Stock growers explore processing facility for Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan produces 30 per cent of Canada’s beef cattle, but there are no federally inspected packing facilities in the province.

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) believes the province and its producers are selling all that potential value out-of-province and at a discount.

SSGA released a study into the feasibility of building and operating a packing plant in Saskatchewan. The study called Opportunities and Challenges for Growing Saskatchewan’s Beef Processing Sector indicated there is a way to create more packing capacity.

The province’s current beef cow herd is approximately 1.1 million head, with roughly the same number of calves born each year. A quarter million head are exported either to other provinces or United States for slaughter every year, and more than a million leave the province as feeder cattle.

SSGA President Garner Deobald said creating processing capacity in Saskatchewan would add value to beef exported as meat products and incentivize more feeding operations.