Update on the Canadian Pork Council

National Initiative on Research & Technology Transfer

¹Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 4-10 Agriculture/Forestry Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2P5.

²Canadian Pork Council, 75 Albert St., Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1P 5E7

Introduction

The Canadian Pork Council (CPC), the national consortium of provincial pork marketing agencies, has been pursuing a national strategy for coordinating swine research and technology transfer within Canada. Most of the major pork producing countries, with which we compete, are not fractionated in their research and technology transfer by small groups such as provincial or state producer organizations. They therefore have central coordination and a national forum for their research and technology transfer initiatives. There are many advantages to national coordination, including: a larger pool of funds, more opportunity for leveraged funds from government, ability to undertake larger and more expensive projects, better coordination of research to prevent overlap and repetition, and lower administrative costs.

Background

In August 1994, the Canadian Agri-Food Research Council (CARC) recommended to the CPC that they examine the need for a national sector strategy. The CPC agreed at its Board of Directors meeting in November 1994 to set up a small working group to examine the need for a national strategy and to propose a process to address the identified issues. In July 1995, the CPC Board of Directors agreed to the recommendations of the working group to go ahead with the development of a national research and technology transfer strategy for the Canadian pork industry and that the CPC take a leadership role in the activity. The objectives of the national strategy were identified as follows:

To lead to the identification of a few research areas deserving a national focus and which would have the most impact on the competitiveness of the industry.
To serve as a means to foster better communication and consultation among industry stakeholders and lead to the development of a coordinated approach which would allow a better focus of available resources on relevant research areas and avoid unnecessary duplication.
To tackle the critically important task of defining an effective technology transfer system oriented to the needs of its end users.
To highlight the benefits of R & D to all stakeholders, producers, food industry and governments, to foster investments in research key to the competitiveness of the pork sector, which in turn is an important contributor to the Canadian economy.

National Workshop

The next step in the process was a National Workshop held in Ottawa on January 12 & 13, 1996, to which approximately 125 participants from all industry stakeholders participated. Scientists were invited to review all the swine research disciplines (nutrition, reproduction, genetics, meat quality, etc.) and recommend what research needed to be done. Others reviewed technology transfer programs and funding strategies used by pork producer organizations around the world.

As a result of the national workshop, a set of recommendations were developed and an Action Committee was formed. The Action Committee was formed of representatives from the CPC (3), the Canadian Meat Council (2), CARC (1), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (2), non-government research (2), provincial government (1) and, the Table de concentration de l'industrie porcine du Québec (1). They were empowered to take action on those recommendations and to propose additional action plans to the CPC Board of Directors at its November 1996 meeting.

The recommendations developed from the national workshop and forwarded to the Action Committee were as follows:

Firstly, it was determined that the industry needed a vision as a basis for the development of a national strategy on research and technology transfer in the Canadian pork industry.

Based on the discussions of the national workshop, the following vision was proposed:

That Canadian pork be the meat of choice in growing domestic and international markets by equaling or exceeding consumer expectations. This will be achieved through a dynamic, competitive and sustainable industry that provides uniquely Canadian products.

The above vision will be realized:

By maximizing the benefit to the Canadian pork industry of our swine and pork research resources, and
By linking technology transfer to the research function in a manner that will achieve the best possible implementations of research results.

The Action Committee was directed to make progress on the following recommendations:

Recommendation #1. To identify the appropriate process for establishing national priorities, and investigate alternative mechanisms for funding. For example, including the following components:

Identify clearly defined opportunities, barriers and threats which affect the ability of the Canadian pork industry to achieve its vision.
Identify the potential of research to exploit (overcome) the opportunities (barriers).
Invite proposals from research institutions for the identified priority area.
Propose a plan for research funding nationally.
Propose a plan for rapid implementation of research (including commercial spin-offs, technology transfer).

Recommendation #2. To develop mechanisms of cooperation and coordination to avoid unnecessary duplication and achieve the maximum benefit from Canada's swine and pork research resources (personnel, infrastructure, and funds). This included the creation of a communications network of researchers.

Recommendation #3. To develop a strategy to enhance information and technology transfer capabilities among all segments of the Canadian pork industry (e.g., Internet, satellite conferencing, etc.).

Recommendation #4. To pursue the development of a Home-page on the Internet which would provide a wide access to all stakeholders to information on swine research and technology transfer activities conducted in Canada, including making available a current directory of research institutions and scientists involved in swine and pork research.

Recommendation #5. To identify the core Canadian research capabilities that prepare the industry for the future.

Recommendation #6. To identify activities which can be undertaken to lobby federal and provincial governments and other key players to maintain a strong research base for the Canadian pork industry.

Recommendation #7. To develop a coordinated approach for organizing national workshops which would include identification of the lead organization(s) and the frequency of such activity.

Recommendation #8. To promote the proposed strategy among the various industry stakeholders. The purpose of this effort is to clearly establish the linkages between research priorities and the vision for the Canadian pork industry. For example, it could involve meeting with national and provincial industry stakeholders to discuss the strategy.

Achievements of the Action Committee

The Action Committee met in May 1996, October 1996, March 1997, and October 1997 to take action on the above recommendations and to develop an action plan for the further development of the national strategy.

Achievements of the Action Committee to date include:

Completion of the Directory of Institutions and Scientists Involved in Swine and Pork Research in Canada.
Development of a Directory of Organizations Involved in Technology Transfer Activities in the Canadian Swine Sector.
Development of a List of Potential Funding Sources for Swine and Pork Research Activities.
Issuance of Press Releases on the development of a national research and technology transfer strategy.
Completion of a national survey among all stakeholders of the industry to identify the most important barriers, opportunities and research priorities for the industry.
Development of a Home-page on the Internet on Swine/Pork Research and Technology Transfer
Development of an inventory of technology transfer documents available to hog producers through provincial governments and other organizations.

Internet Site. The CPC funded the development of an Internet site by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Lennoxville (http:\\res.arg.ca\swinenet). This location contains a listing of all the personnel in Canada we could find involved in swine research and technology transfer. It provides links to all these people and their E-mail addresses and/or web pages. The goal is to make this the central location in which to find the sources of information on swine. We hope that this site will be used to increase communication and contact between producers, researchers, industry and extension personnel in Canada. If you would like to have your name, or your company listed on the site, there is a listing page available on the site for you to fill in.

National Approach to Research Funding. A survey on research priorities among producer organizations, industry and researchers had been conducted prior to the national workshop in January 1996. A second survey was conducted among the attendees at the national workshop. The Action Committee subsequently extended the survey to include many more industry groups and organizations. The top research priority from this consultation was selected. Environmental issues were overwhelmingly agreed to be the chief constraints to further evolution and development of the pork industry in Canada (the second priority was product quality and safety). Environmental issues that were identified included: siting of pig operations, manure disposal and potential interactions with surface and subsurface water sources, odour interaction with neighbours and local regulations governing hog production.

The Action Committee presented a proposal to the CPC board of directors and its research committee, recommending that this be the number one priority and that all provinces contribute to a research fund to address the research aspects of these environmental issues. Subsequently a call for research proposals was made in August 1997. Forty-two letters of intent were received. The best eight of these were requested to provide complete and detailed proposals. Of these, four proposals that represented the best ideas and best researchers across Canada were recommended to the CPC for funding. These proposals represent a funding commitment of approximately $225,000 per year for three years. The Action Committee and the CPC board of directors expect that significant progress will be made in new methods to measure, reduce and control manure and odour pollution from pig operations.

National Coordination of Technology Transfer. The Action Committee compiled a directory of individuals and organizations involved in technology transfer. The list is available on the swinenet website. It also compiled a list of technology transfer documents and devices (newsletters, fact sheets, magazines, newspapers, Internet sites). One of the most obvious problems was that every province had a set of fact sheets and newsletters that duplicated each other and were largely out of date. From this arose the recommendations that a set of national fact sheets be produced by all the provinces working together and that these be placed on the swinenet website (and on provincial websites also if desired). This approach would avoid duplication, allow for frequent updating, reduce the cost of printing and maintaining large quantities of paper and use the very best people in each area of expertise to prepare these documents. The cost and work load of developing and maintaining a current bank of knowledge in this manner would be much less than if any one organization were to attempt this. This recommendation has been made to the provincial Departments of Agriculture and the Action Committee is currently awaiting their responses. This goal will be pursued vigorously during 1998.

Communication and Lobbying Activities. The results of the CPC national research initiative will be communicated to the industry in a variety of ways, including:

Publication of the research reports via Internet and print media and a symposium where the researchers will present their solutions and discuss additional directions and approaches to the problems.

The priority areas for national research funding will be reviewed and another national workshop will probably be held in two to three year's time. This will be used to determine the success of the program and the next series of research priorities that could benefit from a national focus.

Conclusion

There are many advantages to having a national focus as a means of coordinating research and technology transfer and few disadvantages. Fortunately, this has been a strong and active committee and much has been accomplished in the last one and a half years since the committee first met. However, additional progress needs to be made on technology transfer issues and in lobbying governments regarding the importance of swine production to the Canadian economy.