For some producers, eco-labelling is a way to receive some returns for their stewardship practices. The Producers of the Diamond Willow Range Inc., a group of ranching families in the Pincher Creek area, are basing the marketing of their beef in part on their range management practices that conserve wildlife, grasslands and watershed health.
About seven years ago, two of the ranching families asked the University of Calgary's Faculty of Environmental Design to assess whether their practices were compatible with wildlife and other environmental considerations, and whether consumers would pay for a branded product based on such practices. The positive findings prompted the two families and five others to create Diamond Willow beef.
The families share a stewardship ethic - along with a willingness to follow the Organic Crop Improvement Association's internationally certified practices, keep very detailed records, and do their own marketing. Each calf is carefully tracked from its birth to how it is raised, grazed and finished, and on to the packing plant and retail outlet. The families direct-sell to help get their brand differential message across.
They charge a higher price for their product because they have to, explains Keith Everts, one of the ranchers. "Every component of the system takes human time and adds a cost." He adds, "By supporting a branded product like Diamond Willow Beef, people in urban areas can support management for long-term sustainability of the ecosystem."
"Our biggest challenge is to get brand recognition," notes Everts. "It's easy for people to say they believe in certain ways. But when it comes down to buying that product, it takes a lot of education for people to understand what the brand differential means." However, he thinks such branding is a growing trend. "People are becoming more conscious about where their products are from and how they're made."
Paul Barlott of FoodView Inc. agrees about this trend. Edmonton-based FoodView is currently testing its system to trace products from the farm to the retail outlet in some real farm situations. "There's a lot of interest in this, but not many have really tried it in the field," he says. "The tough part is keeping products segregated and implementing traceability systems. For example, keeping individual carcasses separate in a large packing plant and implementing the infrastructure for tracing. However, this does provide a new profit opportunity for producers and processors to realize the benefits of value traceability."
Those interested in this approach would need to target "about 20 to 30% of consumers who are really conscious of what they are eating and where it comes from," explains Barlott. "You need to get a premium price for your product because of the costs associated with using the practices that differentiate your product and with tracing how it is produced." He adds, "Down the road, I think the consumers will want and demand this information."
