Beef industry launches $875,000 ‘rebrand’ project that could bring an end to ‘Cattlemen’s’ name
March 30, 2021
(beefresearch.ca)
Facing an existential battle for the hearts and minds of Canadian consumers, Alberta’s iconic beef industry is seeking to “rebrand” itself — a move that could even mean a name change for its historic 90-year-old industry association
by Amanda Stephenson – Calgary Herald
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, a Calgary-based group that has represented the country’s ranchers and feedlot operators since 1932, has committed to spending $875,000 over three years on an “unprecedented” rebranding exercise that will include a critical examination of how the beef industry presents itself to consumers, governments, and other stakeholders.
“CCA president and Nanton-area feedlot operator Bob Lowe said everything is on the table — including the organization’s title — as the industry seeks to ensure its survival in a rapidly changing world”
Photo of Holly Sparrow, president of the Young Cattleman’s Council.PHOTO BY SUPPLIED BY HOLLY SPARROW
CCA president and Nanton-area feedlot operator Bob Lowe said everything is on the table — including the organization’s title — as the industry seeks to ensure its survival in a rapidly changing world.
“Part of it may include a name change. We don’t know that,” Lowe said. “But if it comes forward as a recommendation, we’ll look at it pretty seriously. If that’s what it’s going to take to maintain relevancy, then we have to do it to move the industry forward.”
Earlier this year, the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association — one of the provincial member associations that makes up the CCA — nabbed headlines for its own name-change debate after a board member suggested it be changed to something more gender-neutral. The board voted that motion down, with one member quoted as voicing his opposition to what he referred to as “damn liberal s—.”
But the dust-up in Saskatchewan put the issue on the CCA’s radar, Lowe said. Though he said he personally does not believe the organization needs to change its name — “if you look up ‘cattlemen’ in the dictionary, it’s gender-neutral,” he said — he acknowledged that the involvement of women in the beef industry today is “huge.”
Rancher Bob Lowe is shown at Bear Trap Feeders on Thursday, April 28, 2016 west of Nanton, Alta, south of Calgary, Alta.PHOTO BY JIM WELLS/POSTMEDIA
“Nowadays, I don’t know many women married to farmers who aren’t actively farming themselves,” Lowe said. “But a name change is going to take a lot of thought and it’s not going to be done just because of public pressure.”
The beef industry is as synonymous with Alberta as oil and gas, with an even longer history. But in recent years, this iconic industry has been forced to do some major soul-searching as issues like climate change and animal welfare have come to the forefront of public consciousness.
Who could forget the 2016 Earls controversy, which saw the Vancouver-based restaurant chain announce it would source its beef from Kansas rather than Alberta as part of its commitment to serve only Certified Humane, antibiotic and steroid-free beef? Earls eventually reversed its decision in the face of public backlash, but some commentators pointed to the episode as proof that the Canadian beef industry has been too slow to adapt to new trends and changing consumer demands.
Above and beyond gender inclusivity, these are some of the issues the CCA’s rebrand project will be wrestling with. The industry believes it has a positive story to tell about animal care, carbon sequestration, and grassland preservation but it’s not sure consumers — or governments who set agricultural policy — are hearing it.
“We always felt that we could rest on our laurels and ride on our history and who we are from an integrity perspective,” said Cherie Copithorne-Barnes, a fifth-generation rancher in the foothills just outside Calgary. “But we recognize today that’s not what gets you recognized … It’s important to stay current and be relevant to your audience.”
File photo: Cherie Copithorne-Barnes in 2015.PHOTO BY LEAH HENNEL/POSTMEDIA
Copithorne-Barnes was the founding chair of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB), where she led the development of the industry’s Certified Sustainable beef framework. The program gives Canadian ranchers access to third-party verification to prove their beef is being produced in accordance to industry standards around environmental responsibility, animal health, food safety, worker safety, and community responsibility.
That was a major step forward from a social licence point of view, Copithorne-Barnes said, but the industry still has work to do.
“That rebranding is going to be critical,” she said. “It’s important that when people start Googling and looking into who we are, that we can demonstrate that we really are a first-class professional entity, not just a bunch of hick farmers in the background.”
‘Oh, finally, we’re talking about this’
As a woman, Copithorne-Barnes said she doesn’t feel excluded by the Canadian Cattlemen’s name. Nor does Holly Sparrow, a 36-year-old rancher from Saskatchewan who heads the Young Cattlemen’s Council, a subsidiary of the CCA.
But Sparrow said she sees more and more young women like her pursuing ranching in their own right, as full and equal partners to their male spouses or even independently. She said if some of those women want to have the conversation about the “cattlemen” name, then it’s time to do so.
“I’ve honestly heard ladies in the industry say, ‘Oh, finally, we’re talking about this.’ And that really surprised me, because I hadn’t realized it was an issue. But I think some people maybe have bottled this up for a long time and have never spoken up and said anything,” she said.
Photo of Holly Sparrow, president of the Young Cattleman’s Council.PHOTO BY SUPPLIED BY HOLLY SPARROW
Sparrow said she doesn’t know if consumers care whether the industry uses the word “cattlemen” or something more gender-neutral. But she added many urban Canadians mistakenly have an “Old MacDonald” image in their minds when they hear the word “farmer.”
“An old white man pitching his hay, that kind of thing,” Sparrow said. “So I think it’s important for us young female producers to speak up as well to say, ‘Hey, we’re here too.’ ”
Maintaining relevancy a focus for the industry
Every organization has to rebrand itself every so often, said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. Still, he said the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association may be “a decade late, if not more.”
“Do some Canadians think the beef industry is old, is tired, is masculine? I would say yes,” Charlebois said. “The industry needs a refined image, an image of its time that will resonate with Canadians.”
Charlebois added it’s not that Canadians are moving away from the meat counter. Beef sales in Western Canada were up six per cent last year by volume. But sales of plant-based products were up 30 per cent year-over-year, he said.
“The cattlemen might think they’re misunderstood, but I think it’s actually them who need to make a better effort to understand what Canadians are thinking when they walk into the grocery store,” Charlebois said.
For his part, Lowe — the CCA president and Nanton-area feedlot operator — believes the stakes are high. He said he believes his industry is facing a crossroads, and risks losing critical market share if it can’t successfully define who and what it is in the 21st century.
“It’s our last-ditch effort. If we don’t get this done, we’ve lost the industry in Canada,” Lowe said. “We’ve got to maintain relevancy, however that is. It’s my job to keep us relevant.”
Originally published in the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
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