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The 2016 CBIC: "We All Just Have to Keep on Talking"

 “It was great, that’s really all I can say about it,” said Lemon, the general manager of the Manitoba Beef Producers. “It was just solid. The only complaint I heard was, ‘I didn’t get to see that speaker, because I was at this other session at the same time.’ And if that’s the only complaint you hear, I’d say that you’ve done a good job.”
The first Canadian Beef Industry Conference at the Grey Eagle Resort and Casino in Calgary back on Aug. 9-11, was sold right out. But not only were all the spots reserved, those spots were taken by a diverse crowd of more than 650 producers, industry members and supporters of the beef industry from right across the country.

There was representation from all the beef producing provinces and a stunningly strong representation of young participants representing the industry’s future.
According to co-chairs Virgil Lowe, a lawyer with Denton’s in Calgary and Rob Smith, the CEO of the Canadian Angus Association, “The conference featured a dynamic and broad-spanning agenda rich in ideas, knowledge, insights and inspiration for moving the industry forward.”

For Smith, the co-chairs were given two primary objectives by the four Partners in CBIC -- Canada Beef, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Beef Cattle Research Council and the Canadian Beef Breeds Council -- and the general consensus was near-unanimous: The Conference delivered on every promise.

“Our two primary objectives were to assist delivery of Canada’s new National Beef Strategy (launched in January, 2015) to producers and increase awareness and help create ‘The Meeting Place’ for Canada’s beef producers, supporters, value chain participants and thought leaders,” explained Smith.

“I believe, inasmuch as we were hoping to ‘tell two friends who’ll tell two friend who’ll tell two friends… and so on and so on and so on…’ that the information delivered via CBIC will have a notable impact on cattle and beef production in Canada. I believe we met the two goals as they were cast to us and inasmuch as we had greater uptake than we expected, perhaps it is reasonable to suggest we exceeded these goals.”

For Lemon, a relatively new executive in the beef industry, the Conference delivered as much or more than he expected.

“I came out of ag on the federal government side, but on the grain side and cropping as opposed to livestock and ranching,” said Lemon. “Being new to the business, it was just great for me to be able to meet the people in the industry from right across Canada.

“But it was a long week. My boss went in a week early and stayed right to the final session. The ag industry in this country is always adding a meeting. You come to these events and people say, ‘Oh, we’ve got these people together in one place, let’s make sure we meet.’ In terms of the vastness to the environment of the agricultural industry in Canada, the people who run it are a very small group. This was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to get together and talk about everything in the industry. I thought it was ideal.”

Strong support and a full commitment

Looking back on the event, Smith believed everything that was accomplished resulted from strong support and a complete commitment to the endeavor.

“We knew we needed strong support from industry players and partners in sponsorship to ensure the event was both affordable for producers as well as created value for all cattlemen in attendance,” Smith said. “The Partners each provided a substantial financial contribution at the outset and the amount of sponsorship obtained validated the Partners’ commitment. Further, as a bit of a ‘soft’ internal objective, we wanted to see more of the younger producers (under the age of 40) participating. I think one of the pre-eminent comments is that the satisfaction of this objective was noted by most everyone in attendance.”

It was certainly noted by a newcomer like Lemon. In fact, the one thing that impressed him most about the event was what he called, “the shocking presence of so many young people.”

“What really energized me about the Conference was the demographics,” he said. “We had a number of sessions for the Canadian Young Leaders and I was overwhelmed, frankly, by the number of young people in attendance. Make no mistake, a lot of this industry is grey-haired. I mean, these things are usually dominated by a large grey-haired crowd. Remember, the average age in the ag industry is 55. I’m 53 and I’m on the young side of this industry.

“But at this conference I was impressed with the number of really young people. I was convinced, by the end of it, that the livestock business, is getting a lot younger. And there were also more women than I expected. That was good to see.

“Ultimately, it was hugely encouraging to see all these young people involved with the cattle industry.”

Two important issues

Of course, when people in the industry leave a meeting like this, there are always going to be critical issues that they take with them. To his credit, Smith was not about to paint a picture that was all rainbows and fields of orchids. While the beef industry in Canada is, for the most part, prospering, nothing is a certainty, prices are indeed falling and there are always unforeseen problems around the next corner.

“Issue No. 1 for me is identified through the current political challenges of our American and British friends with respect to free trade,” Smith said. “Both CETA and TPP are under fire as a result of BREXIT in the UK and the US Presidential election. Americans on the speaker dais at the conference spoke unanimously of TPP’s broad benefits, perhaps even critically so, to the American economy. It will be interesting to see how both of these trade agreements evolve in the coming 12 months.

“Certainly through each of the pillar sessions, but even through all others, we heard a few words enough that they emerged as themes: The importance of people; respecting and incorporating youth; “We must tell our story;” balance; team play; science; and unity.

“So, for me, Issue No. 2 is that, ultimately, each of the sectors, or links in the national value chain, need profitability to ensure sustainability for all producers and processors at every level. The only way we accomplish this is by working together and toward mutually beneficial solutions.

“While this sounds a tad Utopian, it’s also true. And I believe CBIC, while easily negated as ‘simply three days in August,’ actually represents a significant catalyst to facilitating this form of collaboration and cooperation. Everyone was there. Everyone talked. Everyone shared.

“Now we all just have to keep on talking.”

Connecting with customers

Lemon, meanwhile, recognized one important issue that was on the minds and lips of many of the attendees: Public Trust in the industry.

“It was clear to me that public trust was front and centre,” Lemon said. “It played itself out throughout the conference. We must always be connecting with customers. We must make sure that the market signals up to the producers and then flows down to the consumers.

“I believe that if we could sell our message better to consumers, we would be in a much better position. And believe me, we have a great story to tell.

“It was interesting to me that Earls Restaurants was front and centre at this conference saying quite clearly how they want to work closely with our industry to deliver what their customers want.”

Co-chair Virgil Lowe was also thrilled with the inaugural conference and like Lemon, he believes the beef industry in Canada has a great story to tell.

“We have a lot to celebrate,” said Lowe who once operated his own farm in Northern Manitoba. “The momentum and strengthened connections established here will help drive ahead the National Beef Strategy and all of our interests for years to come. The event was also designed to be an enjoyable event with a strong social side that people could build in around their summer vacation plans, and that was achieved as well. There were a lot of great discussions and strengthening of relationships that took place informally. Already we have received a lot of feedback that this was a very positive event and step forward for our industry.

“I would add that another highlight is the confidence and optimism in the Canadian beef industry. Everyone from sponsors to registrants believed in our industry enough to take a risk and to come to something new, in times of falling prices, because they believed it would make our industry successful and they are driven to make our industry successful. In my opinion it is this attitude held by the people in the beef industry that will make it successful.

“The other initiative that I picked up from the conference was the strong support from a broad range of speakers and attendees to reduce duplication of efforts and enhance alignment within the industry around common issues,” Lowe added. “I think this is a key point of improvement for the Canadian beef industry and I think that the industry has shown that it is recognized as such from across its sectors.”

The CBIC highlights

After the dust had cleared in late August, we asked co-chair Smith what he thought were the highlights of the conference. Not surprisingly, he had trouble containing himself.

Considering that the CBIC exceeded expectations in registrations and sponsorship support, with more than 60 major sponsors contributing, as well as in proceeds raised through the Canadian Cattlemen’s Foundation Golf Classic, he had every right to be pleased.

“The conference will run annually for the short term, at least, which is a highlight in itself,” said Smith. “We believe CBIC has the opportunity to grow and create even more value for Canada’s beef and cattle producers. I think it will broaden minds and minimize isolation.

“Among the biggest ‘takeaways’ from CBIC 2016 is that ‘you are not alone’ and ‘we are all in this together.’ I believe participants felt this palpably and used CBIC to broaden and diversify their professional network. And when you have Earls Family Restaurants’ CEO, Mo Jessa, sitting in front of almost 700 people saying, ‘We made a mistake. And the next time we go to make a launch of a program for beef, you know that the beef industry will be sitting right there with us,’ you know there has been sustainable impact.”

Smith was almost overwhelmed by the attendance for this first conference. The organizers set a lofty goal and then exceeded it.

“I believe that, as we talked about our goal of attendance, we all thought 500 was a lofty but possible objective,” he said. “Some thought we were even high at that and held more to a 350-400 range. To reach slightly more than 650 full registrants, and to sell out a week before the event, was not at all expected.

“In fact, for Wednesday night’s dinner, we fed between 670 and 680 people. We did not, under any circumstances, expect that level of uptake. This was certainly a highlight, because it told us that the need for CBIC was very great. The Partners were brilliantly prescient to believe the time was right to create this type of industry unity toward a single producer-based event.”

Smith asked for and then underlined the comments he received from participants. He took every comment seriously and will take them all home, study them and try to make the 2017 event even better.

“Here are the highlight comments from our participants,” Smith said. “I’m particularly fond of the final one.”

1) “I’m used to knowing everyone I see at an industry organization event. There are way more people here that I don’t know than I do.”
2) “I’m from Alberta. I had lunch with people from BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick. Now that’s what I call a national convention.

3) “There was too much to choose from in the concurrent sessions. I guess this is a good problem to have.”

4) “The speakers were outstanding. The panel discussions really opened my eyes and challenged me.”

5) “Everything flowed smoothly and we never got behind. Kudos to the organizers.”

6) “There were excellent displays from the sponsors. I believe these businesses really care about our cattle and beef business.”

7) “Thank you for including everyone from seedstock to cow/calf producers, through the cattle feeders, into the packers and through the wholesalers and retailers, including restaurants, always with a mindful perspective of the Canadian consumer of beef.”

“There were certainly a lot of highlights to my list,” Smith added, “In the end, however, this one is mine: Cattlemen traditionally do not come to events such as this. Technology or Information Transfer with cattlemen is a difficult objective to accomplish. But they came to CBIC, and they came in balance: men and women, old and young, farmers and ranchers, feeders and cow/calf producers. We had a thorough representation of every sector and they all seemed to find value in CBIC.”

Source: Meatbusiness


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