Sustainability within the Canadian Beef Sector: 2019 Olds College Student Project

There are multiple resources available for the beef supply chain from producers through packers and processors to find information on sustainable production practices. As the CRSB was developing the Sustainability Projects Pillar with an inventory of sustainability projects on the crsb.ca website it was desired to have a benchmark on producers’ awareness and use of the website. CRSB collaborated with Olds College students to explore this question.

At Olds College third year students have client research projects that provide an opportunity for students to engage directly with industry in a capacity like contracted consultants. The client research projects provide real life, hands on experience for the students they can utilize in their fourth year when they go out into industry for their directed field study. The students complete a full research project which includes a literature review, data collection using both qualitative and quantitative methods, analysis using various tools and finally they complete a final research study report for their clients.

CRSB provided three questions to a group of students at Olds College be answered:

How do producers define sustainability?
Where do producers go to receive information on sustainability?
What practices do producers implement in their operation that they consider to be sustainable?