An official with the Ministry of Agriculture says a new abattoir to open next week in Emo will put the district's cattle producers in a good position to help sell their products to local consumers.
Barry Potter a livestock specialist says by building a brand, local producers can actually take advantage of a local market that's somewhat distant from others in the country.
"So there's an opportunity for local producers to connect with local consumers and supply them with food," says Potter. "Certainly there's a lot of interest from consumers in knowing about where there food comes from and connecting with local farmers"
Potter says the Ministry has established a number of programs to help cattle farmers establish those brands.
Establishing a stronger local market is one of the ways officials say can help offset losses due to difficulties entering the United States market.
Matt Bowman, northern Ontario's representative to the Ontario Cattlemen's Association, says a number of factors are at play that's making it increasingly difficult to market stateside.
"Country-of-origin labelling caused us some issues this past year," says Bowman. "We're beginning to understand how it that's going to effect us in the bigger term. Older cattle is still an issue. The disparity of regulations between the two country also hurts. We have a few more stiffer regulations than they do so that adds a few dollars to our cost of production here."
Bowman says the federation has activity lobbied government for assistance and feels they have been making some progress.
