The Rural Voice, 2004-12, Page 28£a�c�cy J. Ac
Member of Parliament
Bruce - Grey - Owen Sound
"gum my (amity to young, 1 woad fine to wadi you a
ia4e and happy Notiday Season, and a pnadpcnouo
N.eux 'Wan,"
1131 2nd Avenue East
Owen Sound, ON N4K 2J1
Tel: (519) 371-1059
Fax: (519) 371-1752
E-mail: managerOlarrymiller.ca
Room 125, Confederation Bldg
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Tel: (613) 996-5191
Fax: (613) 952-0979
email: millela0@parl.gc,ca
•
My family and staff join me in wishing you
a Merry Christmas anti a
Happy New Year.
BILL MURDOCH, MPP
Bruce -Grey -Owen Sound
Constituency Office
1047 2nd Avenue East
Owen Sound, Ontario
(519) 371-2421
Please drop in or call my office if you would like my 2005 calendar.
k Ara
iky sr
vow
The
Ontario Federation
of Agriculture
extends
to all
,�� Ontario farm families!
: ��: OFA is Farmers Working for Farmers .4,
0� www.ofa.on.ca 1
♦I� lir b �► d ��
24 THE RURAL VOICE
refrigeration unit that would be
parked at the abattoir for storing meat
for easier assembling.
Currently they're processing 10
head every other week but after
Christmas they expect to increase
production to seven or eight head a
week — one -day's kill at the plant.
"They (Frey's) like the idea we can
I have one day a week," he says.
This schedule also means Beef
Connections will work with one
cutter in charge of their production.
"We need uniformity,"
Underwood explains. "It's one of the
challenges of marketing."
The success of Beef Connections
has the group looking ahead. "We're
moving awfully fast but maybe not as
fast as the consumers want us to,"
says Underwood.
Finlay -Stewart sees room for the
concept to grow. Already consumers
are asking where they can get pork or
Iamb in the same convenient bulk
order format, she says. Some of the
producers also offer pork so she can
make the connection but she sees
new markets for farmers to fill.
Underwood feels the
organization needs a more
permanent structure. The core
members (about 10-15 people at any
given meeting) are bringing in a
speaker to discuss new generation co-
ops and explore if that might be the
direction to go.
Meanwhile the learning goes on.
"Every time we do a delivery we
learn," says Finlay -Stewart. The
price for the box, for instance, was
just set off the top of their heads as
something that both farmers and
consumers could live with but it's
possible as costs of processing,
packing and delivery are worked out,
it might need to be raised.
Whatever the future of the
organization, the idea of making a
connection between consumer and
farmer has already taken hold. The
Beef Connections website contains
biographies of some of the farms
involved and every box contains the
story of the farm where the beef was
produced.
Finlay -Stewart chuckles recalling
a conversation with an acquaintance
who was an early buyer through the
program. When she wondered if the
buyer might be ready for a re -order
she was told her friend already had