In 2009, the OCA Board of Directors decided that between 2009 and 2013 the OCA Research Committee budget would come from the Farm Innovation Program (FIP). FIP is a $12 million program that is a program under the Innovation and Science Suite of Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council is administering the program on behalf of the federal and provincial governments, and OCA will be managing the projects for the beef sector, which has been allocated approximately $1.76 million over the five years of the program. All applications for beef projects will be submitted through OCA for approval. Researchers, industry groups and individual producers are encouraged to apply during the semi-annual Request for Proposals.

Though applications need to fit the priorities of FIP, the OCA Research Committee agreed to maintain the 2008 priority areas for 2009 projects:

1. Production and Feeding Strategies to Lower Costs of Production

2. Safe Product

3. Marketing Opportunities for Ontario Beef - Product Development

4. Environmental Sustainability

5. Improved Animal Health and Welfare

6. Economic Research and Analysis (as it relates to Ontario beef production)

The overall goal of FIP is to increase the development, adaptation, assessment, and adoption of on-farm innovative technologies that help agricultural producers respond to changing demands.

Approved projects will undertake research and innovation to: increase awareness and access to credible, Ontariobased information on applicable innovative on-farm technologies in each sector, and provide industrydirected funding to agricultural commodity organizations and to individual farmers or groups of farmers for applied research projects and on-farm demonstrations that focus on innovative technologies for on-farm application.

In 2009, eight projects were approved under FIP, totaling just under $400,000. Many of these approved projects were originally funded by the OCA Research Committee in past years, and are on-going. The approved 2009 projects are:

• Develop Key Performance Indicators and Best Management Practices for Ontario Beef Cow/Calf Producers ~ Dr. Maury Bredahl, University of Guelph

• Developing the Means to Use New Data to help Ontario Beef Farmers Compete ~ Mike McMorris, Beef Improvement Opportunities

• Modulation of Fc Gamma Receptor II (CD32) Expression of B Lymphocytes to Enhance Antibody Responses of Young Calves ~ Dr. Patricia Shewen, University of Guelph

• Development of Feeding Strategies to Lower Cost of Production for Finishing Cattle ~ Dr. Ira Mandell and Dr. Kendall Swanson

• DNA Panel Development to Predict Genetic Differences for Feed Efficiency and Beef Tenderness ~ Dr. Steve Miller

• Influence of Feeding Increasing Levels of Corn Distillers Grains Plus Solubles in Whole Corn-Based Finishing Diets ~ Dr. Kendall Swanson, University of Guelph

• U se of Antimicrobial Peptides as Adjuvants for Vaccines Against Mycoplasma bovis ~ Dr. Jose Perez-Casal, University of Saskatchewan

• Assessment of Productive Efficiency in the Cow/Calf Sector through Key Hormone Profiles, Infrared Thermography, Body Composition and Body Measure ~ Dr. Steve Miller, University of Guelph