LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – A $2.8 million industry development fund for the Alberta pork industry should give swine research projects a financial boost.
No projects have yet been approved, but possibilities include studying the environmental impacts of large hog operations in a community, said pork development chair Roger Charbonneau, at a recent district meeting here of the Alberta Pork Producers Development Corporation.
“These funds are for Alberta and they have to benefit Alberta first,” he said. A five-member committee of producers and government officials will assess funds.
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Alberta pork producers pay for more than $400,000 worth of research projects each year ranging from animal health to nutrition and environmental effects of the industry. However, many projects are refused because the corporation can’t stretch its money further.
“There are some projects that came to the research committee that we have turned over to them (industry development) because there is not enough money in our budget,” said director Blaine Middleton.
Some requests ask for more than $100,000 and the pork producers organization can’t afford the entire bill.
The industry development fund comes from government money budgeted for programs like the tripartite red meat stabilization subsidy program. It closed two years ago because of unfair trading complaints from the United States. Producers in Alberta who participated in tripartite have received a maximum refund of $2,500 from the program. The remainder goes to the development fund.
The money must be spent within three years and may not be spent on capital projects, said Middleton.
The pork corporation supports research with money from a $1 levy collected on every market hog sold. From that levy, 20 cents is devoted to research, which ranges from animal health to improved feeding programs.
The money is administered by the pork corporation. Other shares of the levy go for promotion projects, education programs and communications with producers.
In 1996, the pork producers spent just over $457,000 on 23 research projects.
The commitment to research has increased each year since 1992 with more than $1.5 million of producer money dedicated to research projects in that period.
For the 1997 fiscal year, $384,000 has been committed so far, said Middleton.
Research projects from last year include development of a vaccine for plueropneumonia and streptococcus suis.
This is a three-year project from the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization, which received $36,000 from Alberta. An additional $10,000 for another year was given toward the streptococcus suis project .
A one-year project to deal with manure received more than $12,000. This project turned waste fluid into frozen droplets and sprayed it onto the ground as snowfluent.
A project to improve meat quality looked at feeding vitamin B6 to pigs to see if it reduces stress in pigs and alleviates the problem of pale, soft and exudative pork.
Some producers at the Lethbridge meeting questioned the results for some of the research. Promises for vaccines have come every year but they have not materialized.
Middleton said in some cases, researchers were told to produce results faster or the funds would dry up.
Representatives from Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization are holding producer meetings this month to explain research projects. Alberta allocated $46,200 or 10 percent of its research budget to that organization.
