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Diversified Funding Allows Timely Response to Emerging Research Needs

The chair of Swine Innovation Porc says the direct involvement of industry in contributing funding for research has allowed the organization to be more responsive to unexpected challenges faced by Canada's pork industry.

Swine Innovation Porc, a national partnership involving government and industry was created to facilitate research on behalf of Canada's pork industry and is funded through levies collected from producers on the sale of their hogs, money provided through the Canadian Agri-Science Clusters initiative under Growing Forward-2 and though support provided from private contributors.

Swine Innovation Porc chair Stewart Cressman says the organization brings together stakeholders who want specific research done, the research community and government.

Stewart Cressman-Swine Innovation Porc:
Initially the main cluster program that we have with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is quite prescriptive.

You have to plot a strategy for 5 years, so you basically have to work out your priorities in advance, have a call for proposals and sift through them and see which ones would have the greatest impact on the industry and then put a proposal together and request funds from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and then you have to execute that research strategy over the 5 years.

Through our funding partners we've been able to have a little bit of surplus money, which we're very fortunate to and out goal as an organization is to increase independent sources of money over time and be able to conduct additional research on a need basis, have priorities of the industry very clearly defined and be able to address the top priorities in a rapid fashion.

Cressman says no industry is static, there is a constant demand to improve and it's important to provide stakeholders the tools to adapt to those changes.

Source: Farmscape


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