Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council

WINNIPEG – Manitoba producers, processors and retailers are joining forces to create two new value chains – the Organic Sunflower Value Chain and the Manitoba Lamb Value Chain.

The goal of the Organic Sunflower Value Chain is to develop a sustainable method of providing Manitoba organic sunflower seeds to local organic bakeries to use as an ingredient in their baked products for Manitoba consumers. Project partners include producer Dan DeRuyck of Top of the Hill Farm at Treherne, processor Paul Bobbee of Midlake Specialty Food Products in Arborg, and three retail bakeries - Tall Grass Prairie, Integrity Foods and Natalie’s Life Sense Natural Foods. The Organic Sunflower Value Chain will receive $13,575 in VCMI funding.

“Currently, there are only off-shore sources of organic sunflower seeds,” said Eugene Warwaruk, MRAC value chain coordinator. “This value chain provides these bakeries with another local organic source of this ingredient, which is important to the integrity of their businesses.”

The goal of the Manitoba Lamb Value Chain is to connect a group of like-minded lamb producers interested in supplying Manitoba markets on a regular basis with an abattoir interested in allocating kill time to lamb on a regular basis to service all markets. The Manitoba Lamb Value Chain will receive $6,730 in VCMI funding.

“This Phase 1 project is aimed at facilitating meetings of producers, processors and retailers to determine the partners for a Phase 2 pilot project, as well as further define the pilot project. It is exciting to help initiate this project, because every retailer we talked to wanted more lamb on their shelf but could not source enough,” said Warwaruk.

If you have an idea for a value chain project, please contact a VCMI team member as soon as possible as this is the final year of VCMI funding. The program will end on March 31, 2011.

Value Chain Manitoba is a collaboration initiated by the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council (MRAC), with funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI). VCMI encourages and assists Manitoba’s agri-food industry to become more competitive through value chain development. For more information visit www.valuechainmb.ca.

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For more information or interviews, contact:

Teresa Falk, Communications Officer
Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council Inc. (MRAC)
Phone: 204.982.4796
Fax: 204.982.4794
E-mail: tfalk [at] mrac [dot] ca