Chairs Corner

I take this opportunity to bring you up to date on what I consider to be some very significant progress towards the establishment of a Canadian centre for the conservation of livestock and poultry genetic resources.

A steering committee of 13 members, Co chaired by Dr. Steve Morgan Jones of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and myself as Chair of the Foundation has prepared a business plan recommending the establishment of such a Canadian centre. The business plan recommends the involvement of Government, Universities and the Private Sector. It also recommends the establishment of a “hub” or core of activities at a single geographical location with additional participation at other locations in the form of “spokes of the wheel”. This business plan has been reviewed by the senior administration of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. They returned it to the steering committee asking them to make a single recommendation on the location of the “hub”. It plans to deliver its recommendation for the location of the “hub” to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in December of this year.

The development of this business plan and the recommendations it contains are a major step forward for

Canada with respect to the conservation of its livestock and poultry genetic resources. However, there are still a number of important steps required to make sure Canada “gets the puck in the net” and the Centre is established to the benefit of all Canadians.

I take this opportunity to thank all members of the Foundation for their support and work in moving this very important issue forward. For the future plans are being developed as to how the Foundation can work in partnership with this new Centre to the benefit of all.

Roger Buckland
Chair

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

National Program for the Management of Animal Genetic Resources of Brazil
New Directors
Join the Foundtion
Annual Meeting of the Foundation
Board of Directors
Resource Materials

Donald McQueen Shaver O.C. receiving a special thanks from the Honourable Lyle Vanclief, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on behalf of CFAGRF for his contribution to Canada’s agriculture and food industry on the occasion of his retirement as Chair of the Canadian Farm Animal Genetic Resources Foundation. Dr. Shaver will continue to support the Foundation as Honourary Chair

National Program for the Management of Animal Genetic Resources of Brazil.
By: Arthur Mariante, EMBRAPA.
(Abstract of paper presented at the World Conference on Animal Production, Porto Alegre, Brazil, October, 2003.)

When the Portuguese settlers arrived in Brazil they brought several livestock breeds from different species. During five centuries, those breeds have been subjected to natural selection in specific environments, developing into new breeds known as “Criollo”, “local” or naturalized, that present adaptation characteristics to specific Brazilian environmental conditions. From the beginning of the 20th century, some exotic breeds, selected in temperate regions, have begun to be imported. Although more productive, these breeds do not have adaptive traits, such as resistance to disease and parasites found in breeds considered to be “native”. Even so, little by little, they replaced the native breeds, to such an extent that the latter are in danger of extinction. In 1983, to avoid the loss of this important genetic material, Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (Cenargen) of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) decided to include conservation of animal genetic resources in its research program Conservation and Utilization of Genetic Resources. The conservation has been carried out by various Research Centers of Embrapa, Universities, State Research Corporations, as well as by private farmers, with a single coordinator at national level, Cenargen. Specifically, the conservation is being carried out by Conservation Nuclei, situated in the habitats where the animals have been subjected to natural selection. This involves storage of semen and embryos from cattle, horses, buffaloes, donkeys, goats, sheep and pigs. The Brazilian Animal Germplasm Bank is kept at Cenargen, which is responsible for the storage of semen and embryos of various breeds of domestic animals threatened with extinction, and presently has almost 45,000 doses of semen and more than 200 embryos. An important challenge for this program is to make the different segments of society realize the importance of the conservation of animal genetic resources.

FOUNDATION WELCOMES NEW DIRECTORS

The Foundation is pleased to welcome Dr. Pramod Mathur, Dr. Don Wilson and Doug Blair to the Board of Directors who as the following biographies will attest will make a significant contribution to CFAGRF.

Pramod Mathur obtained his Doctor of Science degree in Agriculture from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. He has his Bachelors degree in Veterinary science and Masters in Animal Breeding and Genetics from India.

Pramod has been involved in teaching and research positions at universities for ten years in Germany and seven years in India. He has planned and implemented a number of research projects related to livestock genetic resources in Europe, Africa and Asia. Pramod has written research papers on estimation of genetic distances and role of major genes from local genetic resources.

Currently, he is Chief Geneticist at the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement. He has been with the centre for over seven years and his role is to carry out research and provide services related to genetic improvement for the Canadian swine industry.

Don Wilson, D.V.M. who is currently Director Technical Services & Regulatory Affairs with Bayer Inc. was born in Belleville and is the grandson of a Hastings County Ayrshire Breeder. Don graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1966 and practiced in a Brampton cattle practice until 1974 and following that worked in commercial embryo transfer until 1977. He joined ICI Pharma in 1977 as technical services veterinarian becoming the Manager of Animal Health in 1979.

He joined Bayvet in 1984 as Commercial Development Manager continuing in various roles with this company, which is now Bayer HealthCare, Animal Health Division.

Don’s other accomplishments include being a member of ARIO from 1977 to 1984 serving as Vice-Chair in 1982 and Chair in 1983. In addition he has been active in the Canadian Animal Health Institute often as a member of the Animal Drug Committee and Director and as President in 1995-1996.

Doug Blair, originally from a farm family in British Columbia, has been an integral part of the bovine artificial insemination industry for over 30 years. He had a vision to develop a world-class cattle genetics company that would improve the genetic level of livestock producer's herds throughout Canada and around the world.

After graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1965, Doug served as sire analyst and semen production team member ad the B.C. Artificial Insemination Centre. In 1969 he and a partner founded the first A.I. centre, Western Breeders Services, at Balzac, Alberta.

In 1993,Doug put bovine genetics, artificial insemination, and livestock improvement on the "corporate map" when Alta Genetics Inc became a publicly traded company.

Doug was a founding member of Semex Canada and has served on the Canadian Agriculture and Food Marketing Council. He is co-founder and an active participant in: Canadian Livestock Exporters Association, Canadian Embryo Exporters Association, and the National 4-H Foundation of Canada. He remains actively involved with the Canadian Dairy Network, National Association of Animal Breeders in the United States. and a board member of Alta Genetics.

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ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FOUNDATION
by Donald McQ. Shaver O.C.,D.Sc.

Dr. Kim Cheng and I visited Agassiz, British Columbia September 12th. We were greeted by the Associate Director, Dr. Valerie Stevens and newly arrived Dr Fred Silversides, who will head up the poultry project.

A Holstein herd of about 250 head is housed at the Station and lends itself to conservation purposes. No one was present at the time to answer my questions about inbreeding ratio, but these numbers permit the incorporation of 15-20 sire groups within the herd.

Like a child, the Foundation has taken its first hesitant step on its mission to further conservation of minor breeds, and to promote a greatly increased public and private investment in the techniques and procedures essential to preserve existing biodiversity. Personally, I hope to continue with you a little longer in helping to man the ramparts.

Disturbing developments continue internationally on this front, with some species finding themselves descending into circumstance that were unthinkable some 25 years ago. We all know the large and ever growing share of the world’s meat consumption held by chicken and turkey. Today, half of these breeders are furnished by one single corporation. This occurred earlier this year, and little more than a year following an earlier amalgamation. The private equity investor earned 50.9% in that brief period. A large proportion of the world’s food supply is involved here. Wall Street and its excesses are becoming perverse in food production as well.

At the same time, other investment bankers corralled three international layer breeders for more than one-third of the world layer market. Can swine be far behind?

Before commercial stocks within these species contract further, a responsible body must sample, synthesize and preserve these genes quickly, in the best and most secure manner known to man. We cannot leave their fate to the tender mercy of investment bankers.

The University of Alberta, under the guidance of Dr. Frank Robinson, has performed great service to the Canadian poultry industry, with a shoestring budget. They deserve our commendation. They hold one of the old Ottawa meat control strain that is a rich source of diverse genes for the poultry industry. To prevent further deteriorization it needs to have its population size at least tripled. A modest fund should be available for this purpose. It is wrong that we compel dedicated researchers like Frank Robinson to spend more time begging for money to feed their chickens, than they can devote to actual research.

We have a sophisticated Plant Germplasm System in Canada ant it has its “bank” of seeds in Saskatoon, available to scientists for study and breeders to grow and refine. Now Canada is turning its attention to genetic biodiversity resources for livestock, and it is the Mandate and the Mission of our Foundation to ensure that a corresponding “bank” is functional at the earliest date that is reasonable.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
(November 1st, 2003)

Chair

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

Honourary Chair

Dr. Donald McQueen Shaver, 1337 Shellard Sideroad, R.R. 6 Cambridge, Ontario N1R 5S7
T 519-623-4920 Fax 519-621-0984

Vice-Chair

Mr. Robert Chicoine, 3450 Sicotte, Box 518, Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec J2S 7B8
T 450-774-1141 F 450-774-1022 Email chicoiner@ciaq.com

Directors

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

Dr. Wilhelm "Bill" Guenter, University of Manitoba, Department of Animal Science, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2
Tel 204-474-9334 Fax 204-474-7628 E-mail wguenter@cc.umanitoba.ca

Mr. Dick Huggard, 59 Shannon Drive, Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 3V7
Tel 902-895-5905 Fax 902-895-4460 E-mail campbem@gov.ns.ca

Dr. Peter Hunton, R.R. 4 West River Road, Cambridge, Ontario N1R 5S5
Tel 519-622 3714 E-mail phunton@sympatico.ca

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

Mr. Ted Lawrence, President, Rare Breeds Canada, 3968 Route 309, Buckingham, Quebec J8L 2W9
Tel 819-281-1655 E-mail ted@coxcreekfarm.com

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

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

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

Mr. Doug Blair, 3628-4th Street SW, Calgary, Alberta T2S 1Y2
Tel 403-287-9048 Fax 403-861-2308 E-mail: dgblair@shaw.ca

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

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