PUBLISHED BY MANITOBA BEEF PRODUCERS
NOVEMBER 2020
TOGETHER, BUT APART On October 19 Manitoba Beef Producers kicked off district meeting season by successfully hosting the first of ten virtual Zoom meetings that are scheduled to run until November 5. Seen here is MBP General Manager, Carson Callum, in the MBP offices in Winnipeg speaking with producers and industry stakeholders across the province. (Photo credit: David Hultin)
COVID-19 presents challenges and opportunities for the beef industry Michael Young, President of Canada Beef has had a chance to watch the COVID-19 pandemic evolve and has seen its effects on the beef industry at all levels. We asked Young for his thoughts on how the industry has been affected to date, what some of the lingering effects will be post-pandemic, and how the industry is and will adapt for changes ahead. Challenges and solutions As with any crisis there are winners and losers, and sadly, the food service sector is struggling His daughters sell!
to recover from being completely shutdown at the beginning. “The go-back-to-business requirements for these operations, with 50 per cent occupancy, social distancing, and rising food costs has been crippling,” says Young. The packing industry has identified some key weaknesses in its systems and is focusing on how to address them going forward. “I think the rolling plant slow downs and temporary closures we saw demonstrated that the processing of animal proteins is extremely
labour intensive, and the dependence of the human factor working in close proximity has proved to be one of the weakest links,” says Young. “Packing plants in Canada have invested over $50 million to upgrade procedures, protocols and safety conditions so that their staff will be safe and that food can be produced safely.” As packing plants rebuild or upgrade facilities in the future, they will likely be considering these factors and investigating cost effective options for increased automation.
“The challenge in meat processing sector is to maximize throughput based on the operating space available in an efficient, cost effective and safe way. This requires a balance of automation and skilled physical labour”, says Young. “I think that most meat processing plants will be taking a good look at both advanced automation, robotics and flow-efficient layout changes to meet these challenges for the future. Protocols for managing and monitoring staff are also changing, and Canada Beef currently
is developing an app to help do pre-screening of employees working in the food industry. “The app will be available free of charge to food processors, retailer or food service operators who are looking for this kind of technology to automate new protocols and procedures to safeguard the food supply and protect employees from being exposed,” says Young. The employee simply responds to a few questions each morning before coming to work. The app will automatically inform their employer of their condition and if required,
COMPLETE DISPERSAL - 328 Simmentals Sell At the farm - Douglas, Manitoba
November 30, 2020
200 bred females - 51 bull calves - 71 heifer calves - 6 herd bulls
204 763 4697
WLB Livestock
204 729 7925 Bill & Nancy Biglieni
wlblivestock@gmail.com
that they will be staying home. The app is designed to reduce reporting time and the reaction process before the employee comes into the work space. Page 2 POSTMASTER: PLEASE RETURN UNDELIVERABLE COPIES TO: MBP, UNIT 220, 530 CENTURY STREET, WINNIPEG, MB R3H 0Y4 CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS MAIL PRODUCT SALES AGREEMENT NUMBER 40005187 POSTAGE PAID IN WINNIPEG.
BY ANGELA LOVELL
She and 200 bred females sell!