Project funding and collaboration expected to boost poultry sector innovation

Oct 5, 2021 | 1:30 PM

EDMONTON, AB. — It’s the new norm in agriculture and various segments of the industry have welcomed technology to advance and improve practices. The latest to enhance technology practices is the poultry industry.

Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) has awarded $400,000 to the Poultry Innovation Partnership (PIP), to develop a technology transfer ecosystem to support innovation adoption in the Alberta poultry industry.

PIP is a consortium of Alberta Chicken Producers, Alberta Hatching Egg Producers, Alberta Turkey Producers, Burnbrae Farms, Egg Farmers of Alberta, Egg Farmers of Canada, Government of Alberta, Maple Leaf Foods, Peavey Mart, and the University of Alberta. Through this partnership contributions from each of the partners are being leveraged to support this project.

Knowledge transfer is actually a producer-identified RDAR research priority and RDAR Research Director Clinton Dbson, says the PIP model strongly supports collaboration within Alberta Poultry research and strengthens relationships with poultry research stations across Canada.

“A producer-led approach to research will help the industry identity key knowledge gaps within Alberta, reduce duplication of research efforts and strengthen producer, public and private partnerships in identifying and delivering on research and extension priorities.”

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Susan Schafers, Chair of the Poultry Innovation Partnership and Alberta Egg Farmers, says, “PIP brings farmers, academia and industry together at one table to meet the needs of the feather industries in Alberta. The feather industry’s investments in PIP have been leveraged to support this project – enabling PIP to deliver the tools our farmers need to succeed.”

Schafers explains investment from RDAR’s Accelerating Agricultural Innovations program will help in translating knowledge to Alberta’s poultry producers, complete demonstration feasibility analysis projects and develop communication tools to support the adoption of best practices.

The project, led by Dr. Martin Zuidhof and Dr. Valerie Carney, will use a collaborative approach to establish an ecosystem that supports change throughout the poultry industry. A structure will be developed to transfer information and processes from a research setting to a commercial operation and is seen as a critical element.

RDAR’s funding contributions – of which $292,425.59 comes from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) – are valued at $400,000 over 2-years.

by Dori Modney with files from RDAR