An agricultural economics professor with the University of Saskatchewan suggests, in light of the federal government's recently announced plans to reduce its involvement in agricultural research, it's vital for farmers and farm leaders to be able to communicate the value of agricultural research back to the policy makers responsible for those decisions.
A recently completed impact assessment, "From Research to Results: Measuring the Impact of Pork Research in Canada," shows an eight to one return on dollars invested in pork sector research in Canada. A national webinar set for Wednesday will explore the findings of that assessment. Dr. Stuart Smyth, a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan and one of the authors of the report, says it's important for pork sector stakeholders to be aware of the value of research initiatives conducted on their behalf.
Quote-Dr. Stuart Smyth-University of Saskatchewan:
I think that comes front and centre with the announcements just a few weeks ago that Agriculture Canada is going to be closing a significant portion of their research capacity across Canada. Included in that was the Lacombe Research Station which is responsible for a significant amount of pork research in Canada.
It's one of only two centres within the Ag Canada research framework that does swine research so I think it's more important than ever that people have some details and the ability to communicate back to policy makers about just how important agricultural research is to ensuring that Canadian farmers are as competitive as they can possibly be. Our pork producers are competing with pork producers in numerous other countries and, if we put less funding into the development of new swine research, our farmers are going to start to fall behind farmers in other countries and then that reduces demand for our products, especially at the international level.
Dr. Smyth suggests it's vital for farmers and farm leaders to be able to communicate the benefits of pork sector research to the Canadian economy back to the federal policy makers and politicians involved in deciding these cuts to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. To access the full agenda and to register for the February 18th webinar click the "Upcoming Events" links on the SIP web site at swineinnovationporc.ca.
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Source : Farmscape.ca