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Alberta Bison Centre
The Alberta Bison Centre represents a unique partnership between the
Bison Producers of Alberta,
Alberta
Bison Association,
Peace
Country Bison Association
and
Alberta
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.
The goal is to provide bison producers a one-stop source of
leading edge, reliable and accurate bison information. Located
at Leduc,
Alberta, Canada (20
km. south of Edmonton), the Alberta Bison Centre offers
an extensive
resource
library on bison research, production
and marketing information. Contact
us by phone fax or e-mail.
The Alberta Bison Centre was established to support a
growing bison industry. With an estimated number of 80,000 bison,
Alberta has over 50% of the bison in Canada.
Alberta Bison Industry Overview
Alberta bison represent over 50% of the Canadian bison
population. Today Alberta bison meat products are marketed
globally, supplying the demand for this high quality meat. Prior to
the BSE border closure of May 2003, nearly 60% of all bison meat
processed in Alberta was exported to the USA, Europe and Pacific
Asia - a figure the bison industry will get back to and likely
surpass. Currently, Alberta has only one slaughter plant (Fort
McLeod) that has a federal and European Union (EU) approved
processing facility. There are plans underway to build more
processing plants in Alberta with federal and EU status; the one in
central Alberta expects to be operational by spring of 2006.
Alberta boasts an active bison membership. At
this time producers may have a membership in
The Peace Country Bison
Association (PCBA) or the
Alberta Bison Association (ABA) - who have both
formed a coalition with the Bison Producers of
Alberta to fully represent the Bison industry for
the province.
Bison is deemed to be the cornerstone of the
diversified livestock industry in Alberta. The
opportunity for marketing bison meat is still
tremendous with the increasing demand from the
consumer for a healthier, naturally grown, hormone
free meat product.
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