An Agriculture Canada researcher says industry needs more scientists with dirty fingernails who can relate to farmers
In the 1980s and into the 1990s, many agricultural researchers shared a similar biography.
The scientist was raised on a farm or a small prairie town. She studied agriculture in university and went on to earn a PhD — eventually becoming an Agriculture Canada researcher or a university professor.
These days, the farm to world-leading scientist story has become a rarity in Canada.
“A lot of the guys, now, that are in the beef research area, that’s their story,” said Tim McAllister, a ruminant nutrition and microbiology expert with Agriculture Canada in Lethbridge, who grew up on a cow-calf farm near Innisfail, Alta.
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“That (pipeline) has definitely dried up. We’re not finding people that easily.”
The Beef Cattle Research Council, the national funding agency for beef, cattle and forage research, is aware of the problem and its impact.
“Currently, a shortage of scientific experts and research capacity in some areas of beef, cattle and forage research are hindering the ability to conduct priority research that supports improvements in productivity and demand and responds to emerging issues,” the BCRC said Aug. 10 on its website.
The BCRC has announced plans to create research chairs, who will fill scientific “gaps” within the beef industry. The successful candidates must focus their attention on BCRC research priorities:
- Reducing production costs and increasing competitiveness for producers by improving things like feed efficiency and forage production.
- Improving beef quality.
- Improving public confidence in Canadian beef.
Check-off dollars from producers, combined with matching funding, will pay for the research chairs.
The shortage of cattle, beef and forage scientists is mostly in one area: applied research and extension. There are scientists within Canada’s beef sector who are good at basic research, but they tend to focus on something highly specific in beef production — maybe an enzyme in the rumen that influences forage digestion.
Canada’s beef industry lacks researchers who can bridge the gap between scientific discoveries and the practicalities of running a livestock farm.
“It’s more in the applied area where there is a big shortage (of scientists) that’s coming up, if it isn’t already there,” McAllister said.
“When you are just working on the bench (in a lab), you can come up with a lot of great ideas, but you don’t understand the challenges and nuances within the industry…. Some (ideas) can look quite ridiculous when you try and apply them at the farm level.”
As an example, a scientist might be studying an exotic forage grass that has incredible potential to improve cattle nutrition and health. But if the forage is too delicate to grow on the Prairies, or generates poor yields, the science doesn’t matter to producers.
“If you get up and give a talk… and the producers can clearly see there’s no way that’s ever going to be implemented on a farm, you can lose a lot of respect in a very short period of time,” McAllister said.
Compared to a generation ago, fewer Canadians now grow up on farms. There’s a smaller pool of university students who understand the realities of raising cattle.
Plus, many agriculture students with first-hand knowledge of farming don’t earn a PhD.
They take jobs in the private sector, after getting a bachelor’s or a master’s degree.
“(They) are snapped up by industry right away,” McAllister said.
Agriculture students from suburban Calgary or someone raised in Regina can learn what it’s like to farm, but it requires effort.
“We have a lot of people going into the university who have no understanding of the practicality of agriculture or farming systems,” McAllister said.
“They can learn that… but they need to be motivated, to go out and interact with farmers.”
Scientists interested in the research chair opportunity have until Oct. 1 to submit a proposal.
