Chair’s Corner

The development of Canada’s program on “Canadian Animal Genetic Resources” continues to move forward with purpose. On October 21 and 22, the Steering Committee (Co-chaired by Dr. Gilles Saindon of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and myself) for this program met in Saskatoon.

The Steering Committee saw some of the laboratory space that has been allocated to the program by the University of Saskatchewan with one AAFC scientist already on site. It is anticipated that the memorandum of understanding between AAFC and the University of Saskatoon will be completed by the end of the year.

With respect to AAFC, they are moving forward with their plans for hiring three new scientists for the program. In order to make sure that all stakeholders are brought to the table, a workshop is being planned for 2005.

In all it was a very successful meeting and Dr. Saindon perhaps best summed it up at the end of the meeting by saying “yes we have work to do but look at the enormous progress that has been made”. I agree completely.

As Co chair of the Steering Committee for our Canadian program I was fortunate to be able to attend the conference/workshop entitled “Protecting and Managing Animal Genetic resources for Future generations: The Next Steps” put on by the United States Department of Agriculture.

This conference/workshop consisted of a series of conference type presentations and break out work groups. There were five Canadians who attended this conference/workshop. Dr. S. K. Ho of AAFC gave a presentation on the development of the Canadian program to date. It was an extremely worthwhile conference/workshop and many of the individuals present offered us their help should we think they can be of assistance.

It is my view that as we move forward here in Canada we can learn from their experiences and we should. On the other hand, this very brief exposure to their program also demonstrated to me that we seem to be on the correct track in many areas. Most notable is the scientific strength we will have at our hub at the University of Saskatchewan. The workshop AAFC is planning will truly bring the hub, spokes and all stakeholders, together as functional components of our Canadian program.

In summary these were two very positive meetings, both of which were very encouraging with respect to the steps Canada is taking.

Roger Buckland
Chair

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Foundation Annual Meeting
The Avian Genetic Resources Building at Agassiz
International Workshop
Dairy Farmers of Canada Director
Poultry Lines Maintained at Arkell
Donald Shaver Honoured by Poultry Magazine Readers
Conservation Strategies for Animal Genetic Resources
Board of Directors

FOUNDATION ANNUAL MEETING

The 2004 Annual Meeting was held in Ottawa September 23rd in the Dairy Farmers of Canada Boardroom. The Foundation was pleased to have Dr. S.K. Ho, AAFC, Dr. Fred Silversides AAFC, Dr. Jacques Surprenant AAFC and Dr. Stephen Moore from the University of Alberta in attendance.

The need for three-way collaboration between government, industry and university in the new Animal Genetic Resource Centre hub at Saskatoon was emphasized.

The Foundation will continue to;

• address issues of disparity between plant and animal research funding.
• enhance program communications and government relations.
• identify industry priorities.
• provide an advisory role to the new Saskatoon centre.
• address the issue of Saskatoon Centre Chairs, partnerships, and granting opportunities.
• consider a "Focus Forum" to launch the Centre.

Dr. Robert Chicoine has resigned as a Foundation Director, Vice Chairman and Treasurer to take on other activities. The Foundation appreciates the commitment and leadership that Robert has provided.

New Directors include Dr. Jacques Chesnais, Semex Alliance and Dr Stephen Moore from the University of Alberta. Dr Pramod Mathur will become the Treasurer as well as maintaining his role as a Director. Dr Peter Hunton will become Vice-Chair.

THE AVIAN GENETIC RESOURCES AT AGASSIZ, B.C.

The new Avian Genetic Resources building is close to completion. This 148' by 80' building has 7 animal rooms, a hatchery, a feed preparation room, storage rooms, an office and a laboratory, and is built to Canadian Council for Animal Care (CCAC) standards. The quail and chicken lines will be redproduced and moved into the building by February, 2005. An MSc student has started in September 2004 and will conduct his thesis research in genetic resources conservation. Other collaborative research projects will start once the birds are settled in and the building becomes fully functional.

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

On 5-7 March 2005 in Turin, Italy, a workshop will be held on "The role of biotechnology for the characterization and conservation of crop, forestry, animal and fishery genetic resources", organized by the FAO Working Group on Biotechnology, the Fondazione per le Biotecnologie and the ECONOGENE project.

The workshop includes three sessions on the status of the world's agro-biodiversity; the use of biotechnology for conservation of genetic resources; and genetic characterization of populations and its use in conservation decision-making.

There is also a poster session and a session on the final results from ECONOGENE (an EU-funded project on biodiversity and conservation of sheep and goat breeds reared in marginal rural areas). The provisional programme is available at http://www.fobiotech.org/FAO_2005.htm
or contact mail@fobiotech.org for more information.

ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO THE GENE SCENE

A number of members have requested that they receive "The Gene Scene" our newsletter by Email rather than hard copy. This enables them to make additional copies for distribution as the need arises and will reduce mailing costs of the Foundation. If you would prefer this method of distribution please contact the Foundation.

DAIRY FARMERS OF CANADA DIRECTOR

The Foundation is pleased that the Dairy Farmers of Canada have reappointed Hans Vink as a Director to the Foundation on their behalf for a one-year period. Hans, a dairy farmer from Central Ontario, has provided valuable input to the Foundation over the past three years and the Directors look forward to his and the Dairy Farmers of Canada's continued support.

POULTRY LINES MAINTAINED AT ARKELL
(Ontario Farmer/November 2004)

Guelph – Four poultry breeding lines that have been maintained by Donald McQueen Shaver of Cambridge have been moved into new housing at the University of Guelph’s Arkell Research Station.

Shaver founded Shaver Poultry and after taking it to one of the biggest and best chicken breeding companies in the world, and sold it in 1985. He has maintained four basic dual-purpose breeding lines since then because he is keenly interested in genetic preservation.

The Poultry Industry Council paid for housing for two of the lines, the Ontario Egg Producers for one and Shaver provided funding for two. There are five housing units because one is for the males the other four are for the females. One of the lines is Rhode Island Reds, another is Barred Rocks, the third is Columbian Rocks and fourth is a strain called the black line of Leghorns. Each line has 63 males and 288 females. Ford Dickison (2000) Inc. provided the equipment at reduced cost.

Shaver is one of the key driving forces in establishing the Canadian Farm Animal Genetic Resources Foundation, which aims to preserve genetics for a wide variety of species.

DONALD SHAVER HONOURED BY POULTRY MAGAZINE READERS

Canadian Poultry magazine celebrated the 50th edition of its annual Who’s Who of the Canadian Poultry Industry recently. They conducted an informal poll of readers to identify those who had the greatest influence on the industry over the past half century. Among the top five was Dr. Donald McQ. Shaver, Honourary Chair of the Foundation. As most readers of Gene Scene will know, Dr. Shaver was the founder of the poultry breeding company, which bears his name. Since retiring from active management in the industry, Don has worked very hard for the Foundation including 3 years as Chair.

Elsewhere in the list are included current Foundation Chair, Dr. Roger Buckland, Vice Chair Dr. Peter Hunton and Director Dr. Bill Guenter from the University of Manitoba.

CONSERVATION STRATEGIES FOR ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES(AnGR)

The following is a summary of some of the material prepared by Dr. David Notter, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University that was presented to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, October 2004. Dr Notter was a keynote speaker a number of years ago at the Foundation’s annual meeting in the Maritimes.

“Main threats to animal genetic resources and possible responses to these threats, include:

• Failure to match genetic resources to the production environment. High cost of animal genetic resource development for specific environments has favoured the spread of a few highly productive but often poorly adopted global breeds. More attention to specification of clear development goals, development of comprehensive livestock improvement strategies, and critical assessment of benefits and risks associated with the use of local versus improved genetic resources are needed.
  
• Inadequate infrastructure for improvement of AnGR. Public sector ownership of AnGR and investment in AnGR development is declining. New investments in training and capacity building is needed to establish and empower farmer’s organizations to take greater responsibility for better use and further development of AnGR.
  
• Limited capacity to develop ex situ collections. High costs of collection and limited use of preserved material will restrict development of extensive ex situ collections of AnGr. An alternative would be to implement a global program to assess genetic relationships among breeds following the pattern proposed by FAO and use this information to identify “core collections” of breeds that encompass a high proportion of global diversity for each species. These key GR could be monitored in situ and collected for ex situ storage as required.
  
• Inadequate institutional capacity to manage ANGR. Institutional capacity to manage AnGR lags behind that available for plants and will make implementation of action plans and legal agreements challenging. Methods to better coordinate, mobilize, and enhance existing institutional capacity should be identified.”

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
(October 1st, 2004)

Chair
Dr. Roger Buckland, McGill University, Macdonald College, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec H9X 3V9
T 514-398-7658 F 514-398-7964
E-mail Roger.Buckland@Mcgill.ca

Honourary Chair
Dr. Donald McQueen Shaver, Suite 901, 20 Berkley Road, Cambridge, Ontario N1S 4S8
T 519-623-4920 F 519-621-0984

Vice-Chair
Dr. Peter Hunton, RR #4 West River Road, Cambridge, Ontario N1R 5S5
T 519-622-3714
E-mail phunton@sympatico.ca

Directors:
Dr. Kim Cheng, University of British Columbia, 2708 West 30th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V6L 1Y9
T 604-822-2480 F 604-822-4400
E-mail kmtc@interchange.ubc.ca

Dr. Wilhelm ‘’Bill’’ Guenter, University of Manitoba, Department of Animal Science, Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 2N2
T 204-474-9334 F 204-474-7628
E-mail wguenter@cc.umanitoba.ca

Mr. Dick Huggard, 59 Shannon Drive, Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 3V7
T 902-895-5905 F 902-895-4460
E-mail rhuggard@sympatico.ca

Mr. Doug Blair, 3628-4th Street SW, Calgary, Alberta T2S 1Y2 T 403-287-9048 F 403-287-9356
E-mail dgblair@shaw.ca

Dr. Don Wilson, Director, Bayer Health Care, Animal Health Division, 77 Belfield Road, Toronto, Ontario M9W 1G6
T 416-248-0771 F 416-614-1058
E-mail don.wilson.b@bayer.com

Mr. Ted Lawrence, President, Rare Breeds Canada, 221 Clarence St., Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5P9
T 613-789-1081 E-mail ted@coxcreekfarm.com

Mr. Mike Nowosad, Canadian 4-H Council, Central Experimental Farm, 930 Carling Avenue, Building 26, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6
T 613-234-4448 Ext. 22 F 613-234-1112
E-mail mnowosad@4-h-canada.ca

Dr. Pramod K. Mathur, Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement, Central Experimental Farm, Building 54, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6 T 613-233-8872 F 613-233-8903 E-mail pramod@ccsi.ca

Mr. Hans Vink, Dairy Farmers of Canada, R.R. 2, Norwood, Ontario K0L 2V0
T 705-696-2169 F 705-696-1427
E-mail vinkfarms@heydon.com

Dr. Ed Lister, Director Emeritus, 6929 Lakes Park Drive, Greeley, Ontario K4P 1M6
T 613-821-6068
E-mail elister@rogers.com

Dr. Jacques Chesnais, 20B Gervin St., Nepean, Ontario
K2G 0J8
T 613-226-3965 F 613-225-8261
E-mail jpchesnais@rogers.com

Dr. Steven Moore, Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Studies, University of Alberta,
4-10 Agriculture Forestry Centre, Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2P5
T 780-492-0169 F 780-492-4265
E-mail stephen.moore@afns.ualberta.ca

Mr. Jim Dalrymple, P.Ag. CAC - Executive Vice-President
P.O. Box 3027, Brighton, Ontario K0K 1H0
T 613-475-2701 F 613-475-3902
E-mail ded@reach.net

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