Fund Ends

The Beef Industry Development Fund comes to a close.

Blackie area rancher Mike Bird is vice chair of the committee that was designed to increase the competitiveness of Canadian beef both at home and abroad.

Bird says in the beginning, it was the BSE crisis that needed to be addressed.

"Much of our money was directed towards existing organizations like the Beef Information Center who were hopefully were able to expand the market share for us and increase product value for producers", explains Bird.

He says one example of the development fund at work was the successful Canadian Beef School at Olds College that looked at the whole beef value chain in a three day seminar.