a way that resonated with their respective audiences. When we talk about “high-profile influencers,” we are talking about folks who have follower counts significantly higher than average. Collectively, the three we worked with have over 4.4 million followers across their channels. For this project we worked with Wallace Wong (a wellknown Food Network personality), Sarah from Nutrient Matters (a blogger and TikToker focused on adding more nutrients to average meals), and Michael Rizzi (a lifestyle influencer, content creator and LGBTQ+ advocate). All three created great content and generated lots of discussion on their respective channels. All together, the campaign generated over 2.2 million impressions.

A big THANK YOU goes out to the Swain family, the Sickle family and Sandra Vos for hosting their visitors and providing excellent, info-packed tours.

The folks at all three farms are awesome ambassadors for the environmental benefits of beef farming in Ontario.

With statistics still heavily favouring podcast advertising, we expanded our podcast advertising in 2022 to include two three-month flights. A total of three ad spots were read by music personality Alan Cross who hosts Ongoing History of New Music. The ads aired on Alan’s show as well as other podcasts across the Corus network. The first flight ran from June 1st to August 31st and focused on continuing to reiterate the environmental message while also talking about summer and BBQ season. The second flight ran two ad spots from October 1st to December 31st and focused more on comfort food and cold weather cooking while also reiterating the sustainability message. When the final numbers came in, our ads made over 2 million impressions for the year. Another great win!

In 2022, we tried our hand at some video advertising. We created and

launched two 15-second videos, both centering around the theme “Great Taste is Closer than You Think”. The opening visuals suggest the meal is taking place in London, UK or Paris, France, before quickly transitioning to show the delicious meals are in London and Paris, Ontario. The idea is to remind folks great tasting beef can be found right in their own backyard. The video ads ran as YouTube and Connected TV ads for five weeks in the fall. If you were streaming on YouTube or through ConnectedTV devices (AppleTV, Roku,

Amazon Fire, Smart TV, etc.), you might have caught them.

While TV advertising is incredibly expensive – we’re talking $400K+ for one 30-second spot to air for four weeks on a very select number of

companies for some cross-promotion. This year’s partners were: The Honest Potato, Red Tape Brewery, and Good Grief Coffee. Each product pairs well with Ontario beef in multiple ways and the companies all value social responsibility, which is important

channels at a specific time of day –digital video ads offer a fantastic and more cost-effective alternative. Our two spots generated over 9 million impressions. The top audience was adults aged 25-44 and the top shows where our ads were shown were Big Brother Canada, Chopped Canada, Saturday Night Live, Top Chef Canada and, interestingly, Young & the Restless, to name a few. Our plan is to repurpose these ads again in the 2023 plan to get more mileage for our dollars spent.

Our BBQ Battle returned in the summer with the theme of Crazy for Kabobs. Andrew Gunadie was back as host again, and our four competitors battled it out for kabob supremacy, and the community was highly engaged for a chance to win a BBQ prize pack. Ultimately, it was a Greek-inspired kabob featuring grilled watermelon and Halloumi cheese as the accompaniments to the Ontario beef, that took the crown.

Our final campaign was our Local Flavour campaign. We again partnered with three Ontario food and beverage

to BFO and has resonated with our audiences.

Between the BBQ Battle and the Local Flavour campaigns, we garnered over 10 million impressions collectively.

Last year also saw the return of some in-person events after the COVIDinduced hiatus. We were able to visit with the public at two Breakfast from the Farm events hosted by Farm and Food Care Ontario (FFCO), and a Source Local event co-hosted by FFCO and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture using our outdoor booth set-up. All three were wellattended. Both the Canadian National

Exhibition (CNE) and Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF) were back in person as well. Visitors were excited to be back at both events, and given we gave out virtually all promo items we had by the end of both events, it is safe to say our booth was a popular stop. A big thank you to everyone who volunteered their time to help at the booth at each event. Not only do folks like the opportunity to chat with “real farmers”, but we also really appreciate the support. The CNE in particular would not have been possible in 2022 without the volunteers. Given every meeting and event postponed due to COVID-19 was seemingly rescheduled for August 2022, which saw our staff and directors scattered all over the place and not able to be at the CNE, we couldn’t have done it without you. THANK YOU!

In October, we had the opportunity to collaborate with a group called The Chef Collective to be the title sponsor of their Chef Battle in Toronto. The battle brought together well-known

THE CHEF COLLECTTIVE BATTLE

celebrity chefs, foodies, tv personalities, and influencers from across the GTA for an evening of chef competition where Ontario beef was the star of the show. We received great publicity as part of the promotions both leading up to and after the event, and our logo was splashed all over the venue the night of. Several BFO staff were invited to attend the evening, and Executive Director Richard Horne was invited to bring greetings during the competition. We also had the marketing agency there to capture footage, photos and interviews to further enhance our return on investment. It was a fantastic event to be part of, and one we will consider again in the future.

Building our library of videos and photography was also a priority. We completed production of a video featuring our 2022 TESA winner, the Grey-Dufferin Community Pasture. Pasture Manager, Mike Swidersky and pasture board director, Don Hargrave, did a fabulous job explaining the pasture and all of the great environmental work it is contributing to the community. We had an opportunity to visit three farm families to do some photography of them, their cattle and their operations. The photos are wonderful and you will start to see those pop up in our work over the next little while. Thank you to the Dibble, Reinhart and Chaffe families for being great hosts and models.

Traffic to the consumer website continues to increase steadily. We continued to drive traffic to the site as part of the call to action for our campaign work. We had over 33,000 visits to the website in 2022, and 93 per cent of the visitors were first-time visitors to the site. We continue to update the site regularly to ensure it remains fresh and new content is highlighted. We are in the process of

creating a social responsibility section where we can showcase the work we do in the community to complement the rest of our content. Our beef cuts page, recipes and store locator remain the most popular stops for visitors to the website. We continue to promote the store locator for butchers, retailers and farmers marketing direct. Currently, there are over 150 retailers included in the locator, and we recognize there are still many others who may wish to be included in the listings. An application is available from the BFO office for those wishing to have their retail business added to the map. On that note, there continues to be a number of promotional items and resources available through the office. Many of these items are well-suited for retail settings and events. Contact the office if you are interested in materials for promoting Ontario Beef.

We have continued to strengthen our relationship with AgScape to work on getting our beef messaging in front of students. Throughout 2022, our beef resource, An Exploration of Beef Farming in Ontario, was the most-requested resource at AgScape. Touching on various subject areas from health and physical education to social studies, science, careers, and technology, the resource aims to provide an overview of the practices involved in the production of beef in Ontario from farm to table.

We also increased our overall support for AgScape to help them further deliver on their mandate to bring accurate and balanced information

about farming and food production to classrooms across the province.

It truly was a banner year for our consumer engagement efforts. When we look at all of our 2022 activities, collectively, our content made over 80 million impressions. Looking to 2023, our mission will be to continue building momentum. We have some great plans in the works, guided in part by results we received from a research check-in we conducted at the end of the year. The research shows we have definitely made some headway in terms of brand recognition, but we still have work to do when you compare our 40 per cent brand awareness to Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s 70 per cent, for example. Based on the data, we are also contending with price as the primary factor driving choices at the checkout. We will put a focus on promoting those more affordable cuts in our activities to help combat that, while continuing to work to increase awareness of Ontario beef and the great environmental benefits of beef farming.

ONTARIO BEEF MARKET DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

While the first half of 2022 continued to be impacted by COVID-19, the marketplace started to see some optimism towards the last half of the year.

With the worst of the pandemic behind us, packers were able to operate with less operational challenges, and supply chains were able to operate more efficiently once again.

More market partners were open to moving ahead with the business of growing beef demand.

The foodservice sector began to see a return to more normal operations and consumers were starting to become more comfortable dining out.

One of the long-term impacts of the pandemic-related supply chain disruptions was an increase in U.S. beef imports in the Ontario market. With the disruption in the packing sector in Ontario, many distributors had to commit to U.S. supply to keep up with

customer demands.

Imports of U.S. beef increased 4 per cent over 2021 volumes in the January to October period. U.S. beef is considered as equivalent to Canadian beef when comparing quality attributes of both products.

The key focus of the Ontario Beef Market Development Program is to provide tangible and unique points of differentiation of Ontario beef compared to these primary alternatives. With the benefit of two full years in the market place, promoting the awareness and recognition for high quality, locally raised Ontario Beef the list of potential partners has increased.

As 2022 came to an end, there are

currently 34 active projects underway in our project portfolio in various stages of completion from initial draft concepts, advanced discussions to ongoing support. 25 of those projects are focused on the Ontario market with another 13 projects being implemented in 10 export markets. Projects are being completed by various sectors within the industry including, retail, foodservice, processing, packers, producers, industry associations and academic institutions. Many of these projects include working with Ontario packers, both federal and provincial to enhance their ability to market Ontario beef. Some of that work is focused on developing a supply of cattle and verification processes; providing technical support; and establishing supply chain connections with end-use customers. The active

project portfolio is reviewed with the Joint Marketing Committee during their quarterly meetings.

The priority focus in 2022 was on existing partners and maintaining their commitment to Ontario beef and protecting Ontario beef’s share of the marketplace.

Increasing the Share of Ontario Beef in the Ontario Market

We are fortunate to have committed retail and foodservice partners who have maintained their commitment to Ontario beef throughout the pandemic.

We continue to focus on providing support to those partners in the retail and foodservice sectors who have stood by Ontario beef farmers and maintain their brand commitments.

One of the key aspects of a successful market development program, is building long-term partnerships over time.

In the foodservice sector, we have focused on developing important relationships with Ontario-based distributors like Flanagan’s, Morton’s and The Butcher Shoppe. These distributors provide reach across the entire province for Ontario beef.

Flanagan’s Foodservice continues to build on their CARVE Premium Ontario Beef program.

“Flanagan’s Foodservice maintains a strong commitment to our CARVE Premium Ontario Beef program. We continue to stand by Ontario beef farming families and work closely with Ontario Beef to grow our customer base and provide our sales team with a unique brand of high quality, locally sourced Ontario beef,” says, Chris Cowan, Category Manager for Flanagan’s Foodservice.

One new program was developed over the course of 2022. Morton’s

Foodservice, an Ontario-owned full line distributor based in Windsor has launched their Morton’s Grassroots Ontario Beef Program, which is sourced from beef raised on Ontario family farms and processed at Ontario facilities.

Morton’s Foodservice is an Ontarioowned independent distributor that supplies over 6,500 food and beverage products to some of Ontario’s finest restaurants.

“The foodservice distribution industry in Ontario is dominated by very large U.S.-owned broad line distributors,” says Jean Beauchemin, Director of Marketing at Morton’s. “Because of the highvolume scale of these operations, locally sourced food products are often not available.”

“We see our partnership with Ontario Beef as a long standing mutually beneficial relationship. It is an opportunity to further define a

competitive advantage against our major competitors by developing a locally sourced beef program that features high-quality Ontario beef, raised on Ontario family farms and processed in Ontario,” says Beauchemin.

“This program also provides an opportunity to help us work better with Ontario packers by clearly outlining what process and claims we must deliver. Due to our smaller scale, it is important we move away from selling on price and strictly commodity beef.”

As an Ontario company, Morton’s believes it is important to support our local communities and Ontario’s economy. Supporting local farmers and food processors is an aspect of their commitment to social responsibility.

“Our Ontario Grass Roots Program is designed to minimize the environmental impact of food distribution in the province. By purchasing products made and grown in Ontario, we’re able to decrease overall transportation requirements, reduce the use of fossil fuels and lower our carbon footprint. We are able to provide superior quality Ontario products while building strong relationships throughout the supply chain. What’s more, products grown closer to where they are consumed taste way better,” says Beauchemin.

Ontario Corn Fed Beef

AAA Top Sirloin Steak was featured at Chuck’s Roadhouse, a leading steakhouse chain with over 60 locations across the province. Having a high-volume partner like Chuck’s Roadhouse provides tremendous

exposure for high-quality Ontario beef across the province.

Loblaws continues to be the retail leader in their commitment to the Ontario Corn Fed Beef brand. Loblaws and their affiliate banners (Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstore, Loblaws) utilize a feature ad that appears in their digital flyer showing their commitment to Ontario Corn Fed Beef and their support for Ontario beef farmers. Banners including Valu-Mart and Independent continue to include the Ontario Corn Fed Beef logo in their weekly flyers.

Enjoy Some Local Flavour is the focus of our new point of sale materials for retail stores and butcher shops across the province. The new materials are designed to be catchy, colourful and promote high-quality locally produced Ontario beef. The materials were designed to align with the consumer engagement activities promoted on the ontbeef.ca website

Regional Brand Marketing While the priority focus is to develop large-scale programs that deliver the highest return on check-off investment, which benefits a broader producer base, we have maintained programs that serve producers who are interested in marketing direct to consumers. The Regional Brand Marketing Program provides technical support to producers, it also makes cost-shared funding available to small scale producers

who are interested in marketing activities to support their Ontario beef sales. The program has been communicated throughout various BFO communications and details are available on the BFO website under Programs.

Many farm-based operations also include other animal protein species including pork, poultry and lamb which make it difficult to qualify for beef

check-off funding support as check-off dollars can only directly support beef marketing initiatives.

One producer driven program that has seen strong growth is Van Osch Farms. “Our direct-to-consumer business is starting to grow,” says Brendon Van Osch. “We wanted to be able to tell a story about our family farm and the relationship we have with our local abattoir enables us to provide our beef to our local community.”

Engagement with Industry

Tradeshows provide an opportunity to engage with key industry representatives. In 2022, we participated in the Restaurants Canada Show, Grocery Innovations Canada events, as well as the Meat & Poultry

Ontario Expo. These events provide access to key decision makers in the retail and processing sectors, and an opportunity to enhance their awareness of Ontario beef and introduce supply chain possibilities.

Ontario Beef was also a primary sponsor of the Ontario’s Finest Butcher Competition. This annual event has grown to 18 competitors from all across the province. The event provided an opportunity to interact with and provide educational resources to the competitors, which highlight the uniqueness and overall quality of Ontario beef.

Adding Value to Ontario Beef Through Quality Assurance

This is one of the strategic objectives of the Ontario Beef Market Development Program. Producer participation in a recognized quality assurance program can provide many opportunities for financial incentives based on market demand.

The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) continues to see increased demand for beef sourced from cattle operations certified to the CRSB standards.

In Ontario, Cargill implements the CRSB standards through their Certified Sustainable Beef Program.

In order for cattle to qualify, all cattle must be registered in an approved quality assurance program from birthto-finish. Increased demand for certified sustainable fed cattle increases demand for calves certified under the Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program. Since 2021, the Ontario Beef Market Development Program has provided funding to BFO to support the Ontario

Beef Quality Assurance Rebate Incentive Program to increase cow-calf participation. Cargill provides incentive credits for cattle certified to meet CRSB standards paid directly to producers in Ontario.

The increase in market demand for CRSB-certified beef means the opportunity for producers to capture value for CRSB eligible cattle continues to increase in all sectors of cattle production.

In 2022, over $59,240 of additional value has been created by producer participation in quality assurance programs through Cargill. The twoyear total of credits paid out to Ontario producers now exceeds $93,000

Farm Credit Canada also provides an additional incentive to their customers to maintain certification to CRSB standards.

Growth in the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Program

In 2022, 323,417 head of cattle were certified under the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Quality Assurance Program. Based on the $3 per head credit paid by packers, the program generated an additional $970,251 to participating producers for maintaining certification in the program.

Combined, the two Ontario quality assurance programs have generated over $1 million in additional revenue to Ontario producers, this is over and above the revenues generated by cattle sales.

Engagement with Ontario Packers

The Ontario Beef Market Development team maintains active engagement with many Ontario packers including

federally and provincially inspected plants to provide market insights and technical assistance that enhance their operations. Some examples of interaction include, consultation on sourcing of funding for expansion opportunities, access to foreign worker programs, regulatory issues, supply chain development, innovative cutting techniques, carcass yield analysis and carcass utilization.

Increasing Share of Ontario Beef in Export Markets

Trade events in many major export markets were back in 2022. Ontario Beef was able to participate in three events throughout Japan at the Foodex, Supermarket Trade Show and the Food Style Okinawa in Japan as well Food & Hotel Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. These events provide access to key decision makers and influencers in our priority export markets and generate awareness around high-quality Ontario beef.

Summer promotional events in the retail supermarkets were once again unable to include in store sampling as a method to promote trial. However, the Ontario Beef team worked with priority retail customers across Japan to promote the high quality of Ontario beef.

Ontario Beef on the Menu at Tokyo Steakhouse

The Soliel Steakhouse, located in Tokyo, now proudly features Ontario beef on their menu. The Soliel Steakhouse is a middle eastern themed restaurant with Halal processed beef as a key attribute. The featured brand is Ontario Heritage Angus Beef.

MARKET INDICATORS

Since 2015, Ontario beef exports have increased in volume by 38,366,618 kg or 57 per cent.

ONTARIO BEEF EXPORTS TO JAPAN - KG

Since 2015, Ontario beef exports have increased in value by $189,923,985 or 59 per cent.

Ontario beef exports to Japan continue to see annual increases with volume up by 8 per cent and value up by 20 per cent over 2021. Since 2015, Ontario beef export volumes to Japan have increased in volume by over 9.9 million kg or 269 per cent, and increased in value by $76,823,586 or 324 per cent.

2.2KG MILLION (in 2022)

$44 MILLION (in 2022)

Ontario beef has made a tremendous comeback in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 2022 is the highest export volume and value on record to this high-valued market. Projected 2022 export value will exceed 2.2 million kg in volume and $44 million in value.

Export Volumes in Priority Markets

Export volumes to other priority markets saw significant increases.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Exports are up 40% in volume and 42% in value.

VIETNAM

Exports are 3% in volume and 24% in value.

SOUTH KOREA

Exports are up 32% in volume and 80% in value.

RETURN ON CHECK-OFF INVESTMENT

Ontario Federal & Provincial Annual Processing Volumes

Data Source: CBGA/Canfax 2022 volumes are preliminary

Federal and provincial processing totals were down 4.5 per cent over 2021, but up 1.92 per cent compared to 2020 volumes. Fed steers were down 0.45 per cent while fed heifers were down 16.32 per cent. Cows were down 3.69 per cent and bull processing was down 75.20 per cent.

With the significant increases in our two highest priority export markets Japan and Saudi Arabia, it demonstrates a clear return on check-off investment. In 2022, total investment for program implementation for all export markets totaled $195,000. These two markets alone achieved increases of over $49 million, providing a return of $245 for every $1 of producer check-off invested. Export markets are an important consideration as they contribute over $900 or 40 per cent of the value of a fed carcass according to the latest data from Canfax Research Services. Export markets provide significant opportunities to increase the overall value of Ontario beef carcasses.

PROJECT EXPENSES

The Ontario Beef Market Development Program is funded by $1.25 of producer check-off investment in Ontario. The annual budget of $1,075,000 was based on BFO projections. Actual expenses in 2022 totalled $992,681.36, which include marketing and promotions, program implementation, project management/contracted services, market intelligence/data services, and administration.

As per the agreement between BFO and the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, a comprehensive third-party assessment of program results generated against performance measures will be conducted to determine the return on investment of the $1.25 per head of Ontario check-off funding allocated to market development. After the analysis of the performance measures at the end of 2023, a decision will be made to continue with the strategy, make revisions to the strategy, or cancel the strategy and reallocate the funding to other marketing initiatives.

The Ontario Beef Market Development Strategy is evaluated annually for return on check-off investment, including project deliverables, expenses and market indicators.

BFO COMMITTEE REPORTS

BFO COW-CALF COMMITTEE

Submitted by Blair Williamson, Chair

The BFO Cow-Calf Committee met one week after the 2022 BFO AGM to review the committee’s terms of reference and elect the committee chair and vice chair. Blair Williamson was selected as the chair, and Kirby Hakkesteegt was selected as the vice chair for 2022-2023. New to the Cow-Calf Committee in 2022 was the addition of a Youth Rep from our new Ontario Beef Youth Alliance (OYBA) program, and Michaela Stoneman was voted in by her OBYA peers to serve in that role.

The Cow-Calf Committee next met in May to review the following:

• Cow-Calf Management Tour program

• VBP+ Program update, including an inventory on audits

• Ontario On-Farm Climate Action Fund update on the incoming

program and how BFO could assist producers by hosting Knowledge Sharing Events (KSE) as attendance to one of these would be required to access the funding

• Humane Animal Transport Regulations and the impact on the Ontario industry from a producer’s point of view, but also a transporter’s view

• An update on the front-of-package labelling issue, and how the industry was going to respond to the proposed Health Canada regulation

The Cow-Calf Committee was invited to the BFO Fall Meeting to provide their input on the issues at hand. Following the meeting, the committee met to review the following issues:

• OSCIA/AAFC Living Labs Project and the possible need for host farms where the research can take place

• The CCA Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA) and the

committee’s recommendation on whom BFO could nominate for the award

• Producer Engagement program development and ideas that the committee feels should be included in next year’s events

• Ontario Wildlife Damage Compensation Program and the shortfalls of the program that impact Ontario’s cow-calf sector

• Ontario Beef Quality Assurance Rebate Incentive Program and the need to support Ontario’s cow-calf sector.

The 2022-2023 BFO Cow-Calf Committee is grateful for the support of the BFO Board of Directors and staff and the opportunity to meet, discuss and provide input on issues and topics affecting the Ontario cow-calf sector.

BFO FEEDLOT COMMITTEE

Submitted by Bob Bennett, Chair

The BFO Feedlot Committee met virtually following the AGM in March 2022 to elect their chair, vice chair, and representatives to BFO’s Cow-Calf Committee, Governance Committee and Government Relations Committee. Members received a presentation from OMAFRA’s beef specialist on recent project activities, and were provided an update on BFO’s lobby efforts, active policy files and producer engagement plans.

The committee met virtually again in May to discuss over-thirty month (OTM) cattle eligibility in the Risk Management Program and the Feedlot Management School program, and were provided updates on changes to the Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee Program, the Health Canada front-of-package labelling proposal for ground beef, Canfax price reporting, and the Agricorp grain corn to silage conversion formula.

2022 COW-CALF COMMITTEE 2022 FEEDLOT COMMITTEE

Blair Williamson, Chair

Don Badour

Brent Cadeau

Jason Desrochers

Gordon Dibble, Feedlot Rep

Kirby Hakkesteegt

Don Hargrave

Jason Hurst

Jason Leblond

Michaela Stoneman, OBYA Rep

Steve Thede, Background Rep

Sandra Vos

In November, a Feedlot Committee meeting took place in person and was held in conjunction with BFO’s Fall Meeting in Guelph. Members were provided a government relations and producer engagement update, discussed the Ontario Beef Quality Assurance Rebate Incentive Program, BFO’s yearling breakeven calculator, the Agricorp grain corn to silage conversion formula, the AgSights Processor Links program and the Canadian Cattle Association TESA award and possible feedlot nominees.

Bob Bennett, Chair

Jack Chaffe

Scott Cochrane

Jason Desrochers, Cow-Calf Rep

Gordon Dibble

Joe Dickenson

Steve Eby

Bill Herron, Background Rep

Scot Legge

David Millsap

Jacob Palmateer, OBYA Rep

Darrell Russett

A brief summary of committee actions and recommendations includes:

• Provided the BFO Board with recommendations for continuing and expanding the Ontario Beef Quality Assurance Rebate Incentive Program;

• Continue to engage with Agricorp regarding the grain corn to silage conversion formula;

• Provided recommendations on the format, agenda and speakers for the Feedlot Management School.

ONTARIO FEEDER CATTLE LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM

The demand for the Ontario Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee program continues to grow, and the co-ops continue to adjust to new limits and refinements in the Order in Council.

• Co-ops have negotiated with their lenders as to the number of loans per member and identification of cattle.

• In February 2022, with the support of government, the BFO Board, staff and the BFO Feeder Finance Executive Committee were successful in securing an increase in loan limits to $1 million for individuals and $1.5 million for corporations.

• Long-standing concerns with regards to the legal, equitable and beneficial ownership of the cattle have been clarified by the Canadian Revenue Agency. The members and co-ops can continue to account for cattle inventory and loans as they have in the past.

• OMAFRA is not supportive of the concept of a feeder co-op delivering the breeder program. This would have been a financial benefit for some of the smaller co-ops with a need for both programs in the area but a limited number of producers to draw members from.

• Discussions with OMAFRA will continue with regards to limiting the impact of a call on the guarantee on non-defaulting members and the proposed changes to the Innkeepers Act.

As the chart indicates, 2022 was record-setting. We purchased the most cattle through the program in 32 years. There was over $166 million worth of cattle funded with about 30 less members. Average total loans per member outstanding at the end of the year was $229,622 compared to $179,007 a year ago. This translates to a 28 per cent increase of which about 15 per cent can be contributed to the increase in cattle prices. This record-setting activity confirms the changes negotiated by BFO and the co-ops were needed by the industry.

ADVANCE PAYMENTS PROGRAM

The interest-free component of the Advance Payments Program (APP), which is offered by BFO via the feeder co-ops, was well used by producers after Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Minister Bibeau increased the interestfree component from $100,000 to $250,000. In the past, members have utilized about $24 million in interest-free loans in 12 months, and currently in the first nine months, we have utilized over $48 million. The increase in prime rate from 2.45 per cent in early March to 6.45 per cent has been a real incentive for folks to do more business through the co-ops to maximize their use of interest-free money. There has also been a 30 per cent increase in the number of members using the APP program as one of their management strategies.

For a complete listing of local feeder and breeder co-ops in Ontario, visit www.ontariobeef.com

ONTARIO BEEF BREEDER PROGRAM

There are seven active breeder co-ops across the province and one co-op that is unfortunately in the process of winding down. In the fall of 2022, across the province, there were a tremendous number of bred heifer and cow sales at local auction markets. The success of these sales, many of which are yearly sales, was due to cow-calf producers seeking local replacement females rather than raising their own. Many buyers are also using the Ontario Beef Breeder Program to finance these replacements.

In some areas of the province, we’ve seen younger producers obtaining loans to either get started or to expand their herd. On a recent visit to one such operation, it was a genuine pleasure to hear about their enthusiasm for the industry and the value of their local breeder co-op to their operation.

The average number of females financed per member has remained at 31 head. The average loan amount per active member increased about $1,000. It continues to range between co-ops from about $20,000 to $48,000.

The program reached some highs for membership, cattle inventory and loans four years ago. Since most loans are for five years, the co-ops need to keep new business on the books to be able to continue to operate. Given the strong calf prices, we expect we will see an increase in activity for at least a year.

Ontario Railgrade Steers

Ontario Average Monthly Price

Ontario Live Fed Steers Ontario Average Monthly Price

Monthly Average Warm Carcass Weight Steers

Monthly Average Warm Carcass Weight Heifers

Data Source: Canfax/BFO

Ontario/Alberta Fed Steer Price Spread Dressed Basis

Ontario/Alberta Fed Steer Price Spread -Dressed Basis

per hundred pounds

Ontario/U.S. Fed Steer Price Spread Dressed Basis

-$7.00 $23.00

-$17.00 $13.00

Data Source: USDA/BFO

BFO ANNUAL REPORT 2023 52

2022 5 year Avg- 2017-2021

$33.00 wk 1 wk 3 wk 5 wk 7 wk 9 wk 11 wk 13 wk 15 wk 17 wk 19 wk 21 wk 23 wk 25 wk 27 wk 29 wk 31 wk 33 wk 35 wk 37 wk 39 wk 41 wk 43 wk 45 wk 47 wk 49 wk 51

Canadian Beef

Canadian Beef Imports and Exports

and Export

Ontario Exports of Beef Products to All Countries

Beef Grade Distribution 2022

Note: Canada adopted the US yield grade criteria for youthful cattle in January 2020.

Data Source: CBGA/Graeme Hedley

Canadian Live Cattle Imports and Exports - U.S.

Imports and Exports -U.S. Imports into Canada Exports from Canada

Data Source: Agriculture and Agri Food Canada 2022-Imports-Jan 1-Nov 30

Ontario Live Cattle Exports to the U.S.

Data Source:Canfax/Statistics Canada 2022 values are from Jan 1-Nov 30, 2022

Canadian Live Cattle

INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

Beef Cattle Research Council

Canada Beef

Canadian Beef Check-off Agency

Canadian Cattle Association

Canadian Cattle Identification Agency

Farm & Food Care Ontario

Livestock Research Innovation Corporation

Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association

Ontario Beef Cattle Financial Protection Fund

BEEF CATTLE RESEARCH COUNCIL

Beef Producer National Check-Off Investments in Research

The Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) is Canada’s industry-led funding agency for beef, cattle, and forage research, funded in part through a portion of the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off. The BCRC is led by a 15-member council, comprised of 14 producers representing each of the provincial producer organizations that allocate part of the national check-off to research, plus one member at large.

In 2021/22, the BCRC received on average $0.67 of every $2.50 of the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off collected by the provinces. This funding was leveraged with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Canadian Agricultural Partnership Beef Cluster funding, where industry contributed 34 per cent or $1.3 million, and government contributed 66 per cent or $2.5 million. An additional $5.9 million

in research funding and $800,000 in-kind from government and industry partners was also leveraged using check-off dollars through initiatives outside of the Cluster.

Five-Year Canadian Beef Research and Technology Transfer Strategy

The BCRC and industry partners released a renewed Five-Year Canadian Beef Research and Technology Transfer Strategy in July 2021 to help target funding to high-priority beef research and extension activities. It builds upon the success of previous iterations and complements the National Beef Strategy’s ambitious 10-year goals. To read the Beef Research and Technology Transfer Strategy, visit BeefResearch.ca.

Beef Science Cluster III

Projects funded under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership Beef Science Cluster III run from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2023. This Cluster is a $21.7 million program, with AAFC contributing $14.1 million and BCRC and partners contributing $7.6 million over five years.

Preliminary findings under Cluster III include:

• new alfalfa varieties that can tolerate drought and flood conditions,

• validation that growth promotant residues pose minimal

environmental risks that are further minimized by appropriate manure and runoff management, and

• insight into why some feedlot calves contract pneumonia from Mycoplasma bovis while others do not.

The BCRC and external peer reviewers have developed a portfolio of projects for the Beef Science Cluster IV program. This package has been submitted to AAFC for funding consideration under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. If successful, Cluster IV is expected to commence in 2023.

Priority Research Projects

In addition to projects under Science

Cluster III, the BCRC funds research projects aimed at achieving specific goals of high priority to the beef industry.

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

One example is a project led by Dr. Jessica Gordon (University of Guelph) to establish a baseline for antimicrobial use and resistance in eastern Canadian cow-calf herds. This project is co-funded by Beef Farmers of Ontario and will survey veterinarians regarding changes in veterinary prescribing practices, veterinary and producer attitudes and information needs, on farm herd- and animal-level antibiotic practices and antibiotic resistance. Data will be compared to historical data, and used to evaluate differences in antimicrobial management, identify risk factors for antibiotic use, potential areas to enhance antimicrobial stewardship and reduce antibiotic resistance risk. This research will also help inform the best methods to communicate best management practices. Results are expected in 2024.

Other BCRC-funded priority research projects are exploring:

• improved feed efficiency through individual cow variability in fibre digestibility, feed efficiency and methane emissions,

• reduced supplementation costs through strategic forage selection,

• in-plant validation of harvest processing equipment sanitization best practices, and

• the modes of action of yeast as a direct-fed microbial for feedlot cattle.

BCRC Proof of Concept Informs Research Investment

The BCRC also funds short-term projects to assess the feasibility of research ideas before pursuing larger, more defined research investments. These proof-of-concept (POC) projects are funded jointly by Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off dollars leveraged with government and/or industry partner funding, with some being funded solely by private industry. One POC project led by Dr. Michael Steele (University of Guelph) is investigating whether it is possible to “supercharge” colostrum through pre-partum supplementation. Examples of other BCRC-funded POC projects include:

• selecting for salt tolerant alfalfa and its influence on soil microbes to improve alfalfa performance,

• generating algorithms to predict potential levels of antibiotic resistance to improve individual animal diagnosis and prevent unnecessary antimicrobial use, and

• assessing the value of veterinary guided video necropsies to improve herd health in remote locations.

Building Research Capacity Through Industry-Funded Chairs

The BCRC has supported three research chair positions in partnership with key research institutions and matching industry and government funders. These chairs focus on priority research, teaching students and transferring knowledge to producers. Chairs include:

Dr. Bree Kelln, Beef Industry Integrated Forage Management and Utilization Chair at the University of Saskatchewan;

Dr. Cheryl Waldner, NSERC/BCRC Industrial Research Chair in One Health

and Production-Limiting Diseases at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, and Dr. Gleise M. Silva, BCRC-Hays Chair in Beef Production Systems at the University of Alberta.

Producer Resources and Industry Engagement

The BCRC continues to develop and distribute resources including factsheets, tools, videos, articles, webinars, infographics, and audio-clips.

For example, the Calf 911 series was developed in response to the lack of access to information on early-life calf management. Four videos with associated resources can be found on the Calving and Calf Management page.

The 2022/23 BCRC Webinar Series covers two three-part series on nutrition and record keeping for production management. Both series include perspectives from Eastern experts and producers. Webinars also qualify for continuing education credits for veterinarians and RVTs Canada-wide. Register and watch recordings through BeefResearch.ca.

CANADA BEEF

DOMESTIC MARKET DEVELOPMENT

Canadian Beef Information Gateway

The Canadian Beef Information Gateway (Gateway) launched in Loblaw Companies Ltd. Real Canadian Superstore locations in FQ2. This first partnership with a national retail banner occurred in the debut year of the Canada Beef initiative to keep beef on the dinner plates of consumers.

The first phase, Canadian Beef edition of the Gateway, launched in January 2022 for smaller retailers and those looking for easy to implement solutions. Partner editions of the Gateway were developed for major retailer banners in preparation for pilot launches. Presentation and customized animations created for national retail banners helped communicate Gateway partnership opportunities.

A new database-driven platform for the Gateway provides enhanced capabilities that include automation of content creation; automatic translation; a system to enable partners to manage their own Gateway editions; and incorporation of capabilities to support electronic coupons and promotions.

The Gateway has the potential to share a broad range of consumer-friendly beef information in a digital format that aligns with current consumer behaviour and preferences for information.

Consumer and Digital Marketing

Canada Beef’s social and digital spaces

engage and connect with consumers and producers to build brand loyalty.

From January to November 2022, Canadabeef.ca reported 568,893 active users on the website, and a 28-day average of 61,965. Mobile is the main device used to access Canadabeef.ca with 344,647 (58%) of users. Top landing pages included Oven Roast Know How (104,113), Recipes (78,876), Main landing page (48,801), and Ground Beef Know How (13,595).

Site searches encompassed a combination of recipes and beef cuts: ground beef, Swedish meatballs, sirloin tip roast, inside round, brisket, beef and broccoli and beef stew.

Recipes had over 455,988 page views. Top recipes were for comfort and barbecue foods such as stews, pot roasts, meatballs, smoked brisket, burgers and chili.

Canada Beef had 72,843 followers across seven social networks, a gain of 2,190 new followers. Facebook was the top social network referral site to Canadabeef.ca followed by Pinterest and Instagram.

Canada Beef launched several consumer campaigns to promote the Gateway. This included a contest with Canadian Living, Food & Drink Canada and Globe & Mail insert, and a cross promotion with Furlani Garlic Bread, called Great on the Grill.

The #MyCanadianBeef campaign refresh

to include world cuisine proved popular with Canada Beef’s target audience. Key performance indicators on each platform have exceeded industry benchmarks to date.

Public Trust

Canada Beef partners with CCA to jointly deliver the Public and Stakeholder Engagement (PSE) program, and works with other beef industry groups to address public and consumer concerns about beef production, while also working to support Canadian beef brands.

Membership/collaborative initiatives with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef included articles in the Toronto Star and Cooking by Degrees campaign.

The campaign, published in the Star Metroland family of newspapers, featured recipes submitted by university and college chefs that highlighted their favourite Canadian beef cut. The chefs focused on dishes that featured healthy and affordable ground beef.

The campaign netted two awards from the Canadian Agri-food Marketers Alliance in 2022.

Generic Beef Marketing Funded by the Import Levy

The Import Levy (collected on beef imports at the equivalent rate of $1 per head) provides funding for positive beef messaging across Canada. A recent campaign

with Influencer Ted Reader, also known as “Godfather of the Grill”, earned a total outreach of over 1 million consumers.

Health and Nutrition

The Health and Nutrition team monitors newly released nutrition studies focused on red meat in the diet on an ongoing basis and identifies topics and findings that are of interest to the public, the media and to Canada Beef.

After reviewing the research, the team distills and organizes the information, and finds the pieces that are relevant to Canada Beef. The information helps to update resources and inform research summaries, as well as position papers that provide intelligence to organizations involved in policy work. The findings also serve to inform communications direct to health professionals. The resources are located on the ThinkBeef.ca website.

Work completed this fiscal included resources to help navigate Health Canada’s new front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labelling regulations, and a position paper with the findings of a review of the most recent evidence between red meat consumption and Alzheimer’s disease.

The second edition of ThinkBeef’s Ground Beef Toolkit launched. This comprehensive resource was a key resource for developing proof points and statements in defense of exempting beef from mandatory FOP labelling on saturated fat content. A digital version of the toolkit is available at thinkbeef.ca/groundbeeftoolkit.

Domestic Channel Market

Canada Beef was a sponsor of the Restaurant Canada Show in Toronto featuring a Canadian Beef Pavilion that included four partners. Various advertisements and marketing efforts were utilized to promote the Gateway and

Canadian Beef grading information.

Canada Beef launched a trio of new demand-building resources for retail meat departments to inspire and promote the expansion of beef assortments. Canada Beef developed resources featuring a total of 82 value-cut merchandising solutions to maximize carcass utilization and value optimization. The featured cuts offer value and cost savings to the customer, and the opportunity to build incremental gross profit for retailers.

EXPORT MARKET DEVELOPMENT

The Export Market Development (EMD) Program provides partner funding in five key areas for eligible activities to promote and grow sales of premium quality Canadian beef brands in the export marketplace.

The Export Market Adaptation (EMA) category of the EMD Program helps provide cost-shared support for travel costs of Canadian beef clients in export markets to visit Canada.

For the current fiscal year to date, Canada Beef’s EMD program has approved and provided cost-shared support to Canadian beef exporters and their clients for 12 separate incoming EMA missions from a variety of different markets including Japan, Vietnam, Europe and Mexico.

Additionally, two outgoing export market investigation missions, 15 trade show export market diversification activities, 17 promotion and marketing initiatives and two Competitive Advantage Benchmarking projects have been approved and supported under the program to date.

Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence

The Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence (CBCE) continues to play a key role in communicating the Canadian Beef Advantage across digital platforms to

consumers, students and meat professionals worldwide.

The CBCE can live-stream custom Canadian beef content to suppliers, customers and partners and create digital content to support trade and consumer marketing programs. The CBCE team provides merchandising solutions for retail and foodservice operators, delivers new and exciting eating experiences to customers and consumers, and inspires future industry professionals to seek involvement in the Canadian beef industry.

CBCE participated in a Chefs Federation Conference in Saskatoon and provided beef learning solutions and recovery strategies for operators, culinary educators, distributors and purveyors.

Staffing Update

Shelby VanSickle started as Senior Director, Channel Marketing in FQ3. VanSickle is responsible for leading Canada’s domestic beef marketing strategy for increasing demand, client confidence and competitive position in the Canadian marketplace.

Kelly Hyde was named Director, Canadian Beef Information Gateway, and Mauricio Arcila joined the team as Director of Technical Services in FQ2. Hyde’s focus is on the implementation of the Gateway with new and existing partners. Arcila will focus the majority of his time on initiatives related to market intelligence, regulatory and market access support, as well as work to advance our beef quality strategy and other areas that require applied research.

Conclusion

As we enter the final quarter of the current fiscal year, work continues at Canada Beef to ensure the delivery of programs, services and resources that will position Canada’s beef and veal industry for continued success and increase consumer satisfaction, preference and brand loyalty.

CANADIAN BEEF CHECK-OFF AGENCY

JEFF SMITH, CHAIR

Last fiscal year, April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, the total revenue for the Canadian Beef Check-Off Agency (Agency) was $18,875,500 on cattle marketed, net of the provincial portion of the federal levy.

The total check-off funds collected from cattle marketings were allocated as:

• 55 per cent to market development and promotion

• 27 per cent to research

• 12 per cent retained by provincial cattle associations for regional marketing and research

• 6 per cent to public and stakeholder engagement

The import levy on beef cattle, beef and beef products imported into Canada was collected at a rate of $1 per head equivalent, for a total of $1,065,008. These funds, net administration, are allocated to unbranded, generic beef marketing such as nutrition marketing, recipe development and culinary skills education.

$675,464 was spent on the administration of the Canadian Beef Check-Off Agency and the board, which was under budget by $200,686.

With the continuation of interrupted business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was up to the Agency to find ways to ensure that business could

continue as usual, while reducing time in the office and face-to-face meetings as much as possible. The Agency held over 30 virtual board and committee meetings in the past 12 months, but the level of engagement of Agency and committee members stayed strong, proving that meeting remotely allowed members to accomplish more with less. The Agency made a partial shift back into the office and in-person meetings, and will continue to find the right balance to be as efficient as possible, while fostering a culture of collaboration and transparency.

Through the increased board engagement, the Agency was able to develop a new set of strategic five-year goals. It includes many aspects of the Agency’s business, including succession planning both at a board and staff leadership level, obtaining national treatment with check-off collection and the import levy, a strong plan for the growth of the Agency’s audit and inspection program, and a strategic communications program that will gain strength over the next five years.

The Agency focused again on regulatory compliance of both checkoff and import levy collections. Two new inspectors were trained for the Agency’s audit and inspection program, which works on improving remittance

compliance through an “education first” approach with a combination of field inspections and desk audits.

The Agency is now also managing the administration and collection of the pork import levy in Canada, which serves as a new source of revenue for the Agency. By working closely with the Canadian Pork Promotion and Research Agency (PPRA), it was determined that the processes and procedures in place at the Agency, as well as the relationships already formed with importers, would make for a simplified process in the collection of both levies by the same organization. The Agency signed a service agreement and began setting up the pork import levy process in 2021, and will be going live with collections in 2022.

The Agency also completed another study to evaluate the benefits of the beef check-off in Canada, with the results ready just after the close of the fiscal year. For this study, a new methodology was put place by new researchers, and involved the analysis of more data than ever before in these studies. Ultimately, researchers found that the total benefit-cost ratio of the check-off and import levy in Canada was $33:1, which shows there is strong value for the investments made into the Canadian beef industry. More details

on the methodology and results can be found online at cdnbeefcheckoff.ca/ value.

The Agency Committees continue to work on developing policies and procedures to ensure the organization remains relevant, engaging and actively represents the unique needs of Canadian beef producers and importers. The Agency recently made changes to the bylaws, ensuring that the operation of the organization meets the unique needs and mandates of industry stakeholders. Bylaw changes strengthened governance around succession planning and committee appointments, as well as opening the door to a broader range of skilled industry players to be nominated for Agency and Marketing Committee roles.

The Agency continues to deliver on the business plans and strategies developed by the Agency Members representing producers, processors, importers and retail/foodservice sectors.

The Agency moves through 2022/23 fiscal year with goals to administer the Agency with separate and distinct governance, reduce check-off slippage, and reach out to more Canadian producers about the mechanics and value of the national check-off. The Agency Members approved a 2022/23 administration budget at $917,000, with $45,000 in additional revenue coming from the administration of Canada’s pork import levy, and an additional $70,000 to be invested from the Agency’s surplus into measurable tactics and programs. The $115,000 in additional revenue and the estimated

$802,173 from administration revenue balances the Agency’s budget.

The Agency’s programs will support the operations and board, as well as the Agency’s four strategic objectives:

1. Sound Governance and Administration

2. Structured Reporting and Compliance

3. Educated and Engaged Stakeholders

4. Strategic Communications and Collaboration

Sound Governance and Administration

The current governance structure under which the Agency is managed provides clear direction for both the Agency and its committees, and continues to move forward on a path of stronger governance and operational separation from the internal marketing division of the organization. The Marketing Committee is fully functional and evolving to tap into the expertise of its entire membership and continues to operate independently, but still under the general oversight of the Agency. Five years into the new structure, the Agency will now undertake a structural review to ensure that the current setup of the Marketing Committee meets the needs that it was initially created to meet.

Structured Reporting and Compliance

The Agency’s inspection program will continue to grow in 2022/23, especially if COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed this year, allowing inspectors to become more visible during routine audits in areas where slippage is a known issue across provincial borders. Additional inspectors have been added to the

Agency, allowing a more widespread footprint from coast to coast. The Agency’s appointed inspectors will work closely with provincial cattle associations to ensure aligned priorities and transparent audits.

Engaged and Educated Stakeholders

This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Agency and kicks off a five year lead up to the 25th anniversary celebration. The Agency will launch a new youth engagement strategy to help usher in a new generation of beef industry stakeholders, all while honouring and respecting the path that has led the Agency to its current role. This new engagement strategy will include outreach and communications, as well as an inward look to bring on a youth observer for a fresh perspective and linkage back to emerging industry leaders.

Strategic Communications and Collaboration

The Agency will ensure that Canadian beef producers have accessible information and resources to show the value of the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off. This will come in the form of an enhanced online presence, the development of print tools and resources available on multiple platforms, in-person presentations, and by providing simple forums for producers to communicate with those who are administering and investing their check-off dollars.

CANADIAN CATTLE ASSOCIATION

NATHAN PHINNEY, PRESIDENT

Last year ended on a very difficult note. The Canadian cattle community lost a tremendous leader, mentor, and friend, with the sudden passing of Reg Schellenberg, President of the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA).

Reg’s leadership and passion for our industry will be missed around the board table and at industry meetings and events. He cared about issues and worked hard for the betterment of our industry. His goal was to leave a vibrant industry for the generations to come. His legacy and contributions will be felt for many years.

lead an organization with such a strong and rich history. It’s important to me and our entire board that we move forward on the important work that CCA undertakes on behalf of cattle producers across Canada. We will be a strong voice on the issues that matter the most. Our board members and staff are committed to making positive things happen for our industry.

I am pleased to report to you for the first time as CCA President and share a few key highlights of the work undertaken by CCA in 2022.

CCA’s 90th Anniversary

This year marks CCA’s 90th anniversary and I am proud of our organization’s rich history. It is important for us to look at our past successes and how we overcame past challenges to guide our industry to new heights. To commemorate this milestone, a series of vignettes highlighting the defining milestones of our organizations and industry will be released in early 2023.

Adverse Weather

I never imagined that this is how I would become CCA President. But I share the same passion as Reg for our cattle industry and it is an honour for me to

The impacts of adverse weather –drought to flooding to Hurricane Fiona – remain top of mind at CCA. To help with decision-making during urgent times of need, CCA continues to advocate for producers to have the ability to self-elect rather than

rely on a geographic determination to access the Livestock Tax Deferral provision. In addition, we are requesting an amendment to the definition of “breeding animals,” cited in the federal Income Tax Act, so it includes all classes of cattle and not just the breeding herd. CCA’s work on forage insurance continues through our involvement in the Industry-Government Forage Insurance Task Team. The team, made up of representatives from provincial crop insurance agencies, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the beef, dairy and forage sectors, is working to improve the uptake of forage insurance. The Task Team is chaired by CCA’s Ryder Lee, with Richard Horne representing the interests of Ontario cattle producers. The team will report its findings in early 2023.

Don’t Label My Beef

This past spring, it was all hands on deck at CCA when it came to engaging Members of Parliament (MPs), Senators, officials at Health Canada, and consumers on the proposed regulatory change that would have seen a warning label for saturated fat content placed on ground beef.

This successful outcome was made possible with the help of our provincial member associations, who shared our industry’s collective concerns with

The late Reg Schellenberg

provincial government officials, as well as with local and regional media outlets. We are also humbled by the strong support that we received from Canadians who sent thousands of letters to MPs across the country. In the process, we established an important connection on the nutritional value of beef in kitchens from coast to coast to coast. This initiative was truly a #teambeef effort and a win for the entire industry!

CCA’s New Brand

In early July, CCA was proud to launch its new brand as the Canadian Cattle Association, paying tribute to our past, while looking ahead to the future. Our new logo is inspired by the key elements of importance to our organization: Our country, our cattle, and our environment.

The new brand will help open new opportunities to continue to tell our industry’s positive story when it comes to our environment, our economy, and our future as a country.

Trade Updates

International trade continues to be a key factor in our industry’s success. 2021 was the sixth year in a row of hitting targets for export values. In 2021, producers gained $1,044 CDN per animal through selling in international markets. As of June 2022, total beef and live cattle exports have reached $3 billion CDN. We continue to see increased growth in Japan, South Korea, and southeast Asia markets. Our staff is engaged in the ongoing free trade negotiations with the United Kingdom, the Association of Southeast Asian

Nations (ASEAN), and Indonesia.

The announcement of the Indo-Pacific Strategy in November was good news for the Canadian beef industry. It prioritizes trade and agriculture, and included key recommendations shared by CCA. CCA looks forward to participating in minister-led trade missions with the goal of facilitating long-term trade and investment opportunities and working with the new agricultural office in the region on preventing and resolving non-tariff barriers proactively and quickly.

2023 Priorities

The release of the next federal budget is around the corner and with the Winter Session of Parliament set to resume on January 30, 2023, CCA will keep up advocacy efforts on our key budget recommendations which will help ensure growth and innovation in our sector. These asks include an investment by the Government of Canada in a Canadian foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine bank which is a critical component in preventing catastrophic losses to the sector and the broader Canadian economy should FMD occur in our country.

We are monitoring developments concerning the rollout of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), with our attention focused on enhancements to the business risk management (BRM) suite of programs and actively participating in the consultation process on the review of the AgriStability program. We are pushing back on adding an environmental objective to BRM programming as this will inevitably increase the complexity of already complicated programs.

Showcasing the great work cattle producers are doing across the country through a digital campaign will continue in 2023. The campaign is aimed at raising awareness amongst decisionmakers and Canadians about how sustainable cattle production is a part of the climate change solution. We are proud to share our story. If we don’t tell our story, we know someone else will.

You can count on us to be at the table representing your interests and ensuring the best outcome possible for cattle producers across Canada, whether it is at home or on the international stage.

CANADIAN CATTLE IDENTIFICATION AGENCY

In-house distribution brings tags closer to industry

In early July, CCIA’s Distribution Center officially opened for business, opening doors to producers to access all approved CCIA tags on the market at competitive prices. With tags now in-house, there is a direct line with manufacturers, which helps resolve issues quickly as they arise and ultimately promotes a higher level of service to industry.

After launch, one of our first priorities was to catch up on backorders and build up tag inventory well in advance of the fall run. By the end of summer, almost all backorders had been filled and the warehouse shelves were sufficiently stocked and ready to meet anticipated demand.

Ultimately, our goal in cutting out the distribution middleman was to keep revenues closer to home, improve access to all tags and accessories and promote efficiencies that are most important to industry, such as issueresolution and product delivery.

Aligned with the Distribution Center initiative was a revamp of tags. canadaid.ca – industry’s online webstore, designed to provide a seamless shopping experience for all tag purchasers. As more and more producers make the shift to self-serve ordering, feedback indicates that clients enjoy the convenience of being able to order from anywhere, anytime and appreciate the value of a speedy delivery straight to their mailboxes.

UHF tag numbers now supported in CLTS

On November 10, responding to a need brought forward by industry and under the direction of the CCIA Board of Directors, CCIA announced the launch of an initiative that links non-approved Ultra High Frequency Technology (UHF) secondary tags to approved CCIA tags in the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS) database. This new feature allows UHF users to link the UHF tag to the CCIA tag, so when either tag is read, it points to the same animal in the database.

UHF technology is of interest to some segments of the industry where the technology is being leveraged for better record keeping. Key features of a UHF technology-based system include a longer read range and the ability to read many tags at once, making handling more efficient.

This new feature in the CLTS was made possible with the financial support of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada under the AgriAssurance Program.

CCIA Board elects new members

At its April Annual General Meeting, CCIA elected a new Executive Committee chaired by Lyle Miller, representing Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association. Other Executive members include Vice Chairman Howard Bekkering of Alberta Beef Producers; Finance Chairman Dr. Oliver Schunicht, Canadian Veterinary Medical Association; Ivan Johnson, Maritime Beef Council; and Ken Perlich, Livestock Markets Association of Canada. We also welcomed the following new board members; Matt Bowman and Brad Osadczuk - both representing CCA; David Saretsky, Canadian Livestock Dealers Association; and Associate Member Shawn Wilson of Canadian Beef Breeds Council.

The balance of the CCIA Board remains the same with Don Hargrave, Beef Farmers of Ontario; Duncan Barnett, British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association; Yvonne Mills, Canadian Bison Association; representing Canadian Meat Council, Cam Daniels and Kim O’Neil; Corlena Patterson, Canadian Sheep Federation; Sylvain Bourque, Les Producteurs de bovins du Québec; Nancy Howatt, Manitoba Beef Producers; and Shane Jahnke, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association.

CCIA partners with Cargill to promote sustainable beef

We are thrilled to become the chain of custody verification provider for Cargill’s delivery of the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework, established by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. CCIA and Cargill entered into a service agreement in 2022 that enabled all ear tag birthdates and movements recorded in the CLTS to be recognized when confirming eligibility of cattle harvested at either of Cargill’s two Canadian abattoirs. As part of the agreement, Cargill receives sustainability qualification status directly from CCIA for all processed ear tags of age-verified cattle.

CLTS enhancements progressed through the year

We are always looking for ways to enhance the functionality of the CLTS and leverage technology to help manage and protect the data. Here is a summary of some key enhancements which took place throughout the year.

Notably in 2022, the business rules regarding age verification were modified. Birthdate information entered after the animal is nine months of age is identified with a note “Entered or modified after the animal was nine months of age”. Also, additional tutorial for event submission directly online and birth date certificate were developed.

FARM & FOOD CARE ONTARIO

Supported by members like Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO), Farm & Food Care Ontario (FFCO) brought together beef farmers, food producers, agribusinesses and their urban and suburban neighbours in ways that were both educational and entertaining in 2022. FFCO especially appreciates the ongoing support of BFO’s continued Platinum level membership as members like this are foundational to FFCO’s successes, and allow us to continue working to build public trust in Ontario agriculture. BFO Director Jason Leblond serves as an ex officio member of the FFCO Board of Directors.

2022 was a monumental year for FFCO and our partners as the organization celebrated the 10th anniversary of FFCO’s founding and made its return to in-person events in a significant way. After two years of relying on digital and altered events, 2022 allowed a return to more typical public interaction.

Breakfast from the Farm

Partnering with the Paris, Grand River, and Milton Agriculture Societies, three walk-through Breakfast from the Farm events were held on fairgrounds, where visitors had a chance to see farm animals - including beef cattle - and equipment, and talk to farmers and ask questions about where their food comes from. Each event had

good weather and strong attendance from local communities. In each case, visitors enjoyed breakfast and left with bags packed with pancake mix, maple syrup and valuable information about agriculture in Ontario.

Farm Tours

2022 marked FFCO’s return to on-farm tours. The six tours included a tour for Toronto-based food-influencers and for Ontario dietitians, and four tours for culinary students from colleges across the province with several beef farm stops on the agendas. Participants were surveyed on their knowledge about and perception of Ontario agriculture before and after each tour. When asked about their impression of Ontario agriculture before their tours, 68 per cent responded good or excellent, while the post-tour survey 94 per cent responded their impression of agriculture was good or excellent. Survey results also showed that participants went from 62 per cent stating they think the food system in Canada is going the right direction to 82 per cent agreeing that it is.

Public Events

Many public-facing events resumed in 2022. FFCO hosted an ‘Ask-a-Farmer’ video booth at the CNE, greeted friends at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and spent time at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair sharing FarmFood360

virtual tours with the public. FFCO also worked with the Royal to host the first in-person Food & Nutrition Forum since 2019. Public events offer an opportunity for FFCO to facilitate invaluable conversations between farmers and their urban and suburban neighbours about how farms in Ontario make food for us all.

Source Local

In 2022, in partnership with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, FFCO undertook an initiative called Source Local to highlight the importance of buying local food, flowers and fibre. Fourteen county-level federations took part with projects ranging from ‘Source Local’ night at drive-in theatres, to producing a colouring book, to ‘meeta-farmer’ night, to trail signs and video production for online distribution. Provincially, Source Local hosted four pop-up food-truck events in Thunder Bay, London, Ottawa and Milton that enabled farmers to talk directly to consumers about the importance of looking for local when buying food.

Digital Outreach

Digital outreach is a vital component of FFCO’s work. Faces Behind Food continues to highlight the diversity of people and career opportunities within the Canadian agri-food system on Facebook and Instagram. Profiles

were posted twice weekly, with 56,000+ likes, shares and comments across accounts, and included beef farmers and butchers in 2022.

FarmFood360 now hosts 25 Virtual Reality farm tours, including a beef farm tour, and the three new tours launched in the fall of 2022. The new tours, featuring dry beans going from the field through processing, potatoes going from the field to potato chip, and behind the scenes at a broiler-breeder farm and a broiler hatchery, offer new glimpses of agriculture behind the scenes, which Canadians can access from the comfort of their own homes.

The Real Dirt on Farming 5th edition was published in 2020, with both paper and digital editions. In 2022, FFCO began using paid search ads to amplify the reach of the website. For example, when looking for information on GMOs, visitors were directed to ads promoting www.RealDirtonFarming.ca, to access the information they were looking for.

FFCO and AgScape continued a successful partnership in 2022, offering 11 livestreamed farm tours reaching an audience of 72,944. These field trips gave viewers, including students

and teachers, the chance to connect with farmers in real time. This year, two different beef farms were featured in these tours. FFCO and AgScape will continue to offer these tours throughout 2023 and are looking for farmers interested in hosting them.

Training and Workshops

FFCO continues to offer media and Speak Up training and commodityspecific updates, with 62 sessions taking place in 2022. Other virtual training sessions provided advice on how to protect farm properties from unwanted visitors.

In 2021, FFCO expanded its courses to offer virtual training for first responders being called to livestock transportation emergencies including truck rollovers. In 2022, 21 sessions were hosted for 665 first responders across Ontario. With

financial support from many partners helping make this possible, including Beef Farmers of Ontario, the project has had great success.

The course covers factors critical to the decision-making processes for accidents involving livestock trailers, including trailer design and the implications for extrication points, animal behaviour, laws and regulations, euthanasia protocols, and how to develop response teams.

Additionally, FFCO responded to nine Animal Care Helpline calls in 2022, working with commodity groups and Provincial Animal Welfare Services on cases of concern such as repeated neglect concerns and provision for animals when owners are in financial or mental distress.

BREAKFAST FROM THE FARM

LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INNOVATION CORPORATION

The Livestock Research Innovation Corporation (LRIC) works on behalf of all the livestock sectors in Ontario, including Beef Farmers of Ontario. We focus on the future and work with industry partners to build a bright future for the livestock sector. Specific member services and activities in the past year include:

Research Process

• Reviewed and arranged for industry reviewers for the 37 proposals submitted for Alliance (OMAFRA/ University of Guelph) funding

• Managed the process and reviewed letters of intent received by BFO for their call for research proposals

• Member of the poultry research centre build steering committee

• Hosted a poultry research priorities day, including industry, researchers and OMAFRA

• Working with Ontario Pork on research priorities and a new process that ties research priorities to a strategic plan

• Worked with members to develop a cross sector research priorities document for use by OMAFRA as they establish Alliance priorities

• Administered member research calls (EFO, BFO, Ontario Pork) and Grant in Aid (DFO)

Proactive Research Initiatives

• Worked with Dr. Dominque Bureau, Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) to explore a research project looking into the use of ruminant hides as a source of feedstuffs for monogastric livestock

• Identified a resource in the University of Guelph with expertise of use to the pork sector and arranged for that faculty member to tour a pork farm to learn of their need and the opportunity to do research in livestock

• Organized an industry meeting and broadly circulated the results of Dr. Mike Rogers, Food Science (Guelph) regarding the digestion of Beyond Burger versus real meat

• Partnered with OAC and the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) to deliver a one-day Project Management workshop for faculty

• On behalf of members, leading a project exploring possible solutions to the problem of deadstock pick-up

• Identified livestock sector challenges and opportunities that could have an engineering solution and provided these to the School of Engineering at the University of Guelph

• Worked with Grain Farmers of Ontario and Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association to document what success looks like

from the OMAFRA/University of Guelph Alliance agreement

Building Bridges

• Continued our successful Mentorship program for early career faculty. This program builds understanding of industry and positive working relationships that will yield better research for years to come.

• Partnered with Grand River Agricultural Society, Wester Fair Association, OAC and OVC to provide $75,000 in award funds toward cross sector research projects

• Initiated our Bridge program through which industry, graduate students and OMAFRA staff can connect across organizations

• Piloted a farm tour of Engineering graduate students with hopes of expanding next year to include University of Guelph, OMAFRA and industry staff

• Regular meetings with OMAFRA, Deans of OAC and OVC

Continuous Improvement

• Prepared a background document for members regarding the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario (ARIO) Act and its possible modernization

• Our International Research Advisory

Committee completed their review of Ontario’s Livestock Innovation system with key elements of the system being: funding, priorities, program management, extension, and commercialization.

• Provided livestock sector input to the Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment

Looking Ahead

• Made members aware of various international livestock Declarations (e.g. Dublin Declaration) aimed at ensuring a balanced view of livestock with science-based objectives for improvement

• Our International Research Advisory Committee is now focusing on better means of setting research priorities as well as improved ways to get research into practice

• Participated in a webinar exploring the issue of misinformation in agricultural advisory services.

Communications

• Provided articles to members for their producer magazines

• Provided Opinion Editorials for Farmtario

• Offer our Livestock Innovation newsletter and Research Scouts

• Quarterly update sent to all members and widely distributed to those interested

• Partnered with Dr. Jennifer Ellis and Poultry Industry Council to create 10 faculty/industry leader podcasts, and 22 producer videos focused on innovation

• Our Horizon Series of webinars, dealing with the big issues facing livestock production, continued, each webinar accompanied with a white paper on the topic. This year we featured:

• Embracing Disruptors Facing Ontario Livestock with Dr. Deb Stark, Past OMAFRA Deputy Minister

• What we can learn from the Pet Industry with Anna-Kate Shoveller, Ontario Agricultural College

• Livestock and Society featuring Vaughn Holder, Alltech

• Livestock and Soil Health with Chris Brown (OMAFRA) and Mel Luymes, Ontario Professional Agri-Contractors Association (OPACA)

• Livestock and Plastic Use with Erica Pensini, School of Engineering, University of Guelph.

• All past webinars and white papers can be seen at www.livestockresearch.ca/white_papers

As always, we appreciate the strong support of our members and strive to provide excellent value for membership.

ONTARIO CATTLE FEEDERS’ ASSOCIATION

JIM CLARK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Ontario Corn Fed Beef (OCFB) program continues to enjoy a strong partnership with BFO. The support we have received over the years has been integral to the success and the growth of the OCFB brand.

Despite the challenges posed by these times of higher inflation and economic worries, there is still strong support for locally produced products. But we must be mindful of the price-conscious consumers who are adjusting their spending habits. While consumers are looking for products with the attributes they want, they also have the realization that they only have so many dollars to spend. This also opens the door to an influx of lower cost imported meat. Therefore, the focus of Ontario Corn Fed Beef is to maintain the market share in this environment of belt-tightening. We don’t want to be seen as costprohibitive, but we still need to stay with our blueprint of the brand, which is to deliver our complete package of attributes to the consumer.

From the beginning, we have worked from this blueprint to help achieve our goal for a sustainable beef industry in Ontario. The commitment of our certified feedlot operators who deliver our on-farm quality assurance program serves as the foundation of the OCFB brand.

When we are talking to consumers here at home or anywhere else in the world, the conversation always comes down to our unique brand story. Who we are, what we do, how we do it, and why it matters, are all unique marketing elements of our story that are supported by the quality assurance program. It is this ability to tell our story that provides Ontario packers with a differentiated product offering in key markets around the world.

From my point of view, it’s imperative that we continue to tell the unique story of Ontario beef. It’s such a highquality product that also involves social responsibility. The beef is raised on family farms and is safe and wholesome. All those factors are part of the process that we must continue to highlight in our marketing as we move forward.

Many of our marketing efforts received a boost over the past year with the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions. For example, Ontario Corn Fed Beef was represented at the Restaurants Canada show in Toronto in May. This was the first in-person trade event in Canada since 2019.

Participation was better than anticipated, and customer traffic was high at the booth hosted by our newest brand partner, The Butcher Shoppe. Our

relationship with The Butcher Shoppe in Toronto has provided an opportunity to partner with one of the fastest growing steakhouse chains in the province. The high quality of Ontario Corn Fed Beef was featured at Chuck’s Roadhouse. With over 60 locations across the province, many of which are close to rural communities, Chuck’s Roadhouse provides a tremendous opportunity to provide consumers with a high-quality, locally produced steak.

In addition, OCFB was on display once again at major food shows in Japan, including the Supermarket Trade Show and Foodex in Tokyo, and FoodStyle in Okinawa. Ontario beef brands have been gaining a lot of attention in the market as retailers look to unique brands that offer consumers a high level of confidence in quality and safety.

Meanwhile, OCFB continues to build on its strong relationship with Canada’s largest food retailer. This past year, we hosted a feedlot tour for senior level marketing and sustainability team members from Loblaw Companies Limited. Van Osch Farms were the host for the tour and provided the group with a comprehensive and transparent tour of their operation. The objective for the tour was to give the Loblaw’s marketing team some insights into the processes utilized under the Ontario

Corn Fed Beef Quality Assurance program to ensure sustainably raised, consistently great-tasting beef, raised under strict animal welfare protocols and a nutritionally balanced feed ration on Ontario family farms.

The tour is one of several ways that are crucial in communicating our brand story and our products’ key attributes. In addition, a new section on the ontariocornfedbeef.com website features Producer Profiles on certified OCFB producers. These profiles help to tell the on-farm story of Ontario Corn Fed Beef and how Ontario farming families sustainably raise cattle to produce consistently great-tasting beef with the highest levels of animal care.

OCFB has also launched a new QR code-enabled website that helps bring the farm to fork story to life right on your phone. A consumer can scan the QR code and experience the farm to fork story of how Ontario families sustainably raise cattle and produce some of the highest quality beef in the world. You can scan the QR code with your phone or visit ocfbeefstory.ca.

It all comes down to the fact that we have something in Ontario that we need to continue to focus on. We have strong partnerships, passionate and resilient producers, an industry-leading quality assurance program, and one of the best beef brand stories in Canada. I’m looking forward to the future, knowing that we have accomplished a lot of great

work together and that there is more to come in the years ahead.

In closing, I would like to thank everybody in the entire agricultural sector who have partnered with us and supported us and our program. I’m so fortunate to be in a position where I have the opportunity to lead and be part of the growth of the Ontario Corn Fed Beef brand. It’s rewarding to see the various pieces fit together and see the positive results. It would not be possible without the backing we receive from the industry. I want to express my thanks for the support we have received from the Beef Farmers of Ontario, the Government of Ontario and the Grain Farmers of Ontario.

LIVESTOCK FINANCIAL PROTECTION BOARD

FUND FOR LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS - FINANCIAL POSITION OF FUND BALANCE

Fund Balance at March 31st , 2022

NOTES:

1) Total income in 1982-83 includes a $25,000 start-up grant from OMAFRA.

2) Deductions to the Fund were lowered from $0.20/head to $0.10/head in 1984. Deductions were lowered from $0.10/head to $0.05/head in April 1989 for sellers and agents and eliminated for buyers. Deductions were increased from $0.05/head to $0.10/head in 2016.

3) Fund expenses include the board and expenses for determining financial responsibility.

FINANCIALS

2022 Audited Financial Statements

For the year ended December 31, 2022

2023 Preliminary Budget

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT

To the Board of Directors of: Beef Farmers of Ontario Opinion

We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Beef Farmers of Ontario, which comprise the statement of financial position as at December 31, 2022 and the statements of changes in net assets, operations and cash flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies.

In our opinion, these financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Beef Farmers of Ontario as at December 31, 2022 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not for profit organizations

Basis of Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statem ents section of our report. We are independent of Beef Farmers of Ontario in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in Canada, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Responsibilities of Management and Those Charged with Governance for the Financial Statements

Managem ent is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not for profit organizations and for such internal control as management determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, managem ent is responsible for assessing the organization's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to a going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless managem ent either intends to liquidate the organization or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

Those charged with governance are responsible for overseeing the organization's financial reporting process.

Auditor's Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements, as a whole, are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. W e also:

 Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or override of internal control.

 Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the organization’s internal control.

 Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

 Conclude on the appropriateness of management’s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the organization’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the organization to cease to continue as a going concern.

 Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We com municate with those charged with governance regarding, am ong other matters, the planned scope and tim ing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT DECEM BER 31, 2022

See notes to the financial statements

INTERNALLY TRADE

RESTRICTED ACTION

RESTRICTED AND PROJECTS

2022

UNRESTRICTED

FUND

$ 4,155,589

BUILDING RESEARCH MARKETING FUND

FUND

FUND

549,861

(note 2g)

2021 (note 2g)

(note 2g)

28,985

28,985

0

500,000 $

$

275,308

$

225,000

(note 2g) BA LA NCE, beginning of year

$

0

0

$ 5,705,758 $ 4,781,484 Surplus of income over expenses

0

0

(482,715)

(1,935)

0

484,650

924,274 Transfers (note 15)

0

$ 3,701,859

547,926

500,000 $

$

759,958

$

$ 5,734,743 $ 5,705,758 See notes to the financial statements

225,000

$

0 BA LA NCE, end of year

Page 6 80 BFO ANNUAL REPORT 2023

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEM BER 31, 2022

BEEF FARMERS OF

STATEMENT

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEM BER 31, 2022

1 PURPOSE OF THE ORGANIZATION

Beef Farmers of Ontario is a tax exempt body established by Provincial legislation to support the beef cattle industry in Ontario through promotion, research and other activities.

2. SUM MARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The organization is subject to the Ontario Business Corporations Act. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not for profit organizations and include the following significant accounting policies:

(a) REVENUE RECOGNITION

The organization follows the restricted fund method of accounting for contributions in which externally restricted contributions are recognized upon receipt in the appropriate fund corresponding to the purpose for which they were contributed. Externally restricted contributions of the unrestricted fund are recognized as revenue when the related expenditure occurs. Unrestricted revenues are recognized in the unrestricted fund when received or receivable and collection is reasonably assured.

(b) INVENTORY

Inventory is stated at the lower of cost, using the weighted average cost basis, and net realizable value.

(c) CAPITAL ASSETS

Capital assets are recorded at cost and am ortized on the basis of their estimated useful life using the following methods and rates:

Building and building renovations - 4% declining balance

Office furniture and equipment - 20% declining balance

Computer equipment - 30% declining balance

Computer software - 50% declining balance

(d) IMPAIRMENT OF LONG LIVED ASSETS

Long lived assets are tested for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying am ount may not be recoverable. An impairment loss is recognized when the carrying value exceeds the total undiscounted cash flows expected from their use and eventual disposition. The am ount of the im pairment loss is determined as the excess of the carrying value of the asset over its fair value.

(e) USE OF ESTIMATES

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with Canadian accounting standards for not for profit organizations requires managem ent to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported am ounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported am ounts of revenues and expenses during the year. The significant areas where estimates have been used are the accrued checkoff fees receivable, am ortization and accrued national checkoff payments payable. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEM BER 31, 2022

2. SUM MARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued)

(f) FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

Measurement of financial instruments

The organization initially measures its financial assets and liabilities at fair value.

The organization subsequently m easures all its financial assets and financial liabilities at am ortized cost, except for its investments, which are measured at fair value. Changes in fair value are recognized in net surplus.

Impairment

Financial assets measured at am ortized cost are tested for im pairment when there are indicators of im pairment. If an im pairment has occurred, the carrying am ount of financial assets measured at am ortized cost is reduced to the greater of the discounted future cash flows expected or the proceeds that could be realized from the sale of the financial asset. The am ount of the write-down is recognized in net surplus. The previously recognized im pairment loss may be reversed to the extent of the improvement, directly or by adjusting the allowance account, provided it is no greater than the am ount that would have been reported at the date of the reversal had the im pairment not been recognized previously. The amount of the reversal is recognized in net surplus.

Transaction costs

The organization recognizes its transaction costs in net income in the period incurred. However, financial instruments that will not be subsequently m easured at fair value are adjusted by the transaction costs that are directly attributable to their origination, issuance or assumption.

(g) FUND ACCOUNTING

Internally restricted building repair fund

The internally restricted building repair fund reports resources available for the organization's building repair activities.

Internally restricted research and projects fund

The internally restricted research and projects fund reports resources allocated by the organization for research and project commitments in future years.

Internally restricted trade action fund

The internally restricted trade action fund is used to fund trade or market access disputes and related projects. This fund shall maintain a minim um balance of $200,000 with an upper balance limit of $500,000.

Externally restricted marketing fund

The externally restricted marketing fund reports resources allocated to the Ontario Beef Market Developm ent (OBMD) program. The OBMD is a jointly adm inistered marketing program led by a Joint Marketing Committee (JMC) under a formal agreement between the organization and the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association (OCFA) to collaborate on sustaining and building growth in the Ontario beef sector through dom estic and international promotional and marketing initiatives.

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEM BER 31, 2022

2. SUM MARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

(g) FUND ACCOUNTING (continued)

Unrestricted fund

(continued)

The unrestricted fund reports resources available for the organization's general operating activities.

3. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

Unless otherwise noted, it is managem ent's opinion that the organization is not exposed to significant interest, currency or credit risks arising from the financial instruments.

The extent of the organization's exposure to these risks did not change in 2022 com pared to the previous period.

The organization does not have a significant exposure to any individual custom er or counterpart.

4 INVESTMENTS

Investments consist of a combination of Canadian and foreign equities and mutual funds, as well as cash temporarily held in its investment trading accounts:

5. CAPITAL ASSETS

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEM BER 31, 2022

6.

DEFERRED REVENUE

Deferred revenue consists of sponsorships and trade show space related to the annual meeting:

7 BUDGET FIGURES

The budgeted figures are presented for comparison purposes as prepared and approved by the Board, reclassified to conform to the current financial statement presentation. They have not been audited or reviewed by the auditor.

8. NATIONAL CHECKOFF AGENCY

The organization pays $1 per head to the National Beef Cattle Research Market Development and Promotion Agency and for the National Beef Advertising and Promotion Campaign, and subsequently receives 50 cents per head (less adm inistration) for association activities which are aligned with the national proclamation.

9.

FEEDER FINANCE PROGRAM

The organization has em barked on a joint program with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the purpose of which is to guarantee a portion of loans to feeder cattle finance co-operatives to purchase cattle. The expenses are not to exceed $55,000 in the provincial government's fiscal year and are fully recoverable from the Ministry

10. COMMITMENTS

The organization has committed to fund future research projects in the am ount of $293,604 in 2023, $251,177 in 2024 and $215,177 in 2025, totalling $759,958.

11

RESEARCH HERD

During 1994, the organization entered into an agreement with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in which the organization agreed to purchase the beef cattle research herd in New Liskeard. The purchase took place over a period of years during which the organization paid for the annual crop of calves born and continues to receive the proceeds from sale of these anim als. Any excess proceeds over tim e must be used for beef research. In 2021, the livestock inventory was moved to the Ontario Beef Research Centre in Elora.

12.

DROUGHT SUPPORT PROJECT

In the prior year, the organization entered into a drought support project which was completed on Septem ber 30, 2021 and expired on December 31, 2021. The purpose of the project was to coordinate an em ergency need for feed including sourcing, purchasing and transportation of feed and livestock for all ruminant livestock producers im pacted by dry weather conditions in Northwestern Ontario. The project met the Grassroots Growth Program's objectives of assisting in the alleviation of adverse conditions caused by drought.

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEM BER 31, 2022

13. TORONTO STOCKYARDS LAND DEVELOPMENT BOARD

The former Toronto stockyards land has been developed as a commercial rental property by the Toronto Stockyards Land Developm ent Board. The organization receives a contribution from this organization.

14 GRANT REVENUE

Grant revenue relates to the following programs:

15 INTERFUND TRANSFER

During the year, the organization transferred $0 (2021 - $130,441) to the internally restricted building repair fund, $0 (2021 - $300,000) to the internally restricted trade action fund and $1,935 from the externally restricted marketing fund to the unrestricted fund (2021 - $221,188 to the externally restricted marketing fund from the unrestricted fund).

In addition, the organization transferred $484,650 to the internally restricted research and projects fund from the unrestricted fund (2021 - transferred $173,881 from the internally restricted research and projects fund to the unrestricted fund). The closing balance in the internally restricted research and projects fund of $759,958 is for beef cattle research commitments in future years.

16 ONTARIO BEEF MARKET DEVELOPMENT FUND

The Ontario Beef Market Developm ent (OBMD) is a jointly adm inistered market developm ent program led by a Joint Marketing Committee (JMC) under a formal agreement between the organization and the Ontario Cattle Feeders' Association (OCFA) to collaborate on sustaining and building growth in the Ontario beef sector through dom estic and international promotional and market developm ent initiatives. $1.25 from each checkoff remittance, after exemptions, commissions and other deductions, is directed to fund this program.

17

MATERIAL UNCERTAINTY DUE TO THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

During the year and subsequent to year end, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) significantly im pacted the economy in Canada and globally. Although the disruption from the virus is expected to be temporary, given the dynam ic nature of these circumstances, the duration of business disruption and the related financial im pact cannot be reasonably estimated at this tim e. This may im pact the timing and amounts realized on the organization's assets and its future ability to deliver all services.

18

CORRESPONDING FIGURES

Certain figures presented for corresponding purposes have been reclassified to conform to the current year's presentation. Page 13

BEEF FARMERS OF ONTARIO SCHEDULE OF EXPENSES Schedule 1

FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEM BER 31, 2022

See notes to the financial statements

2023 Preliminary Budget

2023 Preliminary Budget

EXPENSES - CONTINUED

WE ALL NEED A LITTLE HELP SOMETIMES.

1-866-267-6255

The Farmer Wellness Initiative provides access to free counselling services and tailored mental health support and resources to all Ontario farmers and their families.

If you’re in need of support, please reach out and call anytime - from the tractor, from the barn, or from the house after the sun sets on another long day. Accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year.