Since you are in the process of certifying your beef herd organic and
planning future marketing I thought you might like to hear that we are
getting Alberta "almost organic" beef all the way out here on Vancouver
Island. A local supermarket named Country Grocer (I think there are five
or six on Vancouver Island) has been featuring Diamond Wellow Range beef.
Their brochure claims the beef is "free from artificial hormones and
antibiotics," and they maintain an "audit trail for each animal from birth
to retail." They also say that there is "pending certification by the
Organic Crop Improvement Association." Their meats recently disappeared
from the supermarket cooler so I asked the store manager if it had been a
poor seller. On the contrary, he said, it sold very well but the producers
are temporarily of meat (it sold for about a dollar a kilo more than
comparable cuts). There are eight ranches listed as suppliers of Diamond
Willow Range and Francis and Bonnie Gardner, from near Nanton, AB, are the
producers.
It might seem strange that we, on southern Vancouver Island, are importing
beef have to import beef from Alberta (we also have New Zealand beef in the
stores) but even as we try to stimulate agriculture beef production is
declining here in the Cowichan Valley, southern Vancouver Island. Forestry
has always been the main economic engine here but at one time farming was
culturally and economically very important. Rising land valuesand
freetrade during the '80s and '90s have had a depressing effect. Right now
forestry is in depression because of the Asian meltdown and people are
grasping at straws, one of which is agriculture.
Don Maroc
Cowichan Valley
Vancouver Island, Canada
maroc@islandnet.com
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