Cargill has declared its sustainable beef pilot program a success and is now looking at long-term strategies for the program, Joel Crews of Meat + Poultry reports.

Demand is outpacing supply in Cargill’s Canadian Beef Sustainability Acceleration program, the company says. The program is now looking for more producers, particularly cow-calf producers, to join.

To sign up, producers must be trained and audited by VBP+ or be audited by Where Food Comes From. They must then register for BIXS and age-verify their cattle in BIXS or the CLTS database. BIXS then disperses funds to qualifying producers. The program website states that producers received $10 per head for qualifying cattle during the first quarter of the pilot, $20.11 per head during the second quarter and $18.52 in the third quarter.

Currently only Canadian cattle slaughtered at Cargill’s High River plant are eligible for the program, Meat+Poultry reports, but Cargill plans to add cattle from the Guelph plant in the future.

For more information, visit the Canadian Beef Sustainability Acceleration website at cbsapilot.ca.