A portion of the funds collected by the Beef Cattle Research, Market Development and Promotion Agency are directed towards the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC). The purpose of the BCRC is to sponsor research and technology development in strategically-focused priority areas of national significance to the beef industry. The Council is also focused on facilitating and encouraging collaboration and coordination among researchers, funding agencies, and industry (in order to maximize the benefits obtained from beef cattle research) and supporting the Canadian beef industry’s marketing value proposition of being a leader in beef quality, animal health, food safety and environmental stewardship. Since its inception, the BCRC has contributed $4.08 million in funding to 59 different research projects and initiatives. The total estimated investment in these research initiatives, including BCRC’s contribution, is over $20 million.

National Beef Research Strategy and Growing Forward Agri-Science Clusters

A recent review of the beef research situation in Canada initiated by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and Beef Value Chain Roundtable (BVCR) found that research and innovation must play an important role in addressing many of the competitiveness issues facing the Canadian beef industry. It also determined, however, that research funding, infrastructure, human capital and technology transfer (to support beef and cattle research) have fragmented and declined significantly. Out of the review, a national beef research strategy has been developed which focuses on the opportunity to position research as a supporting driver of the industry’s sustained success, and provides a framework towards achieving national coordination of beef research priorities, funding and technology transfer efforts.

In tandem with the development of the national beef research strategy, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is implementing the Agri-Science Cluster Initiative program under the new Growing Forward Strategy. The Agri-Science Cluster Initiative is a significant opportunity to strengthen research and development to address current and future competitive challenges through the development of a Beef Science Cluster. The development of a Beef Science Cluster will be an important first step in the implementation of the broader national beef research strategy, accelerating the process to help industry more formally coordinate with all stakeholders and direct funding more effectively to an outcome-based research program that is more directly aligned with industry’s vision and priorities.

With the support of CCA, the BVCR, and provincial industry organizations the BCRC has committed to developing a Beef Science Cluster and acting as the transition point for the implementation of the broader national beef research framework. The BCRC has a solid track record – with scientific review and business management systems in place. These systems will be further adapted and enhanced to effectively manage Beef Science Cluster activities, implementing near and medium-term projects during the next four years.

  Program Objectives and Priorities

Based on stakeholder engagement and BCRC’s priority-setting process, the beef industry has defined two core research objectives under which more specific priorities are established:

•  To reduce costs of production, priority areas are to enhance feed and forage production, increase feed efficiency, decrease impact of animal health issues and production-limiting diseases, improve utilization of Specified Risk Materials, and animal care.
•  To improve beef demand and quality, priority areas are to reduce food safety incidences; define quality and yield benchmarks supporting the Canadian Beef Advantage; and improve beef quality through an audit program and primary production improvements, and the development and application of post-processing technologies to optimize cut-out values.

Expected Deliverables

The following highlights some of the research program outcomes expected to be delivered on by the BCRC in each priority area over the next four years:

Beef Quality

• Conduct a beef quality audit, consumer satisfaction survey and carcass quality audit and utilize information to support industry’s efforts to market Canadian beef advantages; develop applied research plans to correct deficiencies, and develop communication and education programs to promote change, where necessary, within industry
• Determine optimal feeding strategies to enhance healthy fatty acid production in mature and youthful animals to support the development of value-added omega-3 products
• Development of new intervention strategies to increase the quality and add value to under-utilized muscle cuts Food Safety
• Identification of alternative economical treatment strategies for trim to reduce E.coli 0157:H7 contamination
• Determine the effect of feeding different levels of wheat-based distillers grains on shedding levels of E.coli 0157:H7 and identify the optimal levels of wheat-based distillers grains that can be safely added to feedlot cattle diets
• Facilitate the transition of important food safety scientific capacity and ensure the continued delivery of applied food safety research for industry benefit

Specified Risk Material (SRM) Utilization

• Assess the fate of BSE prions during composting and identify optimal composting conditions for SRM materials to provide an economical and effective means of disposing of SRMs Forage
• Development of drought-adapted forages to improve productivity and increase water use efficiency
• Identification of new sainfoin cultivars and alfalfa/sainfoin mixtures that eliminate bloat risk and demonstrate stand longevity
• Provide new agronomic recommendations for swath grazing to improve economic efficiency by increasing carrying capacity, yield and yield stability of alternative swath-grazed crops

Feed Efficiency

•  Development of alternative feeding strategies that identify the optimal use of distillers grains to maximize performance, while minimizing carcass and meat quality impacts and monitoring shifts in nutrient (N and P) release in manure derived from animals fed Dry Distiller’s Grains (DDGs)
• Advance the development of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) panel to facilitate validation of genetic markers
• Development of marker-assisted Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) and indexes to assist beef producers in the selection of economically-relevant traits
• Identification of biological predictors to predict/select cattle for improved feed efficiency

Animal Health and Production-Limiting Diseases

• Development and evaluation of potential diagnostic tests that aid in control programs for Johne’s disease
• Development and evaluation of potential new control strategies for Johne’s disease including vaccination tools
• Identification of animal health and performance concerns associated with feeding distillers grains and development of best management practices that optimize performance while minimizing animal health concerns
• Identification of methods of modifying eating behavior and ruminal fermentation to influence production and animal health

National Check-Off Funding

Expectations are that beef cow inventories and consequently check-off will continue to decline into 2010, as the industry continues to respond to profitability indicators and also more recent drought conditions in certain areas of the country. The most probable scenario being considered by industry is that the cow herd will continue to be liquidated throughout 2009 and 2010 in response to drought, poor prices, and volatile markets. Upon the herd stabilizing in 2011, marketings and check-off revenues would continue to decline through to 2012 due to reduced cow slaughter and the retention of heifers as herds are rebuilt. Check-off revenues would then begin to see some growth in 2013, as larger numbers of calves become available for marketing.

The extent to which check-off funding for research declines will be highly dependent on several factors including the length of the current liquidation phase, magnitude of expansion following herd stabilization, and the level of fed and feeder exports. At this point industry could realistically see as much as a 20% reduction in check-off revenues over the next three years, prior to seeing them stabilize and grow.

Further funding uncertainty has been added by Bill 43 in Alberta, which made both the provincial and national check-off collected by Alberta Beef Producers refundable in that province. A great deal of uncertainty exists as to the extent to which industry will request refunds making it very difficult to determine the impact it will have on the budgets of the national check-off and the Beef Cattle Research Council moving into 2010-2011.

 Looking Forward

Given current revenues and allocations through the national check-off, the BCRC has been challenged to implement a comprehensive research strategy which addresses multiple industry priorities while remaining fiscally-prudent. The BCRC has drawn on reserve funds (which were based on an initial grant to the BCRC) on an annual basis to supplement revenues received from the national check-off.

The BCRC is committed to funding leading-edge research to position the Canadian beef cattle industry as a global leader in beef quality, animal health, food safety and environmental stewardship. Research and technology transfer is a dynamic process with unique challenges and vast opportunities. The Beef Cattle Research Council will strive to ensure that an efficient and effective process of evaluating the research needs of the beef and beef cattle industry is maintained on a continual and productive basis. New priorities, strategies, and opportunities will be continually evaluated and implemented to ensure the needs of the industry and its most important customer, the consumer, are addressed in a timely manner.

Quality Starts Here – Verified Beef Production

In addition to sponsoring research and technology development in support of the Canadian beef industry, in 2001 the Quality Starts Here4® program was brought under the auspices of the BCRC. The Quality Starts Here program further supports the industry’s vision to have high quality Canadian beef products recognized as the most outstanding by Canadian and world customers. Bringing it under the auspices of the BCRC provides a practical means for efficient administration and access to development and implementation resources for the program. It also provides an appropriate forum for policy development to then be taken forward to the Board of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.

At the most recent July BCRC meeting a recommendation was made to dissolve the QSH Management Committee. The Committee has set many policies and dealt with issues in the past, providing excellent connections with beef producers across the regions. This communication is important and the contributions of producers on this group are valued and we remain committed to ensuring this feedback occurs. At the same time, since most of the policy has been set and operations are well underway, it was determined that the optimum way to handle reporting to the BCRC would be to have it occur directly at the BCRC committee level. As there is already significant overlap of representatives between the BCRC and QSH committees this would eliminate duplication, decrease costs, and utilize producer commitment to an optimum. Communications and input from all regions will still continue, with the addition of some time to report/interact at the BCRC meetings each year.

The BCRC remains committed to the success of the program, the importance of producer and regional input, and support for provincial coordinators who deliver this program.