Jennifer MacDonald, Chair of the New Brunswick Cattle Producers, was elected as President with Jim Fraser, Nova Scotia Cattle Producers as Vice President. The Chairs of the Research Committee and the Programs and Policy Committee are Peter Verleun, and Brian Morrison, PEI Cattle Producers.
Producers and representatives of the Maritime beef industry initially met at Memramcook, New Brunswick about a year ago to start developing a strategic plan for the region’s producers.
“The planning process recognized a lot of common ground for cooperation across the Maritimes” states John Tilley, Chair of the Nova Scotia Beef Producers. “While beef producer groups in each of the Maritime Provinces will continue to work on improving the sector for their Provincial members, a number of strategic initiatives were identified where a regional approach is both logical and efficient.”
Five key priorities for the Maritime Beef Council were identified in the strategic plan including cooperating to improve: profitability for producers, connections to markets, collaboration within the Maritime beef industry, the Maritime industry’s capacity, and the stature of the industry.
“The first initiative is to establish a research committee to identify producer priorities for research in the region” states Peter Verluen, Chair of the PEI Cattle Producers. “The Committee’s findings will be presented to government and will provide overall direction for their research efforts.”
“The Maritime Beef Council will provide leadership to work on regional projects and, where appropriate, to represent Maritime beef producers with a united voice” says Jennifer MacDonald. “I am pleased that we have started this process, and look forward to working as a region to make our sector more viable in the future.”
