Governments invest in ag-related research

Saskatoon, Sask. – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the province of Saskatchewan announced $6.3 million in funding for 24 livestock and forage research projects.

A statement from AAFC says the funding is through Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund (ADF).

In addition, the statement says the “governments are committing $2 million over two years through ADF to the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (LCFE) at the University of Saskatchewan to support operations and ongoing research.”

Several other groups, including Saskatchewan’s Cattlemen’s Association, the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, SaskMilk and the Saskatchewan Forage Development Commission, have committed $186,500.

Ryan Beierbach, the chair of the Saskatchewan Cattleman’s Association, says in the statement “We are proud to invest in and support projects that will improve all areas of production. The outcomes of these projects strengthen our producers and our beef industry overall.”

This year’s projects, as listed in the statement, include:

• Researching new vaccine strategies to help prevent pink eye, which will help mitigate significant economic costs to Saskatchewan cattle producers as well as reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance
• New knowledge on integration of DNA paternity and genomic program information that will enable beef producers to make better breeding decisions and
• A study into the physiology behind forage-efficient beef cows and the development of better selection tools for the cow-calf industry.

Through ADF, says the statement, farmers and ranchers benefit from research in areas such as new forage varieties, improved livestock feeding systems and management of animal diseases.