Canada’s Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food will provide CA$4 million to the national beef body to help it undertake a series of projects.
“The Government of Canada is pleased to be able to support the CCA in these innovative projects,” said Lawrence MacAulay, Canada’s minister of agriculture and agri-food. “These industry-led projects will strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the Canadian beef industry, while meeting consumer demands for safe high-quality products.
“Innovation drives continuous improvement in the beef industry and funding forward-thinking projects like these ensures continued progress in key areas of sustainable production, quality, and business risk management to the benefit of the entire value chain, including the consumer.”
Beef rendering
The government confirmed that roughly CA$2.6m will go towards helping the CCA develop better ways of giving consumers better access to beef information.
Around CA$1.1m will be invested to help the CCA work in conjunction with scientists to improve the quality of beef through the use of computer vision systems (CVS) measurements. A CVS is used in the meat industry to build up a detailed image of a beef carcase which can help businesses identify and measure the tenderness, dark cutting, lean yield, bruising, and fat colour of beef.
There will also be close to CA$400,000 for the beef body to conduct a study using satellite technology to monitor forage and pasture production for cattle ranchers. The government said this study would act as a foundation for further research to develop forage production insurance for beef producers.