CCIA will continue to support the commercial interests and information needs of the agriculture industry and government with a cost-effective, efficient, robust and scalable infrastructure.

Currently, the system is being reorganized in order to optimize performance on all types of Internet service, including dialup. The Website www.canadaid.ca  has been improved to support dialup services, as well as offering all current print publications in an electronic format. The Website is now offered in both French and English to better meet the needs our stakeholders across Canada.

In the future, CCIA will seek to advance the implementation and evolution of the national traceability system through collaborative and engaged relationships with other agricultural sectors. Tag technology and retention is under review and continued efforts will be made to keep the public updated as to the status of new technologies and field trials. Paul Laronde has joined the CCIA team in the role of Commodity Identification Development and Investigation Coordinator to establish quality assurance procedures and processes around the technology of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags and readers, as well as investigating other emergent technologies that may provide value to industry sectors. Working with veterinarians, producers and other industry partners, the future of traceability technology will be always improving. Feedback is welcome from all our industry partners as we work together to find a solution to common technology issues.

CCIA will be seen as a national leader in the agricultural industry through its role as a traceability advocate and the collaborative partnerships by which it achieves these objectives. As a member of the Industry Government Advisory Committee (IGAC) discussions on traceability and through collaborative processes with other service providers, CCIA is committed to discussing and working together on a multi-species national traceability system. CCIA will also continue to act as a service provider for pork and poultry organizations and will offer services to other species.

2008 and 2009 saw many management changes within CCIA office. Kerry St. Cyr has taken over the role of Executive Director and has set CCIA on a new path towards a sustainable future. Joining him on the management team are Angelo Herat (Operations Manager), Bilal Kabalan (Technology Manager), Hina Thaker (Legal Counsel) and Danielle Oberle (Communications Manager). Along with the new management team, new staff has been hired to handle the influx of calls and CCIA will begin the move towards fully bilingual services.

In 2009, CCIA was committed to internal and technological restructuring to better serve the needs of our commodity stakeholders. Recently, CCIA improved stakeholder services with extended call centre hours from 6am to 6:30pm MST.

Through collaborative activities with industry and governments CCIA is moving towards full animal movement tracking through completion of Premises Identification and identifying appropriate tools for industry, and continuing to assist with Age Verification.

Producer support and industry infrastructure to facilitate valueadded initiatives will also continue to be a focus of CCIA as demonstrated by our partnership with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) on the Canadian Beef Advantage.

Recently, CCIA shared a booth at the Outdoor Farm Show and the International Plowing Match with the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association. These trade shows helped to inform Ontario stakeholders on the benefits of using the Canadian Livestock Tracking System and the importance of traceability.

During 2009, CCIA began the Auction Market Applied Research Project to determine the costs and benefits for full-scale implementation of RFID systems in auction markets. This one-anda- half-year research project will install, operate and test multiple commercially-available RFID reader technologies in multiple test sites across Canada. Three of the eight testing sites are located in Ontario including: Ontario Livestock Exchange, Ontario Stockyards Inc. and the Ottawa Livestock Exchange.

CCIA plans to be the long-term partner with industry and governments in the traceability of Canadian Livestock and Poultry from the producer to the consumer by taking a leadership role so food safety, animal health and international trade expectations are consistently exceeded.