This article written by Dr. Reynold Bergen, BCRC Science Director, originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine and is reprinted on BeefResearch.ca with permission of the publisher.
About 20 years ago, Doug Wray drove in from Irricana, Alberta, to ask why the beef industry didn’t fund more forage breeding. Back then, the usual beef industry response to forage breeding proposals was “let the government and forage groups fund that.”
Doug calmly explained that the forage groups he was active in don’t have a check-off. So, if beef cattle producers wanted better forage varieties, beef producers would need to invest in forage breeding.
When we looked into it, we found there weren’t many forage breeders left in Canada. Universities and government administrators explained that low industry funding signaled that forage breeding wasn’t a priority. So, retired breeders weren’t replaced, and long-term breeding and management programs had been scaled back or closed.
After the beef industry began to invest in forage breeding (largely thanks to the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off), universities and Agriculture Canada began to reinvest in a new generation of forage breeders. Canada has fewer forage breeders than 20 years ago, but the ones we have are very enthusiastic, attuned to industry and working hard to address industry priorities.
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