Feature Articles
Dollars for equipment purchase available to beef producers
April 11, 2011
Beef producers who have participated in a Verified Beef Production (VBP) workshop may be eligible for equipment purchase assistance in some provinces.
The funding is available from the federal/provincial Growing Forward program, depending on details specific to each province.
"What I like about the equipment fund is it has a very real impact," says Manitoba beef producer Betty Green, who helps deliver the program as part of her role as a VBP coordinator. "Equipment can make a big difference. It not only helps make the work easier, but it makes sure a job is done the right way."
Examples of equipment that may be purchased include computer software to track medication withdrawals, chutes with neck extenders to facilitate neck injections, scales and digital thermometers.
"The producers who purchase this equipment do so to improve their technique or improve their procedures at the farm level," says Green, part of the Green family operation near Fisher Branch, which includes a 1,000-head cow-calf operation and a feedlot. "It's always nice when you're rewarding the producers who are doing things right. That's what the equipment funding is set-up to do."
VBP is Canada's recognized on-farm food safety program for beef – a program designed to uphold consumer confidence in the products and good practices of this country's beef producers.
By attending a VBP workshop - any one of several held regularly across the country - producers help keep up to date with standard operating procedures that support on-farm food safety. They also have the option to complete additional steps to become VBP registered, which can bring marketing advantages by providing verified assurance that the operation's practices meet recognized VBP standards.
The equipment available for purchase through Growing Forward is not required to meet VBP standards, but it can help producers meet those standards and do their job more effectively, says Green. "Good tools can go a long way to help. With the equipment funding, producers can get those with less of a dent to their pocketbooks."
For producers who haven't participated in the VBP program, the first step to become eligible for the funding is to sign-up to attend a VBP workshop or take the optional online version. Information on workshops is available through VBP provincial coordinators, who are listed on the "VBP Across Canada" section of the VBP Web site, located at www.verifiedbeef.org.
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