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Huron East opens the way for a large beef-packing plant in western Ontario's cattle countryNow a feasibility study is underway on a $25-$30 million plant that could eventually kill 3,000-3,500 head a weekby DON STONEMANThe Township of Huron East has rezoned a property near the Brussels Sales yard to allow construction of a large-scale beef packing plant. Now it's looking for a producer group to actually build the plant."It's a kind of a chicken and egg situation," says Huron East mayor Joe Seili about the rezoning of a property east of the town of Brussels. Seili recalls taking part in a round-table meeting with federal agriculture minister Andy Mitchell, who talked of Canada's need for additional kill capacity for 25,000 head of beef cattle. Seili says investment is needed in the area, but governments are reluctant to go forward until a local community proves that it is behind a plant. "They didn't really want to talk until there was a rezoning." Seili says he found that government money had been spent on projects before "and then rezoning just killed it." However, the rezoning was quickly passed at a mid-August council meeting, says Seili. Now Toronto-based Giffels Associates Limited, a multi-disciplined engineering and architectural consulting firm, is conducting a feasibility and marketing study for a farmer-owned federally inspected co-operative plant that would slaughter 1,000 head a week initially and expand later to 3,000 to 3,500 head a week "as the need arises." It would cost an estimated $25-$30 million to build the plant and carry it through the early operational phase, Seili says. "The big advantage is that the livestock is already trucked here," says Seili, who also owns a company that sells grain and feed handling equipment. The Brussels livestock yard is one of the largest stockyards in Ontario, he notes, as well as being central to the cattle-rich counties of Huron and Bruce. Almost at the same time as the rezoning, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced its $1 million Ruminant Slaughter Facility Assessment Assistance Program. The program aims to establish a new farmer-owned, federally-inspected plant -- or expand an existing one -- by funding part of the cost of a feasibility study. It's not clear if a municipality can use this program to fund its feasibility study. Farmers have to be more involved in processing their cattle, Seili believes. But Dave Stewart, general manager of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association, is not aware of a producer group being involved as of late August. Stewart says he first heard about the Huron East proposal in May and suggested to Seili at that point that his municipality team up with another municipality in eastern Ontario that was also considering a plant to fund a feasibility study. There are certainly advantages to the location in Brussels, Stewart says. "It sounds as though they would be able to walk cattle there from the sales barn." But he warns that competition from the existing packers in the fat cattle market will be a deterrent. "Existing plants have made so much money and can kill you in the marketplace.
Seili says there is a need to target specialized niche markets with product from a federally inspected plant. However, the BSE crisis has a silver lining for beef producers, helping them to connect with consumers. When the crisis struck, consumers were able to fill their freezers with high quality beef from small abattoirs and have developed a taste for it. BF
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