Saskatchewan is the second largest beef producer in Canada—but does not have a federally inspected processing facility.

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) says that is costing cow-calf producers money as their animals are sent to feedlots or processing facilities in other provinces and the United States.

The provincial beef cow herd is approximately 1.1 million head, with roughly the same number of calves born each year. About 250,000 are exported to other provinces (mainly Alberta) for slaughter annually, and more than a million leave the province as feeder cattle.

“COVID showed us where the present value chain is weak,” said SSGA President Garner Deobald. “Bottlenecks at the two big Alberta plants distorted the supply-and-demand dynamic, and it’s the cow/calf producers who suffered the most.”

The study says creating processing size in Saskatchewan would add value to beef exported as meat products. It would also create the incentives for additional feeding operations. Other advantages include lower trucking distances, increased employment and creating animal-welfare benefits.

“Along with the provincial government’s proposal to expand irrigation, a packing plant has terrific potential for growing our livestock feeding sector,” Deobald said.

Building a small or medium-sized meat processing plant would not be an easy process. Identifying the right investors, management and location would be very important. In the coming months, SSGA will work with government and industry stakeholders to highlight business incentives, identify the best locations to build a new plant, explore ideas for optimizing processing efficiencies, and then present this information to potential investors for next-level discussions.

The study was funded by the SSGA and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and prepared by Wille Van Solkema (consultant and former meat processing executive) and Kevin Grier (consultant and livestock, meat and grocery market analyst). The study was presented to SSGA members at the annual convention in July and was released to the public on Monday. You can view the study here.

(Above photo: SSGA President Garner Deobald)