A new meat licensing system announced by the provincial government last month appears to be a “big step forward” for small-scale producers and overall food security, according to local stakeholders.
Rod Hennecker, a member of the Horse Lake Community Farm Co-op and CEEDS (Community Enhancement and Economic Development Society) said he was pleased to see the changes and is optimistic they will “make life somewhat easier” for local ranchers.
“It looks like it will be a lot easier to get a licence, and if that is something that helps increase food security, I’m all for that,” Hennecker said.
With an aim to support farm businesses in rural areas and make it easier to sell locally raised meat across the province, the new system announced in July will break down licences into three categories.
The first, a “farm gate” licence, will allow small-scale producers to sell meat at their farm gate or at farmers markets within their regional district, or within of 50-kilometre radius of their farm if they border a different regional district.
The second, a “farm gate plus” licence, will replace the current Class D and Class E licences and will be available province-wide, providing sales opportunities at farmers markets, retail shops and restaurants.
And the third, an “abattoir” licence, will replace the current Class A and Class B licences, allowing fully inspected meat production with no restrictions on volume or sales within the province.
READ MORE: Slaughterhouse demand on the rise
Licences will take effect Oct. 1 and will be valid for a five-year term. According to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, the new framework was the result of months of consultation with ranchers, abattoir operators, local governments and meat-producer organizations.
“It seems that they’ve really consulted a lot of organizations, and they’ve done their homework,” Hennecker said.
The issue of slaughterhouse availability in the South Cariboo has been on the radar of local ranchers and officials for several years, arising from changes to the meat-inspection protocols that have taken place over the last 15 years in the province. Because abattoirs have been required to have a trained government meat inspector to examine each animal and carcass, the process became too expensive for many small-scale producers.
“In recent years, it’s become more and more difficult to get animals killed,” Hennecker said. “It was so complicated before, with so many restrictions in regards to where you could raise the animals and the distances to where you could sell the meat, and it all had to meet a very high standard.”
Hennecker said the farm co-op will take a look at whether they want to apply for one of the new licenses, as there are a few cattle and lamb ranchers in the group. He said the current wildfire situation in the province is a good reminder of how important food security is in the region.
“Increasing food security is critical,” he said.”With the fires potentially cutting off the roads, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Otherwise, we in the Interior are going to be left with nothing.”
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