Edmonton, Alta. - The blueprint to revitalize Alberta’s pork industry is moving closer to the point where producers will have to make decisions on whether to move ahead with the plan in its entirety or parts thereof, say three industry experts hired to build the strategy. They presented background on their analysis to the Alberta Pork annual meeting in Edmonton recently.
Gene Leman, a revitalization strategist from South Dakota, with extensive North America meat industry experience, says the strategy rests on three pillars. One is to build an Alberta Quality Platform as a baseline production standard. Second is to create a brand domestically and internationally that creates demand at the consumer level and “pulls” product through the supply chain. Third is producer involvement and possible investment in the processing side throughout the value chain.
The quality platform is an essential tool in product differentiation already used by major competitors, says Leman. Genesis Quality Assurance, a British company with a successful international production verification program has been hired to evaluate the Alberta industry. The market research and brand pull effort is being handled by J. C. Williams, an international brand development firm.
Industry integration is really about getting a bigger piece of the pie for producers and that requires integration up the value chain, says Leman. Producers can do this at a basic level by building risk sharing programs with processors. A second option is by having a verified production program and combining that with brand ownership for their product and an agreed custom slaughter with a processor. A third option is by building a more complete program that combines production verification and brand ownership with processing plant ownership.
Leman says return on investment is not strong at either the producer or the processing level. Processors need hogs and they may be more willing to listen to value relationships that will help keep hogs coming.
Mark Brooking, Director of Genesis Quality Assurance, hired to evaluate Alberta’s industry, says that on the production front, the Alberta industry is doing many things right already and it is more a matter of doing a better job of telling the product story than it is about requiring a major shift in approach.
“Based on our initial findings Alberta has excellent facilities, good basic production protocols such as Canadian Quality Assurance, and excellent management. You compare favorably with the rest of the world. Don’t keep it a secret. You need to sell your strengths.”
Producers concerned with what assurance will cost, should keep in mind that the most compliant farms usually also have the best herd performance, says Brooking. Assurance is more about common sense and attention to detail, and in fact in some countries, assurance has led to lower insurance costs because of that. “It can set the stage for you to sell your product rather than giving it away.”
John Torella of J. C. Williams says producers will recognize many successful food brands such as Wisconsin cheese or Ontario wines. The challenge is to build a brand for Alberta pork that will warrant a price premium from certain consumers, build long term profitable growth and customers for life.
The branding effort is following a four step process. The first stage, where information was gathered from consumers, chefs and industry executives, and case studies examined, is complete.
Next stage is to build the brand positioning and strategy options. The first draft of this is complete. Stages three and four will be to develop the branding process and to build a business plan for implementation. This stage is tentatively slated to be completed by March of 2010.
“Alberta pork has some important consumer purchasing and usage strengths to build on,” says Torella. “It is an excellent time for pork to grow. However, there are challenges in the value chain that have been identified and need to be dealt with.”
“We are very pleased with the work that has been done so far and are confident producers will have good information to make these critical decisions about their future,” says Herman Simons, chair of Alberta Pork. More information will be available in the coming months.
Source : Alberta Pork