The Story of Northwest Premium Meat Co-op
The idea of building a slaughterhouse in the Northwest was first vetted during a meeting in Burns Lake in 2003. At that time the US border was closed to Canadian meat due to BSE. After several meetings a committee was struck in the Bulkley Valley which undertook a feasibility study and established a network of contacts.
The group incorporated within the BC Co-op Association under the name of the Northwest Premium Meat Co-op in December 2004. Seed monies from the Beef Cattle Industry Development Fund (BCID), Western Economic Diversification, and Agri-food Canada Planning and Assessment for Value-Added Enterprises (PAVE) Program helped develop the business plan, incorporate the Co-op, promote investment shares, develop building plans, the marketing plan and investigate a land purchase.
In 2004 the Province of BC also began revising the Food Safety Act, gearing up for a completely regulated meat industry by September 2006/07. Under these new conditions, the Board of Directors adjusted their vision and decided to use the old milk plant in Telkwa for the meat-processing end of the venture. Inspection by the CFIA was very positive; the existing site had many of the food safe features required, and would be relatively easy to transform for meat processing. The Telkwa location would create a physical separation from the slaughter facility. As well it would provide a visible storefront that could be used for local sales; test marketing, and direct connection with customers. The offer to purchase was accepted, at a fraction of the cost of new construction.
The abattoir plans were finalized, adhering now to the new provincial standards bringing total start-up costs to $1,500,000.
With most of the financing in place and the land purchase approved by all parties, including the office of the Wet’suet’en, a local contractor was hired and construction of the abattoir began in November, 2007. In Telkwa, the old milk plant underwent internal renovations and used processing equipment from sourthern BC was acquired to get the facility started.
The storefront opened quietly without fanfare on May 30, 2008. Since opening day, sales and walk-in traffic at the Hankin Ave. storefront are increasing steadily. With assistant from the Canadian Cooperative Development Initiative, the Co-op partnered with the local non-governmental organization, One Sky: the Canadian Institute of Sustainable Living, to enhance membership promotion and marketing for the co-operative. A eight-week membership campaign was launched to profile producer members of the Bulkley Valley and showcase the benefits to membership.
Today membership is at 180 and still growing and investments have exceeded $600,000. It hasn’t been an easy start but all facets of the business plan are now in full operation. Its an exciting time for northwest producers as they begin to think about the new opportunities available to them as a result of the abattoir and processing plant. Now for the first time they are able to direct market their government inspected meat products to local customers, restaurants, institutional facilities and retailers. As Rick Huisman likes to say, “This changes everything!”