Over the last 21 months, I've witnessed the complete devastation wrecked upon Ontario farm families by the BSE crisis. And yet, in the midst of all of this uncertainty , a lot of interesting, innovative ideas have come to light on how we can better promote beef in this province.

You've heard time and time again that we continue to be the only country in the world to have had a case of BSE, and seen consumption rise - and I don't think we can stress, enough, the importance of this fact. Our consumers have responded to the transparency shown by the Canadian beef industry and the Canadian government. Despite fear-mongering attempts by a few self-serving columnists and media outlets, the average consumer has weighed the facts for him or herself and has realized that due to our countless safe guards, BSE isn't a food safety issue. It's a trade issue

Let's think about the Ontario market for a moment and the advantages we have by living in the most populated province in the country. Our 21,000 beef farmers produce less than half of the beef consumed in Ontario and yet we're continually frustrated by the fact that our low prices are driven by factors in the rest of the country and by world trade prices. We're heard lots of talk about our need to become less reliant on our American market. The Canada Beef Export Federation is doing a good job of working towards opening up new markets for our beef in Asia and Mexico but I also think we need to focus on our local markets - our neighbours within this very province. The Beef Information Centre is doing some excellent work in this respect but there's always room for more. By doing a better job of serving our Ontario market, we should be able to help insulate ourselves from the low prices we've seen,

As I've mentioned a couple of times in my editorials in Ontario Beef magazine, I'm intrigued by the marketing options that BSE has provided us with. I continue to be impressed by those producers who took the lead in developing the Kawartha Choice brand ( www.kawarthachoice.com ) which is quickly becoming known to consumers in the areas of Peterborough and Victoria Counties as a symbol of locally grown products. In Prince Edward County, the local cattlemen's association has begun work on a similar project and in Grey and Bruce Counties, farmers have had much success in selling beef to their urban neighbours through a system called Beef Connections.
Individual producers across the province have also flooded their local abattoirs with requests to slaughter cattle as the result of individual orders from their neighbours, relatives and friends.

On a couple of occasions, I've been questioned about my vocal support of these smaller initiatives given the fact that OCA has made a large financial commitment to the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Program. I'm a huge supporter of that program and it's done a tremendous job of putting Ontario beef in front of our local consumers. I'm convinced, though, that we'd be well served by having dozens of these made-in-Ontario initiatives, all appealing to their individual, niche markets. After all, when you visit the grocery store, you're always given dozens of different options when buying anything from laundry soap to pickles to breakfast cereals or ketchup - why not have the same for Ontario beef products?

Quite frankly, if we fail to make any changes in our marketing choices as a result of the lessons we've learned since May 20, 2003, I believe that we'll have failed as an industry.
It's clear to me that the broader beef industry isn't going to change - it's us, as individuals, that need to take the lead role in creating any new type of marketing opportunities within the province.

We, as beef farmers, need to stop asking packers, "What will you pay me?" and start saying, "This is what I need for my cattle." Again, in my humble opinion, gone are the days when you simply send your animals on trucks to an auction barn or packing plant and hope for the best. Producers who survive these devastating times will be the ones who have developed relationships with the feeding sector, with processors and with retailers.

With our national identification system, Canada is also on the leading edge, internationally, with our strengths in the areas of traceback and identification. Our foreign markets are going to demand age-verification so don't wait for this to be mandated. The system designed by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency will soon be capable of storing this age verification information and, in the meantime, I'd encourage you to position yourselves - and your industry - by maintaining stellar records of dates including the start and end of your calving seasons, exact calving dates if possible, and the unique CCIA tag numbers assigned to calves.

We can't let ourselves go back to the way things were on May 19, 2003. The old way is too vulnerable. We all need to take a leadership role in taking back our industry - there's an obvious road map ahead of us. I'd challenge you to follow it.