Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau announced an investment of $495,000 for the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement (CCSI). This will enable stakeholders to work together to increase innovation in Canada’s sheep and goat industries.
"Canada has a strong reputation as a leader in livestock genetics and breeding,” states The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
According to 2016 Census of Agriculture, there are more than 1.2 million head of sheep and goats in Canada on approximately 15,000 farms.
“This investment will enable sheep and goat farmers to benefit from new developments in livestock genetics and improve product quality and productivity," adds Bibeau.
CCSI is collaborating with project partners to develop an integrated Canada-wide genetic services system to help sheep and goat farmers with productivity while increasing supply. CSSI is working with several partners to integrate genetic services including:
- Canadian Sheep Breeders Association
- Ontario Sheep Farmers
- The Canadian Goat Society
- Canadian Livestock Records Corporation
- Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock
- Centre d'expertise en production ovine du Québec
- AgSights
- and the Canadian Meat Goat Association
Farmers will have access to new developments and industry information on livestock genomics that can improve breeding and provide a more sustainable supply of high-quality products along the sheep and goat value chains.
The new integrated system will include services including phenotype measurements on traits such as growth rate and milk yield, training for farmers to adopt new technologies, genetic evaluation, and research development.
The $495,000 funding is provided through the Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program.