The opportunities from digitizing Canadian livestock traceability

In February, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) published “[What we heard report - Consultation on proposed changes to Part XV of the Health of Animals Regulations (Identification and Traceability), Canada Gazette Part I](<https://inspection.canada.ca/about-the-cfia/transparency/consultations-and-engagement/completed/identification-and-traceability/consultation-on-proposed-changes-to-part-xv-of-the/eng/170293 4539237/1702934539862>)” (the report).

Flokk prepared a detailed response to the report, which we invite you to read and share, where we provide our perspective on the challenges before us, the role Flokk will play, and the opportunities that come with digitizing Canada’s livestock traceability system.

The highlights for us were:

From the report:

The CFIA anticipates publishing the final amendments in the Canada Gazette, Part II in 2024.

We have heard from several reliable sources the soft launch will be mid 2025, and the hard launch (i.e. penalties applied for non-compliance) sometime in 2026.

From the report:

Industry and consumers have both indicated that they want CFIA to deal effectively and consistently with instances of non-compliance. This involves issuing administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) as notices of violation with warning or with financial penalty (emphasis ours), depending on the nature of the violation.

Flokk will be the most affordable, and simplest to implement and use, solution for ranchers to ensure compliance and avoid financial penalties.

Canada is a world leader in livestock traceability, beginning with creation of the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA), celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

This extensive history and collective experience will serve us well as we build a nation-wide, modern, digital livestock traceability system.

But we will leave tremendous opportunity on the table if we default to the technologies and methods of 25 years ago.

Canadian AgTech companies are leaders in edge computing, machine vision, machine learning, and blockchain, which could not be practically applied in 1998. Regulators, responsible administrators, producer groups, innovation ecosystem partners, livestock exhibitors, academic institutions, and other stakeholders must now proactively collaborate with these companies to apply innovative Canadian solutions to create a Canadian livestock traceability system that:

• secures the best outcome for Canadian food consumers
• contributes to the viability and sustainability of Canadian family owned and operated ranches
• facilitates access to export markets
• puts infrastructure in place that enables affordable incentivization of sustainability solutions
• proves at scale best of breed solutions that Canadian companies can successfully market outside Canada

Flokk Systems looks forward to working with industry stakeholders, and Canadian cow/calf ranchers, as we seize this opportunity.