The Ontario Veal Association (OVA) is dedicated to promoting and enhancing a viable and competitive Ontario veal industry through innovation, marketing, advocacy, and education. 2005 marked another very busy year for the OVA as it brought many opportunities and challenges. Some highlights of the year’s major accomplishments are outlined below.

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

In 2005, marketing and promotion activities were of a top priority. This year the OVA revamped its consumer education and awareness campaign to focus on the veal calf rather than veal as a meat. Also developed this year was a new veal recipe card which was distributed to interested consumers at food shows in Toronto. The OVA also continued to develop relationships with our retail partners in hopes to get more veal on supermarket shelves. To date, OVA programs with Longo’s (and Holly Park Meat Packers), and Sobeys (and St. Helen’s Meat Packers) have seen moderate increases in the number of veal carcasses being processed.

OVA MEMBER PROGRAMS

Continuing to develop and enhance member programs was a major focus of our activities this past year. In order to provide the veal industry with a wealth of information, the OVA added direct-to-packer sales information to the weekly market report and distributed two information-packed issues of the Ontario Veal News magazine. Along with providing new information, the OVA continued to teach its Ontario Veal Quality Assurance Program to interested producers.

PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS

Throughout the year, the OVA has invested in projects that will increase awareness of Ontario’s veal industry, help the OVA reach its organizational objectives, and advance Ontario’s veal industry. Supporting Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC) initiatives, funding veal feed research projects, participating in the Red Meat Marketing Project, and representing veal farmers on numerous committees and working groups are just some of the highlights from the past year.

Along with investing in projects, the OVA has lobbied government on producers’ behalf, to obtain funding for projects that will aid in the advancement of the veal industry. This year the OVA received provincial government funding for the Ontario Veal Industry Development Initiative, which aims to further develop on-farm best management programs, research new feeding protocols for veal, develop and implement a veal carcass grading system and electronic auction, and develop retail and foodservice market development activities.

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH

Travelling to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom provided OVA representatives with an opportunity to study how the countries’ veal industries work in terms of value chains, technology, regulations, and research. This research will help further the OVA’s proposal to the Farm Products Marketing Commission, which will allow the OVA to seek marketing board powers on behalf of Ontario’s veal producers.

Within Ontario, the OVA conducted market research on a number of topics relating to the veal industry and identified opportunities for further veal market development in Ontario’s foodservice sector. As well, to comply with Health Canada’s new mandatory labeling of all ground meat regulations, the OVA had both milk-fed and grain-fed ground veal analyzed so that standardized nutritional labels were available for retailers to place on their ground veal.