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In 2008, the OCA Board of Directors allocated $218,750 to
the OCA
Research Committee from the Toronto Stock Yards Land
Development
Board for research and development in the Ontario beef
industry.
The committee set the following priority areas for 2008:
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1. Production and feeding strategies to
lower costs of
production.
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2. Safe product
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3. Marketing opportunities for Ontario
beef - product development
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4. Environmental sustainability
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5. Improved animal health and welfare
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6. Economic research and analysis as it
relates to Ontario beef production.
The committee followed a Request for Proposals process that
resulted
in 12 letters of intent submitted. The committee requested 8
full proposals
from the applicants that met the 2008 priority areas. Of
these
8, the committee allocated $127,360 to 6 new projects. The
committee
also allocated $61,806.68 to Year Two of the 2007-approved
projects. The OCA Board of Directors approved these
allocations, for
a total approval of $189,166.68 on 8 projects in 2008.
The New 2008 Projects are:
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• Develop key performance indicators that relate management
and other producer decisions to profitability and
sustainability of
beef production in Ontario, Maury Bredahl, University of
Guelph
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• Developing the means to use new data to help Ontario beef
farmers compete, Mike McMorris, Beef Improvement Ontario
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• Modulation of Fc gamma receptor II (CD32) expression of B
lymphocytes
to enhance antibody responses of young calves, Dr. Patricia
Shewen, University of Guelph
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• Development of feeding strategies to lower cost of
production
for finishing cattle, Dr. Ira Mandell and Dr. Kendall
Swanson
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• Influence of a rubber-topped feedlot slat on animal
performance,
welfare and economic returns, Christoph Wand, OMAFRA
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• DNA panel development to predict genetic differences for
feed
efficiency and beef tenderness, Dr. Steve Miller
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The 2007 Projects that were Allocated a Second Year of
Funding
were:
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• Influence of feeding increasing levels of corn distillers
grains plus
solubles in whole corn based finishing diets, Dr. Kendall
Swanson, University of Guelph
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• Use of antimicrobial peptides as adjuvants for vaccines
against mycoplasma bovis, Dr. Jose Perez-Casal, University
of Saskatchewan
Ontario Research and Development Program (ORD)
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
(OMAFRA)
provided $2.5 million to the Agricultural Adaptation Council
(AAC)
to fund the Ontario Research and Development (ORD) Program.
ORD was announced in January 2008 as part of the $150
million announced
by Ontario in the 2007 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review.
The overall goal of the two-year Program is to promote the
long-term viability and competitiveness of Ontario
agriculture by investing
in agricultural research and development projects which will
accelerate research, competitiveness and productivity for
the non
supply managed commodities of the Ontario Agricultural
Commodity
Council (OACC). OCA, on behalf of the Ontario beef industry
has been allocated $317,658.83 of the ORD funding to assign
to projects
that will enhance research, competitiveness and productivity
in the
beef sector. All funding will be allocated by March 2009.
ORD Objectives Include:
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• Expand and strengthen linkages between the agriculture and
agri-food sector and the science and innovation community
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• Improve technology transfer, coordination, communication
and
collaboration across market, policy and scientific
disciplines, research
organizations and throughout the agri-food value chain
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• Accelerate the development and adoption of innovations in
the agriculture and agri-food sector while maintaining an
effective
science-based and transparent agriculture and agri-food
regulatory system
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• Ensure that the human resources and infrastructure needed
for
science and innovation in the agriculture and agri-food
sector
are available
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• Foster a supportive climate for agri-food investment,
technology
transfer, commercialization and competitiveness
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• Adjust to market signals and changes on consumer demands
to
support the capture of market opportunities
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• Use intellectual property from publicly-supported agri-food
research
to enhance the growth of the agriculture and agri-food
sector; and
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• Increase the level of investment in innovation in
agriculture and
bio-products
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