By Sheri Monk

Shoppers seeking organic beef at any Real Canadian Superstore might be surprised to learn they’re actually buying all-American.
Real Canadian Superstores are contained with in the giant Loblaw Companies umbrella, which also include Loblaws, Zehrs, No frills, Your Independent Grocer, Fortinos, Valu-mart, Freshmart, Provigo, Maxi (including Maxi and Co.), Atlantic Superstore, Atlantic Save-Easy, Super Valu, Dominion in Newfoundland, Real Canadian Superstore, The Real Canadian Wholesale Club, Extra Foods, Shop Easy Foods and Lucky Dollar Foods.
In a recent company magazine called ‘Healthy Insider’ geared to promote the company’s PC lines (Loblaw’s own brand of products short for President’s Choice), readers across the nation learned about a new line featuring organic meat.
“Our President’s Choice Free From line includes fresh beef, pork and chicken all of which are raised without the use of antibiotics and hormones, are vegetable grain fed and contain no animal by-products,” reads the magazine.
Next to the text is a photo of a package of ground beef and two ranchers – from Helmville, Montana. Indeed, their photo is on each and every package of beef under the specialty label and in the magazine, they are quoted as saying, “We’re doing what’s right for our cattle. Our ranch was built on the philosophy of growing the best beef possible.”
But the couple are not the owners of the cattle in question. They are the managers of a large, corporate ranch, part of the Meyer Natural Beef. The beef group, in addition to Meyers Natural Beef Ranch, also includes a network of 250 other contributing producers.
When contacted for comment, a communications official with Loblaw said there isn’t enough supply in Canada to meet their demand.
“We have increased the amount of meat we are sourcing from Canadian producers and always aim to source as much product as possible domestically. However there are no existing suppliers of antibiotic and hormone free beef in Canada that can meet our PC requirements and supply adequate supply of beef,” said Julija Hunter, vice president of public relations for Loblaw.
For Loblaw’s Free From label, all of the poultry is sourced from Canada and pork is a combination of Canadian and U.S. supply.
“In the case of PC Free From Pork, we source from both Canada and the U.S. in order to fulfill quality and supply requirements. You’ll be pleased to know that all PC Free From Chicken is raised in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia,” said Hunter.
Christoph Weder, an organic rancher and founder of Prairie Heritage Beef Producers, which markets more than 10,000 head annually. He says Canada is more than capable of supplying Loblaw’s needs.
“That’s what Loblaw will tell you. It’s a load of crap is what it is,” said Weder. “It’s a complete lie.”
Weder and his wife Erika run Sprit View Ranch in northwest Alberta in the Peace region. Weder says he met with Loblaw two years ago when they were first sourcing an organic beef supply for the new line. He says the company simply said their price was too high and never contacted him again.
“So they went south-side. But the reason we got our beef program started was to start making more money with cattle,” Weder said.
The U.S. organic market is able to offer prices at about half of their Canadian counterparts, according to Weder.
“They have lots of different natural programs that compete as a commodity and are not reflective of the true cost of production,” said Weder.
In simple terms, there are so many organic producers now in the U.S., that they are competing on price rather than quality and are receiving little more than their commercial cattle counterparts.
“There’s so many natural programs in the U.S., they are all starting to compete for market share. Our producers actually have to make some money at this. We have to get the prices we need to produce or everyone is going to get out of this industry,” exclaimed Weder.
And that’s a road Weder simply doesn’t want to travel.
“We are not going to price it at whatever the market is , plus five cents because that’s not enough.”
He also says processing costs are much less in the U.S. because there are so many processors killing organic cattle and are streamlined for European importation requirements.
“Their packing plant costs for natural programs are probably at the same level our major packers are,” said Weder, adding he estimates it’s about $150 per head less expensive to kill the same animal south of the border.
Weder says Canada can meet Loblaw’s demand for supply and for quality.
“There’s two natural companies in Alberta alone that both have requirements of it being angus beef ­and both run 10,000 head of cattle a year,” said Weder.
And as for requirements, Weder says Prairie Heritage beef beats the company’s standards.
“Our program actually goes beyond what theirs actually is. We’re no hormones and antibiotics, we’ve got good grazing, animal welfare, fair trade and we’re fully auditable.”
“They’re masters at spin doctoring their program to look like it’s Canadian, to make consumers believe they are supporting Canadian producers when in fact, they are not,” Weder said.
Weder has been chasing the national company ever since and says his calls were never returned – until recently.
“I said you continue to ignore my phone calls and that’s fine. But I’m going to bring it to light to the Canadian consumer how you say you can’t find a natural angus program in canada, even though there’s at least five companies that could do it, that there’s enough cattle in our industry, but the retailers just don’t want to pay for it,” he described. “I told him if they want to continue, my farmers are soon going to start protesting in front of your stores.”
Weber says within an hour, he received a call back from the company’s meat consultant, but the conversation doesn’t appear to have produced results yet.
“Canadian retail prices for beef have gone up by $5.87 a kilo in the last 15 years and the producers received 17 cents of that. The retail margins are what is killing this industry. It’s retail concentration and to some extent, packer concentration, says Weder.
Recently, he says he explored the beef section of his local grocery store and found lean ground beef selling for $8.50 per kilo.
“The packer gets $3.50 or $3.25 per kilo at best. Does it cost $5.25 to put it through a grinder and put it in a tray? I’m all for making profit, but that’s unreal,” said Weder.
“It’s soon food freedom day, we’ve got the cheapest food in the world, second to the U.S. and our producers are faltering. It’s not from being inefficient, it’s from being robbed. We’re being robbed. Retailers talk about shoplifting, but they are robbing us,” Weder hotly said.
On the surface, Weder’s outrage may appear hypocritical. After all, Canada is currently taking the U.S. to task at the World trade Organization because of their country of origin labeling (COOL) program. Even though labels are permitted to have multiple origins such as ‘product of U.S., Canada and Mexico.’ the Canadian government is demanding the Americans scrap the program because it may reduce the volume of Canadian beef the U.S. imports.
But Weder doesn’t agree with the Canadian government’s response.
“I think we should have country of origin labeling in Canada and it doesn’t have to be intertwined as the U.S. has it. I export to Europe and in Europe, in Switzerland, if you open a menu it says beside each item where it’s from. Beside the beef, it said Heritage Angus beef, Canada. The spinach came from Switzerland, the pork was from another country – I have no problem with that,” said Weder.
He says part of the problem is the high Canadian dollar. Large retailers are bringing in cheap American beef and forcing other retailers to do the same in order to compete. Weder’s observations mirror those made by American producers when the Canadian dollar was much lower than it is today.
“At least if the consumer knows where it comes from, buying decisions are not being made by retailer spin doctoring. Some are going to buy on patriotic grounds, some in other areas will want to try it (foreign meat). So yes, I am in favour of COOL.”
Weder says when he saw a recent issue of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) magazine, the issue featured a story on the front cover called, ‘Bringing wolves out into the open,’ and he says he was disappointed when he realized it was not about the big retailers, who he considers a much more legitimate threat than any animal.
“We’re being broke by these wovles – the two-legged kind and we should be paying attention to it. The ABPs (Alberta Beef Producers) and the CCAs of the world are not opening their mouths about it.”
Weder, who was born in Switzerland and moved to Canada at the age of four, says Canadian producers are too complacent, but need to become more engaged.
“Either they’ve been beaten up, or they’re doing the polite Canadian thing. If this was happening in Europe, you’d have every farmer picketing the stores over this.”
Weder hopes Canadian producers will start to act on their own and collectively to save the industry and is encouraging producers to contact Loblaw to voice their concerns.
“Here is some contact information – Loblaw’s Rodney Koning, 905-459-2500, email rodney.koning@loblaw.ca or Dan Rosscup, 403-291-7748, email dan.rosscup@loblaw.ca.”
“Partly, the beef industry is to blame themselves. You either have to speak up, or shut up and get out of the industry.”