When consumers are looking for high quality products, nothing beats local. Shoppers want to know where their food comes from, and increasingly they want their food to be produced close to home.
That’s where Co-op thrives. Co-op works alongside growers and livestock producers to develop programs to bring the food they produce to Western Canadian consumers. This means Co-op is able to serve as a bridge between the farm and the table: serving and supplying farm customers while also directly or indirectly purchasing their products.
This mutually beneficial relationship is different than anybody else in the market. Co-op is there for every step of the food process: primary production, manufacturing, distribution and finally, retail sales. Because of this, Co-op is uniquely positioned to improve accessibility to local products and support local communities.
Co-op Berkshire Sired Premium Pork is a product that showcases this collaborative relationship at every step.
Premium products made accessible
Berkshire pork is highly sought after in luxury markets, with a distinctive deep colour and marbling that makes it deliciously tender and juicy with a smooth texture. It’s comparable in quality to Wagyu beef, and it’s now available to Co-op members and customers.
Working with a Western Canadian producer means that Co-op Berkshire Sired Premium Pork is completely traceable, which is an exciting differentiator in the fresh meat market. The hogs are from Valley Lea Farms in Ste. Anne, Manitoba. Thanks to a program started at Red River Co-op in Manitoba, Co-op is working with Valley Lea Farms and processor Winkler Meats to expand the scope and make the pork more widely available in Co-ops across Western Canada.
Working with Valley Lea Farms to make premium quality, 100 per cent verified Canadian pork easily accessible to consumers is an example of how Co-op can work with local producers to not only grow their businesses but also to support the local economy.
Teams of experts to work with you
Co-ops support growers and producers through their teams of agricultural specialists: the Grow, Equip, Fuel, Build and Feed Teams. Co-op team members have local knowledge of the unique challenges you face, and the expertise to help you succeed.
In the case of Berkshire Pork, Co-op’s professionally qualified animal nutritionists on the Co-op Feed Team developed a customized Co-op Whole Earth Swine premix, specially formulated to meet Valley Lea Farms’ needs and to keep the animals healthy and productive.
Dickson Gould, the President of Progressive Group and Valley Lea Farms Inc., raises 100 per cent grain-fed hogs using the Co-op Nutrition Program.
“Being able to collaborate with Co-op on the nutrition side as well as the store side is a real dream come true for Valley Lea Farms, and hopefully for our customers as well,” he said.
As a long-standing member of the Co-operative Research Farms, an internationally recognized animal nutrition research organization, Co-op’s animal nutritionists are highly respected and bring world-class expertise back to be incorporated in our feed products. They’ve created the Co-op Whole Earth Feed Products line to support high-performing animals with natural ingredients and no animal by-products, antibiotics or other medications.
Co-op is clearly local
Co-op has been part of the local food economy for generations. It starts with primary production, but Co-op’s large logistics network and food distribution centres also get farmers’ and producers’ wares in front of shoppers on shelves at local food stores.
The transparency of Co-op’s product sourcing practices helps conscious consumers make informed decisions. When Co-op members and customers see Berkshire pork at the meat counter, they also see that it’s a Western Canadian product, making it easy for them to choose local.
Co-op is committed to ensuring the long-term viability of food programs with local farmers and producers like Valley Lea Farms and Winkler Meats. When local businesses thrive, the communities where Co-op members live and work become stronger. Count on our teams of experts to support your operation and help your farm products reach consumers’ forks.
