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Reducing Environmental Impact and Reliance on Antibiotics Top Pork Sector's Priority List
Stewart Cressman - Canadian Swine Research and Development Cluster (Swine Innovation Porc)

Farmscape for February 22, 2018

The Chair of Swine Innovation Porc says reducing the environmental footprint of pork production and reducing the sector's reliance on antibiotics will be among the top research priorities transitioning into the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
The Canadian Agricultural Partnership, Canada's new five year Agricultural Policy Framework, comes into force April 1st.
Swine Innovation Porc Chair Stewart Cressman says among the research priorities of both government and the pork sector are the environment and the use of antibiotics.

Clip-Stewart Cressman-Swine Innovation Porc:
Certainly the environment is very important on their radar.
We've always felt the way to reduce the environmental footprint of hog production is efficiency.
We can produce more pork with less sows has been demonstrated  with increased number of piglets per sow per year.
Feed conversion has been improved.
The pounds of feed required per pound of lean gain continues to drop.
I think one of the other main areas of emphasis in our research is looking at reducing the reliance on antibiotics, not eliminating them entirely, because we think they are a valuable tool to the industry but using them strategically when needed.
We think the way to do that is aim our research at the microbiome.
This is certainly an area that is quite popular both in the human area of study as well as in animal agriculture, which some people feel has to be considered as an organ, will provide answers that reduce our reliance on antibiotics into the future.

Cressman says the agri-science cluster programs have brought stakeholders together with researchers and broken down barriers between institutions allowing more collaborative research.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.


       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork

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