Why differentiate Canadian beef?

In today's marketplace, we need to be strategic marketers. We provide a high-quality product, but also a valuable service, one that faces huge competition and pressure from groups that sometimes look to discredit it. To simply supply a good product is not enough, we need to add value to it and aggressively market it.

The Canadian industry needs to differentiate its product based on its advantages and make it more desirable to international customers, lessening the impact of various trade-inhibiting factors often founded on misperception or lack of awareness among consumers such as the Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labelling law, in the United States, or other factors. Simply put, creating a brand promise around Canadian beef will add value and create demand.

Currently, the Canadian beef cattle industry and beef products enjoy some internationally-recognized advantages and these could and should be utilized to position the industry and differentiate it among its competition. These advantages include:

• high-quality beef
• high-yielding beef carcasses
• beef genetics that are among the best in the world
• a clean and environmentally-friendly production system
• a world-renowned cattle identification system that enables traceability and source/age verification
• HAACP-based food safety systems second to none at the packer level and voluntary on-farm HAACP-based food safety systems
• Canadians as people with integrity
• the commitment to leadership and innovation