Ontario invests in Elora dairy facility

May 29, 2015

Will help improve quality of new foods

In an effort to improve the health, quality and safety of new foods and the dairy industry, the government of Ontario is investing in a new research and innovation centre to replace the Elora Research Station which was built in 1969.

The $25 million Livestock Research and Innovation Dairy Facility in Elora will be a destination where industry stakeholders, as well as staff and students from Canadian universities can use as a tool to work together on various dairy-related initiatives.

The facility will be used to:

Enhance livestock health with advanced technology
Improve milk and quality using nutrition and genetics research
Support best practices in livestock management, operational efficiency and innovation

Ontario invested $20 million into the new facility. It is a joint venture between the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario, the University of Guelph and Ontario’s dairy industry – represented by Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

“The new Livestock Research and Innovation Centre is an excellent example of how industry, government and academia can work together to ensure Ontario’s livestock sector remains innovative, competitive and a leader in the agri-food sector,” said Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal. “Ontario’s dairy farmers and stakeholders, with the support of the Ontario government, are committed to leading research in animal husbandry, environmental sustainability and best management practices to ensure the highest quality dairy products for Ontarians.”

Jeff Leal

Ontario’s dairy industry is made up of 4,000 dairy farms who produce 2.5 billion litres of milk every year. To put that in perspective, it’s enough to fill the Rogers Centre twice from home plate to the roof!

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.