With seed money now in place, industry and government are backing plans to build a Prince George processing plant to boost beef sales.
B.C. is lacking federally licensed plants to process local beef. Currently, B.C. cattle are most often processed at federally licensed plants in Alberta or the U.S. when the beef is going to be sold to other provinces or countries.
According to a B.C. Ministry of Agriculture press release, a proposed federally inspected beef processing plant in Prince George could increase local food supply security, as well as boost the capacity to export B.C. beef in Europe and Asia.
“Should the business model prove successful, we are well positioned through our shipping, rail and transportation infrastructure to help put B.C. beef on dinner tables around the world,” said Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris in a press release.
Through a federal-provincial program, the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association will receive up to $160,000 in funding toward development of a business plan for a federally inspected beef processing plant in Prince George. The majority of the provided money, $144,000, will be used to develop ownership models as well as identify supply chain and investment partners. The remaining 10% of the money will be used to develop operational plans including marketing and sales strategy, production requirements and a financial strategy.
The provincial ministry predicts that a federally inspected beef processing would add $250 million in annual beef and by-product sales, increase value added exports by $180 million and add 180 full-time-equivalent and 620 spin-off jobs.
The money was provided through Growing Forward 2, a five-year $3-billion federal-provincial program to grow Canada’s agricultural sector. In B.C., the federal and provincial governments is to invest an estimated $427 million in the program from 2013-2018
