Below are highlights from the Canadian Poultry Research Council’s (CPRC) 2009 Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Below are highlights from the Canadian Poultry Research Council’s (CPRC) 2009 Annual General Meeting (AGM).
2009 board of directors
A new board of directors was established for 2009. Jacob Middelkamp, an
Alberta broiler producer representing Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC),
will take over as chair from Chris den Hertog. Chris served as chair
for two years – the CPRC would like to thank him for his capable
leadership. Chris is a broiler breeder producer from British Columbia
representing the Canadian Hatching Egg Producers (CHEP) and will serve
as vice-chair in 2009. Erica Charlton remains a director representing
the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council, as does Helen Anne
Hudson who represents Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC). Turkey Farmers of
Canada (formerly the Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency) appointed Roelof
Meijer, a turkey producer from Alberta, as its representative on the
CPRC Board. The CPRC would like to take this opportunity to welcome
Roelof, and to thank our directors for their ongoing efforts in support
of CPRC activities.
The future of CPRC
In his chair’s report, Chris den Hertog described CPRC as being at a
“crossroads” at which it needs to decide what its future role will be.
This role has been the topic of many recent discussions. Starting with
a workshop in October 2008 among various poultry research funders
across Canada and continuing with further correspondence with these
organizations, we have received useful feedback with regard to CPRC’s
potential role. There is a clear need and desire for a national
organization that can effectively service poultry research across
Canada. Further consultation with these organizations will help focus
our vision.
Succession planning
Further development of CPRC brings with it the need to consider
resources. The CPRC Directors discussed the implications of increasing
our staff, as well as the process by which an increase could be
accomplished. CPRC will revise staff duties based on its future role,
as developed in consultation with the various funders of poultry
research across Canada.
A national science strategy
The CPRC has spearheaded efforts to develop a national strategy for
poultry research. There are several organizations across Canada that
support poultry research, but, in some cases, these efforts are exerted
in isolation. There needs to be better co-ordination among all funders
of poultry research in Canada such that their collective investment has
the greatest impact possible and all unnecessary duplication is
avoided. It is envisioned that a cohesive science strategy will help
achieve these goals.
Continuing research
The CPRC, of course, maintains its interest in directly supporting
Canadian poultry research. Our aim is to maximize the impact of the
poultry sector’s investment in research. To that end, CPRC only
releases research dollars if they are matched at least 1:1 by one or
more non-industry sources. The CPRC encourages other funding
organizations to enforce a similar requirement. There are many
non-industry (especially government) sources of research funding
available in Canada – we would be pleased to help any interested
organizations access them.
The majority of CPRC’s funding thus far has gone to research consistent
with national priorities; there is also a mechanism by which CPRC will
support a project outside these main areas if it represents a
significant scientific opportunity. These priorities are revisited
every five years (next workshop planned for 2010) to ensure they
continue to represent the needs of our industry. Individual research
projects within four main themes have received CPRC dollars. As we
continue to work with other funding organizations across Canada, it is
envisioned that CPRC’s approach to funding will develop into one based
on longer-term research programs rather than individual projects – it
is important for our research community to have access to stable,
long-term funding sources in order to develop stable research programs.
While we need to continually assess the success of a given research
program in addressing the needs of the day, a stable source of funding
is necessary to maintain its required resources. This situation is
especially true in the case of personnel. It is very difficult to
retain a trained laboratory technician, for example, if funding is only
provided for one project at a time. If funding dries up between
projects and a researcher can no longer afford to keep a technician,
the time and money invested in training that individual will be lost.
Moving forward
The CPRC continues to grapple with the myriad of issues surrounding the
current poultry research environment in Canada. Communication will be
the key to clarifying CPRC’s role in relation to other funding
organizations across the country. We will keep you informed of CPRC’s
continuing development and welcome any input you may have.
For more details on any CPRC activities, please contact Gord
Speksnijder at the Canadian Poultry Research Council, 483 Arkell Road,
R.R. #2, Guelph, Ontario, N1H 6H8. Phone: 289-251-2990, fax:
519-837-3584, e-mail: info@cp-rc.ca, or visit us at www.cp-rc.ca .
The membership of the CPRC consists of the Chicken Farmers of Canada,
Canadian Hatching Egg Producers, Turkey Farmers of Canada, Egg Farmers
of Canada and the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors’ Council. CPRC’s
mission is to address its members’ needs through dynamic leadership in
the creation and implementation of programs for poultry research in
Canada, which may also include societal concerns.
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