A&W restaurant demand for all grass-fed beef won’t affect Ontario, cattle group says

By Tom Collins
A&W restaurant’s plan to switch all their beef to 100 per cent Canadian grass-fed beef won’t have a big impact on Ontario beef farmers, says Jim Clark, executive director of Ontario Corn Fed Beef.

Ontario farmers are not likely to switch as corn is already in the farmers’ crop rotation, Clark said. He said about 70 per cent of all beef animals grown in Ontario are corn-fed.

However, A&W’s announcement is a good news story, he said. Currently, beef sold at A&W restaurants come from four countries: Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

“Similar to building cars, we don’t build one brand or one colour,” he said. “As long as people are eating beef, there’s a lot of room for all of us.”

Questions have arisen about whether there’s enough grass-fed beef grown in Canada to support A&W’s almost-1,000 restaurants. Cattle raised for A&W cannot be fed grain or feed additives and it is estimated that 98 per cent of all Canadian cattle are grain-fed.

“There’s six months when you’re got no grass, so you need to justify what the cattle are eating the other six months,” Clark said.

No deadline has been announced for when the chain will make the full switch, but the move to all-Canadian, all-grass-fed beef is expected to start in May.