The Rural Voice, 2005-05, Page 21r
The milk for Naturelle Ice Cream
is produced by a different system.
Dave Clemons, president of Omega -
Rich Inc. of Cambridge explains his
company's technology uses a kind of
clay often used in human medicines
like Aspirin to help the fatty acids
from fish meal to bypass the
. digestive process of the rumen.
Clemons, who had previous
experience with Omega-3 technology
as director of the Canadian Egg
Marketing Agency, was interested
when a consultant came to him with
information about the creator of the
clay -based technology. Once he
established the ownership of the
patent on the process, Omega -Rich
was set up as an intellectual property
company. With 14 shareholders, the
company has no real infrastructure,
licensing the technology to people
like Stoney Creek Dairy and to
Grand Valley. Fortifiers Ltd. which
creates the feed supplement for the
farmers producing the milk.
Clemons' early work on testing
and developing a market took
place in the U.S. but after a
year of development and almost
getting the product to market, he
turned to Ontario dairymen. "You
have to know how those herds are
being fed," he says. Many of the U.S.
herds were small and owners might
look to cut costs in feeding.
In Canada, he says, dairy farming
is generally more profitable and
you're dealing with well-managed
herds. It's easier to know that the
feeding program is going to be
uniform and, with it, the results. It
costs $100 a sample for the tests to
prove the level of Omega-3 is as
advertised so as much uniformity as
possible is needed. Currently, testing
is being done once a week but the
hope is that reliability will be
established so testing can be done
once a month.
Clemons, who was previously
general manager of the Holstein
Association, knew that Dairy
Farmers of Ontario already had
experience dealing with a niche
market with the establishment of the
organic milk pool. Creating an
Omega-3 pool was actually easier
because you could approach farmers
in one geographic area and have the
milk pick-up all on one truck route
rather than trying to have to work out
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MAY 2005 17
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