Humans are storytellers at heart. Before we developed an alphabet, our stories were oral and were passed from one generation to the next. In today’s world, with a growing cynicism of consumers and multiple communication channels, a story simply doesn’t meet expectations. Consumers want proof, and the only way to provide that proof is to document data and information along the supply chain. That collection of documentation for a particular item is in effect its own biography. This helps create trust in your product.
There will always be a market for products without a story, but that market will continue to shrink, and price differences between products with a bio and those without can be expected to increase. Just think of any other market segment beyond food and how even the simplest biography (a brand name) can impact market demand and price. By adding more information to your product, the discriminating consumer is more likely to consider purchasing that item.
A recent survey by the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity found that 21 percent of respondents feel that the Canadian food system is headed in the wrong direction while another 50 percent are unsure. This is a sobering finding, and yet it presents a wonderful opportunity: 50 percent of consumers are waiting to be shown that everyone along the food supply chain is doing their part to build consumer trust. Specific concerns identified by consumers related to production practices (particularly animal welfare), faith in inspection systems (particularly food safety) and trust of specific sectors (particularly food retail and government) within the supply chain. As the old saying goes, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” and so everyone along the supply chain should take the results seriously.
Farmer organizations such as Dairy Farmers of Canada are responsible to implement consistent programs in the industry. These programs evolve over time, as you can see with the proAction program. Industry and government have agreed that the time is right to incorporate traceability into the proAction program, starting in September 2017. This will mean some more record keeping for farmers, but it can come with benefits.
For several years now, dairy farmers have been required to have every animal identified with an RFID tag. This mandatory identification is one of the three components of traceability. The other two are premises identification and reporting of animal movements. In the Canadian livestock industry, traceability was initiated as a way of speeding the response to any foreign animal disease outbreak. The cost of slow response time was demonstrated in spades in the early 2000s in the United Kingdom, where foot and mouth disease spread quickly, resulting in the slaughter of 10 million cattle and sheep and a staggering cost of approximately $16 billion. The ability to trace animals is really insurance against industry devastation. Even knowing that, many farmers question the cost of RFID tags and will no doubt find the added paperwork related to full traceability to be less than their favourite task.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is expected to introduce regulations that will require dairy farmers to capture and submit animal movement data starting Sept. 1, 2017. The dairy industry has been very involved with CFIA in the development of regulations to ensure that they are realistic. Further, industry leaders have been active in a broader context, developing the on-farm program called proAction. Traceability is one of six modules of proAction, the others being: the national food safety program (CQM), milk quality, biosecurity, environment and animal care. The animal care program will have the same launch date of Sept. 1, 2017. Where possible, these programs, aside from building consumer confidence, should offer additional added value for farmers.
Like any successful business owner, a dairy farmer must make good business decisions. Good decisions are based on information, and information is based on data. Collecting data on a farm may seem like a chore unto itself some days, but it really is critical to a successful future for your farm. Traceability is a small but key part of the data that you should be capturing on a daily basis. Ideally, you will capture data in real time on your smartphone as you go about your workday. The resulting information is useful when making decisions that affect your business. For some that will mean more profit; for others it will mean better use of their time, leaving more for family; while for others it will mean better use of hired help.
Businesses along the supply chain have different challenges in effectively capturing data and managing information to be more successful. There are several systems available to help do that.
When considering these systems for your own farm business, be sure to ask these 10 important questions:
- Does it allow me to capture data easily and in real time, or use paper and have help available?
- Is my data safe should my computer malfunction?
- Can it be customized to meet my own business needs and preferences?
- Is there a support team available when I need help?
- Does the system do more than collect data by creating valuable information?
- Can I easily share data with those that I want to connect with?
- Is it web-based so that updates are not a problem?
- Can I use it on my smartphone?
- Can I use it out of internet range?
- What does it cost?
Too often people start with question number 10. Another old saying is, “You get what you pay for,” and while cost is obviously a consideration, you need to ask questions one through nine first to be able to determine value.
Ensuring that you provide information on your product, whether that is an animal, a crop or a finished product, is your way of providing transparency and building trust with your consumer. Product trust is a critical component in maintaining and growing markets with today’s consumer and to ensure the healthy future of the industry. PD
Mike McMorris is a general manager for BIO. Email Mike McMorris.
Paul Norris is a field service representative for Dairy Farmers of Ontario.
