| Producer Requirements | Cattle Requirments | Transfer Requirements |
The South Dakota Certified Enrolled Cattle™ Natural program is a new option for South Dakota cattle producers wanting to market their cattle in a non-commodity fashion. In developing the Natural Program, the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Governor’s Office of Economic Development consulted with many industry experts, physiologists, beef specialists, foreign markets, and private consultants to determine the most relevant and marketable requirements.
As with the base SDCEC program, the credibility that third-party auditing and verification by a government entity provides is one major advantage of these programs.
Why Natural?
The global natural and organic food markets have experienced double-digit annual growth for each of the past two years and the expected growth rate for 2007 and 2008 is expected to exceed 15% each year. With 8.6% of the total U.S. food industry, natural and organic products are now a true market segment and not simply a niche or fad.
Due to the high demand and short supply of “naturally raised” cattle, many producers are considering natural branded programs as marketing alternatives.
There are no additional fees associated with the South Dakota Certified Enrolled Cattle™ Natural program. There is also no fee for moving an animal enrolled in the Natural Program back to the base SDCEC program.