Success Stories

Canadian Prairie Bison
A Value Chain Success Story

Today, the agriculture industry is constantly changing. New regulations, market shifts and evolving consumer consciousness make it difficult to achieve long-term success. Value chains are one way that producers are dealing with these challenges, and with great success, as in the case of Canadian Prairie Bison.

Canadian Prairie Bison (CPB) began as a marketing organization in 2001, originally known as the Bison Feeder Co-operative of Saskatchewan. Now, with 195 members in only five years, CPB is one of the largest marketing groups for bison and bison value added products in Canada. “It is popular because the cooperative is producer owned and operated, and producers have a vested interest so they put 110% into it,” says Roger Provencher, Marketing Manager for CPB.

And because of that vested interest, CPB produces only the highest quality products. “The cooperative thrives on quality products and a supply chain that guarantees consistent and high-value products”, says Bryan Kosteroski, Value Chain Specialist for the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan.

Customer demand created by CPB’s products has resulted in better business opportunities for its members. “It has enhanced the opportunities for the bison producers of Saskatchewan to provide a continuous growth because of the marketing activities,” says Kosteroski. “Sales have grown in the past few years in a very positive way.”

So positive, in fact, that CPB will be launching five new value added products to the North American retail market in 2007, and has established a second value chain to supply the European marketplace.

But CPB’s success has not come easily. ACS has played a role by providing funding and resources. “ACS has helped our organization immensely,” says Provencher. “They help us stay focused on projects, and any info we need they have personnel with market intelligence to help us out.”

But according to Kosteroski, the primary reason for the organization’s success is its “dedicated employees. They have a vision that they’ve kept to, and they have a board and a group of employees who work together to develop strategic planning and they are moving forward into the North American marketplace and the European marketplace.”

With its dedicated members, high quality products and determination, the Canadian Prairie Bison organization believes it is on target to become “one of the largest and most efficient marketing groups for bison and value added bison products in the world.” If their first five years are any indication, they are certainly on their way.

For more information, please contact Roger Provencher: email roger@cdnbison.com; phone (306) 468-2930

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