2008 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Annual Meeting
and Research Symposium

Purebred Producer Risk Considerations
Creative Business Strategies May Be the Answer

Duncan Porteous, project manager, said the Purebred Risk Assessment Project is intended to address the risk-management needs of CBBC member producers by helping them and their respective associations better understand their business environments, the risk-management challenges they face and the tools currently available to address them.

Most cattle producers have a deep love for their way of life — managing and spending time with their cows. But what happens when that lifestyle gets in the way of a good business?

Duncan Porteous, Canadian Beef Breeds Council (CBBC) Purebred Risk Assessment project manager, spoke to 2008 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) symposium attendees about the business of the purebred/seedstock industry and the steps the CBBC takes to assess risks involved with new industry problems.

“Be creative,” he says. “We can no longer solve the same old problems with the same old solutions. Our success (in the purebred industry) depends on organizations that are in peril.”

Focusing on the future, Porteous suggests first looking at risk and defining it as anything that inhibits success.

Porteous cites survey results compiled from 500 commercial cattle producer phone calls, a written survey to 7,000 purebred producers, 15 focus groups and a review of communications tools and processes. Seven key risk factors were identified:

• Sector relevance/value proposition
• Financial issues
• Flow of information
• Business model/sector charter
• Training products and services
• International trade
• Communications/key message

To aid purebred producers, the CBBC proposed development of risk management strategies, solutions and tools. The first objective is for producers to improve financial product and service relations. Porteous suggests growing the business loan by using herd-building and/or start-up loans for improvement.

Another objective is for producers to be able to analyze production and marketing costs, manage and control costs and benchmark those costs within the sector. Information flow was also identified as an objective.

“Collaborative efforts are being made to enhance the flow and utilization of financial and genetic information,” Porteous says. “Strategic information will become a large factor in effectively spreading the information and also helping to strengthen consumer confidence and perceptions.”

The final objective he identifies is developing a strategic business risk and tools strategy. Anticipated solutions include greater access to capital, developing and implementing a national databank collection mechanism and data that provides management information that can support purebred beef producers.

Porteous also spoke of ideas in the process of being developed and ideas that need to be developed, including: managing production and marketing costs, having a unified sale reporting system, working on product pricing to get a fair price for the work, and increasing information flow for the purebred industry.

In conclusion, Porteous offers these remarks, “We need to change our thought process. We need to think of ourselves as a business as well as a lifestyle, instead of just a lifestyle.”

— by Mathew Elliott

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