It’s true, after a slew of government and industry surveys, SSMPA is asking small-scale meat producers across the province to fill out a survey of our own.
We know, you have probably been asked to complete a dozen surveys over the past couple years on everything from your experience with the Class D/E licenses to the impact of COVID. And what have been the results? (Well, besides the recently announced changes to BC’s on-farm slaughter licensing…)
We here at SSMPA know your frustration. But we also know that this sector is poorly understood and completely under-acknowledged.
Pretty quickly after we formed in 2017 we realized nobody has solid data about producers in this sector, nor about our impact on the economy and food security in BC. Surveys conducted by various organizations undoubtedly had their functions, but the data is either not accessible or so specific it doesn’t help anyone understand this sector as a whole.
Through hundreds of personal conversations with producers over the years, combined with our own diverse, personal experiences as producers, we’ve been able to form a general picture of your needs.
But the devil is in the details.
We know you supply British Columbians with local and sustainable protein, but we don’t know how it all adds up.
We know you’re struggling to access provincially-inspected abattoirs, but we don’t know how many of you would prefer to slaughter on-farm.
We know the small-lot licenses for poultry are too small, but we don’t know how many birds you would produce if you could.
We know you face barriers from a host of other sources – insurance, ALR restrictions, land access – but we don’t know which ones are priority.
In writing our strategic plan in 2019, a key goal we set for ourselves was to develop a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the circumstances and needs of small-scale meat producers in BC. This is essential to letting us accomplish our other goals:
- inform decision-makers about the sector’s challenges and opportunities
- participate in decisions, in both government and industry, that affect our producers and their customers
- reduce barriers to producers’ market access and growth
- develop creative solutions to producers’ challenges
- generate strategic collective impact
We developed this survey with the input of over twenty producers in an attempt to capture the most important information possible. The more information we have, the better enabled we are to accomplish our goals to support and represent you.
The survey takes less than fifteen minutes, and it will empower SSMPA’s work for the next five years. You have until September 10th – make it happen!
Complete the survey now: smallscalemeat.ca/survey
P.S. You’ll also get $25 credit to use at FenceFast!
Consider joining or renewing your membership with SSMPA: smallscalemeat.ca/membership