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A national policy for agricultural research was expected to be completed Sept. 9, ready to serve as a guide for the future.
The Agriculture Institute of Canada circulated a draft of the policy last week, which was based on widespread input from producer groups, farmers, research groups, academics, agrologists and government officials.
Eighty people met July 12-14 at a national conference in Ottawa, from which a summary and later a draft policy were developed.
“The policy will serve as a framework and as a document to guide people in their decision making in the future in terms of research,” said AIC chief executive officer Serge Buy.
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“There is a need to have a common strategy on research and to have various stakeholders involved.”
Buy said he was surprised by the good response that AIC received in its efforts to develop a policy and to do so through widespread involvement of those affected.
A summary of the July meeting said a national body is needed to develop an overall research agenda.
Greater input from farmers was a theme that ran through the discussions.
“I think they’ve been ignored too often, especially when we talk about research, and I think that’s not healthy,” said Buy.
“It’s not healthy for two reasons. One, they are the end users, in a way, of the research, and two, they often have to support the research through their own organizations … and as taxpayers as well. So they do need to be a little bit more involved in the discussion.”
Discussions sought advice on three themes:
- Balancing pure and applied research.
- Interdisciplinary partnerships, collaboration and co-operation.
- Issues in public-private partnerships.
The focus on applied versus pure research has been controversial in some sectors and among researchers. Applied research tends to have more immediate results, while pure research has different goals and values.
“We do need to have applied research support because that’s really providing some short-term benefits to the sector, but there needs to be a balance with pure research that provides, maybe, benefits on the longer term.… You may not see the relevance immediately, but you will see the relevance in the future.”
Buy said he expects a final policy will indicate the need for public-private partnerships (P3s), and also for P4s, which are public-private-producer partnerships.
Participation from a wide range of stakeholders in agricultural research ensured the result was apolitical, said Buy.
The policy will be directed to government in some respects, but it is meant to be a framework for all agricultural research.
The policy has been released during the federal election, and Buy said he is hopeful it will resonate with party leaders.
“I haven’t heard much said about agriculture during the election campaign,” he said Aug. 28.
“I’ve heard very few statements, so I don’t think our policy is going to change the minds of federal leaders, who suddenly will start talking about research in agriculture.
“But I do think that when they are meeting with various groups and people on the ground, if there is an awareness about the policy, I think that the issue may start being mentioned and will potentially hit some visibility at the political level.”
barb.glen@producer.com
- A national body is needed to develop an overall agricultural research agenda for Canada.
- A national research agenda would help redress the balance between short-term, fast-to-market and long-term research priorities.
- Cross-sector partnerships with stable funding would allow pooling of resources for more effective research.
- P3s and P4s leverage funds and resources that encourage collaboration.
