A Director with Swine innovation Porc says increasing public scrutiny has added a range of new objectives that must be achieved by researchers working on behalf of Canada’s pork industry.
As part of its effort to identify pork industry research priorities for the next round of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research funding Swine Innovation Porc conducted two National Research Priorities Workshops, the first earlier this month in Ottawa and the second earlier this week in Winnipeg.
Dr. John Webb, a Director with Swine Innovation Pork, says increasing public awareness and public scrutiny is having a dramatic impact on the setting of research objectives.
The swine industry for years I have thought of as actually having a negative technology transfer time. In other words, if there is a significant discovery in science, the leading producers have got that in place before it hits the scientific publications.
Canada has done a wonderful job in maintaining its science base in the swine industry and it has a capability to really give the country the competitive edge. So what we’re doing now is making sure that we understand what it is that will make the industry competitive and successful in the future. But there’s an important new dimension to all of this which really hasn’t existed until now. That is the whole question of social license and the need to make sure that consumers and society in general is satisfied with the way that animals are raised and with the safety and health of the products. ~ Dr. John Webb, Swine Innovation Pork
Dr. Webb says research now covers a wider field than ever before and it all has to be done on less dollars.
