More beef in the North? Mike Commito thinks so

Northern Ontario might benefit from taking a bigger bite out of the beef industry.

That's the suggestion of one researcher.

Mike Commito, the research coordinator at the Northern Policy Institute, wrote a blog post about the idea.

He said the environmental impacts of more cattle farming in the north would need to be considered, but the abundance of land in the region puts us in a good position to expand our beef industry.

"It is tremendous opportunity for northern Ontario for sure, but we also have to weigh those other factors," Commito said.

The provincial cattle inventory has been declining, Commito said, but according to the Beef Farmers of Ontario, the addition of 100,000 cows over the next ten years would be a significantboon to the province.

"The BFO suggests that this would add 4,500 jobs in the province and $318 million in value added GDP per year."

Click here to read Dr. Commito's blog post