February is always an interesting time for Canada Beef. From a business planning perspective, it signals the final approach to the March 31 finish line for the current fiscal year.
Canada Beef’s focus on keeping beef on people’s dinner plates at home and abroad remains keen as the fiscal year winds down and we go forward under a new business plan. Producers can rest assured that Canada Beef has its eye on the ball in terms of the challenges and opportunities to maintain demand for Canadian beef.
The “Burger it Forward” campaign is a great way to get Canadians on board with beef and support a good cause. The third annual campaign launched on February 1 with a record 248 participating restaurants signed up as this column went to press. Organizers expect a few more restaurants to join.
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This campaign is a giveback initiative created by Canada’s beef farmers and ranchers to support community restaurants and Canadian ground beef supply while raising funds for food banks at local, regional and national levels.
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Each participating restaurant serves up a special burger featuring 100 per cent Canadian beef for the campaign. For every campaign-featured burger purchased, Canada Beef will donate the equivalent of one meal to Food Banks Canada, up to a maximum of 20,000 meals (based on Food Banks Canada’s meal metric: $1 = two meals). Participating provincial cattle producer associations also provide support to their regional food banks by donating funds or ground beef.
The 2024 campaign raised $67,406 for food banks and sold 59,794 burgers at 199 participating restaurants across Canada. The goal is to best that outcome this year.
The “Burger it Forward” 2025 campaign runs February 1-28. Check out the campaign website (burgeritforward.ca) to find participating restaurants in regions across Canada where you can buy featured campaign burgers and help support an important initiative to address food insecurity.
Canada Beef’s business planning also includes participating in select trade missions and trade shows in priority markets to promote Canadian beef and explore opportunities to grow market share.
In December, Canada Beef participated in the Team Canada trade mission to Indonesia and the Philippines led by Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, Mary Ng.
Indonesia and the Philippines represent an opportunity for grain-fed Canadian beef as both countries seek to diversify their beef imports from a food security perspective.
Eric Bienvenue, Canada Beef president and Deana Kao, director of market development, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong joined the Canadian Cattle Association’s Nathan Phinney (president) and Jennifer Babcock (senior director, government and public affairs) on the Team Canada trade mission. They met with Minister Ng to discuss the Indo-Pacific as well as the Canada-U.S. relationship.
In addition to the formal trade mission program, Canada Beef and the CCA met with local importers, distributors, retailers and food service industry representatives in both countries to showcase Canadian beef and position Canada as a reliable supplier of high-quality protein.
Canadian beef was promoted to local buyers and food industry influencers in workshops organized by Canada Beef and was served at most of the networking events organized for participants and local industry invitees in this mission. Building awareness of the Canadian beef advantage, the stewardship of Canada’s beef producers, and Canada’s sustainable beef production system was a crucial aspect of this market development initiative.
The Indo-Pacific is Canada’s second-largest regional export market after the U.S. In 2023, annual two-way merchandise trade between Canada and the region was valued at $257 billion.
Canada Beef’s involvement in many aspects of the beef value chain ensures collaboration with industry and alignment on matters of importance. For example, Bienvenue attended national events such as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s animal protein table meeting in Ottawa in January to discuss issues affecting the beef sector, and CattleCon 2025 in Texas to network with producers and learn more about National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and U.S. Meat Export Federation perspectives on the new U.S. administration as well as initiatives abroad.
In March, Bienvenue will participate in the Annual Meat Conference in Florida, to take in the latest innovations and trends in the retail meat space as well as perspectives on the future of meat retail.
Canada Beef’s engagement with industry is a two-way street. On the flip side, research conducted in Canada Beef’s health and nutrition space is available to industry policy groups to use in their respective advocacy efforts. Resources created by the health and nutrition team are available directly to health professionals via SampleCupboard, and stakeholders via the Thinkbeef Resource Centre, and at conferences.
At a recent Diabetes Canada conference in Nova Scotia, Canada Beef was the only food-related booth among about 40 exhibitors. The team spoke with an estimated 200-300 health professionals at the booth. The conference attracted over 1,200 attendees, primarily doctors, registered dietitians, registered nurses and researchers.
Canada Beef also provides culinary and consumer marketing expertise and support to the industry. Recent examples saw Canada Beef partner once again with Alberta Beef Producers to bring influencer and pit master Mel Chmilar Jr. and his “Darkside of the Grill” demonstrations to Farmfair International, and with Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association on a Canadian beef cooking stage at Canadian Western Agribition.
Canada Beef looks forward to continued collaboration with stakeholders.
– Eric Bienvenue is a strategic leader with more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in Canada’s animal protein sectors. A native of Saint-Valérien, Que., Bienvenue is based out of Canada Beef’s Calgary headquarters and resides in Airdrie, Alta. Gina Teel is the director of stakeholder communications for Canada Beef, where she provides timely and effective communication of all Canada Beef initiatives and outcomes to funding partners and industry stakeholders, media, consumers, and other external audiences.
