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© SDBC, Saskatchewan Beekeepers Development Commission |
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| Last Update 2011-10-11 @ 2:00pm | |
| SBDC Annual Report | |
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The anti-dumping campaign that was being initiated by Canadian Honey Council (CHC) with the help of the Canadian Border Services was put "on hold" due to the upward movement in the price of honey last spring as well as a timing issue in moving forward with our case. The CHC initiated a Pilot Promotional Campaign which was conducted in Winnipeg last Nov/Dec. KARO, a company out of Calgary, designed and conducted the pilot project. A mascot for promoting the marketing of 100% Pure Canadian Honey, "Pierre the Bear", was developed along with the Billboards and Radio spots. Pierre was a hit at the honey shows in Winnipeg. Then he traveled to Saskatchewan where he was a major attraction at the Joe Ralko promotion during our business meeting, and at Agribition where he helped out with the auction. Pierre was also in Langley, B.C., at the annual meeting, and then he attended the SBA/SBDC meetings in Saskatoon. The promotional pilot was funded by the industry stakeholders, the SBA contributed $10,000 and the SBDC also contributed $10,000. A Honey Awareness campaign was launched at the fall Business meeting and featured Pierre the Bear. Although the campaign operated from a small budget, it did achieve a relatively high level of media attention and educated the general public as to the importance of reading the labels on honey tubs or jars. When the SBA/SBDC board met with Agricultural Minister Mark Wartman in November they requested support funding for both promotional campaigns. Although the original request was declined by Minister Wartman's off~ce, funding is still being pursued through other government departments. We have been informed that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be taking action regarding misleading labeling. Recommended changes include dropping the terms pasteurized and unpasteurized, having the country of origin more prominent on the labels, and only allowing the Canada No. 1 Grade standard to be used on containers using 100% Canadian Honey. These proposed changes have been forwarded to the Federal Agricultural Minister and if approved at that level will be gazetted and then legislated. Ms Perrone from the CFIA is now responsible for overseeing and maintaining the honeybee import regulations. The import regulations will remain unchanged unless there is a strong indication from industry that this issue needs to be reexamined. In light of the current situation in the U.S. she has made it very clear that the import situation for movement of bees (hives or packages) would not be changing in the foreseeable future. There are a couple of interesting developments in our industry that may increase honey consumption: The Hibernation Diet which is a book that was released in 2006 that claims that a tablespoon of honey taken before retiring for the night will burn 4 grams of fat/hour during sleep. The authors of the book are on a promotional campaign this year. | |
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