Are you listening to your customer Mr. Beef man?

[ValueChainFX]

Oh my?? Can you hear the customers around the globe shouting to you yet? They are giving us all a clear direction to head into and are we listening?? Well, if you as an independent want to sell to the packer then by all means click to the next message! But if you know that you have to listen to what the world is asking for in the way of beef then maybe you should listen to the cry from around the world!

That cry is saying basically one thing! Is "YOUR" product safe? Here we are in Canada on the edge of a total re-engineering process of the beef industry, and where are you beef guys? Maybe we should let the government take control of the industry, they seem to have done a good job on the "Gun registration" and getting rid of GST etc ...etc ....etc... No, probably not a good idea, well we have associations, there ya go, we can let them handle our future! OH NO wait a minute, you say that you think they may have some political motivation behind them, maybe some internal power struggles, Nooooooo, they are not out of touch with reality! (Are they?)

I guess the only one that you can really trust is you! This means that you must take advantage of some of those messes that have been handed to you by others (associations and government with your interests in mind) and make them work for you! How do you wear all those hats! Face it right now, that you can not possibly wear all the hats needed to make an operation world class by yourself! But you sure can ensure that your part of the process is being carried on with the same vigour and dedication as you have put in throughout the supply chain. You want to grow your own future then it is time to align yourself with the right people and make it happen. No finger pointing, no blame for the other guy! "YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN"

[gwf]

I have been reading your contributions to this site. I assume you are selling or marketing something. Why don't you lay it out, instead of relying on insinuation of some secret methodology that most of us seem to be missing? I for one, would be very interested.

[ValueChainFX]

I am not selling or marketing anything except the old fashioned shared community spirit. The agri-business has been my life for 30 some years. For the past 10 years I have been directly involved with Value Chains, including the setting up of supply chains from the cattlemen to to consumer. I believe that I have reached a point that the system that I have developed is by far the best method for those in the agribusiness to take advantage of several of the key components of our present system and align them with Value Chain methodology which will save them time, energy and frustration, while at the same time stabalize thier inventories, margins and customer base.

My frustrations have probably been the same as may of the others in this business, especially when it has come to promises of help to tie the right group of people together to run the pilot project. So as before, I have used my own capitol to talk to, visit and continue working on Value Chain development for the agri-industry. I am presently going to school to get my computer admin certification, so I have a complete knowledge of the technology that will tie this whole system together and provide the equipment (inexpensive scanners) the software (easy to use inexpensive programs) and the network (or communication tools) required to track, analyze, communicate and improve on the many components of the supply chain.

What do I have to sell? I guess that would be me. Since I would be a part of the development process and stay involved with it. Then I would be working for the Value Chain in a paid position. Is this my main driver to the promotion of Value Chains, no it isn't. I believe whole heartedly that this method of looking after your business will make you and Canada a world leader in the delievery of agriculture products and the development of new technology, while at the same time giving you a better chance to improve your position in the agri-industry.

Call me old fashioned but I believe (and know for a fact) that many people are frustrated with the way they are treated in the business. I also believe that value chains and the association will change that! My e mail is valuechain@home.com
and will answer any straight forward question you ask about the Value Chain system and how you can get involve. Including what I will or will not get out of it ! Also my web site should also answer some questions!

http://valuechain.homestead.com/index.html

[jlamb]

You may want to talk to Agriculture and Food Council, specifically, Andy Dobson he is currently in charge of overseeing the Value Chain initiative for AFC.

They may be able to assist you in moving your initiative forward.

http://www.agfoodcouncil.com

Good luck,

Jory Lamb

[ValueChainFX]

I have made several presentations to Andy and company already, they are polite (is that the right way to say it) I feel that if we are going to put together a REAL value chain, then "WE" will have to put every component in place ourselves. If you look through many of the issues in agri-ville you probably have noticed a general trend (in many sectors of the agri-industry and not just my opinion) that associations, government and some of their puppets have let the small to med. size cattle men down in favour of operations that THEY seem to feel are more important to the industry (not to say Andy and his boys are not doing what they feel is a good job)

I do thank you for your direction and do thank you! I have had a tremendous response to my web page and personal discussions with cattlemen from across Canada, I am presently upgrading my computer skills to build a secure network with participants (throughout the supply chain), as well as to introduce new technology to assist in some key areas of the Value Chain. I expect that we will be moving forward with a project shortly after August this year.

Do we need the boys to help us out! Hmmmmmm I would say to you exactly what I said to them! "I would like to have you on side with us as we develop the plan, recieve your input as we stream line some of the issue points, have your expertise available to us as we consider the roles of associations, government and the private sectors involvement, and work in alignment with the cattlemen rather then have all this expertise just to scrutinize and give a thumbs up or thumbs down to financial assistance." Well I talked to Andy his boss and several board members and discussed this with them in detail even to the point of agreement! Now I must thank them for sending me the multiple pages to fill in for possible funding, but have to say that the point seems to have been missed, that point being if we have an expert (????) in Value Chains, why are we not using him to help us design, develop and implement VALUE CHAINS! My answer is ...... Whatever..... I will do it with the folks that want to do it and those that do not! That is their choice! I believe as many others do 5 years from now, the story will be another one! I know from personal experience that when I was with a large participant in the industry money's were recieved with basically 2 letters! Was there follow up on the money's, my source says no! Oh well, I would never say where that money came from but do know that the small and med. size cattlemen best figure their own way into the future!

I would like to say this in no way says that any of the organizations are not doing the jobs they have been hired to do, or lays blame or malice at their feet, I just believe that we should take a look at how we do business in the agri-sector and maybe just maybe make a few minor changes!

Thanks again hope to hear your comments soon!

http://valuechain.homestead.com/index.html

e mail valuechain@home.com

[cakadu]

As one of the "boys" who helped put the Council value chain initiative together, I can say that it wasn't our intent to have it become the be all and end all for an entire sector. In fact, we agreed that it would likely be impossible to get a whole sector to buy into it. It was meant to be a tool to assist people in getting their products to market in a more efficient and hopefully more profitable manner. Some contributors to this forum and others have stated that they feel that they grow a superior product and don't like to see it lumped in with everything at the feedlot and then everything becomes the lowest common denominator. This is the type of environment and scenario that the value chain tool was intended to help.

You have mentioned on several occasions and in other postings that you have been working on the Value Chain concept for a number of years now. What have you seen as successes in your dealings with value chains? What has worked for you? There isn't any magic to this, it's a matter of building trust and integrity so that everyone benefits and the customer is given what he or she wants to purchase instead of producers just pushing their products through the system.

The hardest thing to do in a value chain is to establish trust amonst the players. This is probably what takes the longest in establishing a value chain. As players in agri-business, we have become very good at being independent. What we have to do now is become better and more willing to become interdependent. We all can't be good at everything, so we need to work together and build on our collective strengths rather than trying to be all things to all people and/or going it alone. We just have to accept that there will be those that want to do the production end of things period and leave it at that. They will work within the current system and ride the highs and lows.

I will reiterate that there is no magic to this, no secret formula for success, nobody with all the answers and there isn't any one "expert" in the field of value chains. Because of the nature of agri-business we have been hard pressed to see many successes. But they are coming and hopefully we will see more in the future. Again, it was intended to be used as a tool, not an answer to a whole sectors problems.

Linda