PERSPECTIVE FROM WESTERN CANADA AND THE CANADIAN MEAT INDUSTRY

The Canadian broiler chicken and turkey industries are distributed app roximately according to human population. Individual components of the se industries tend to be smaller than their U.S. counterparts and not to be vertically integrated. The outlook of the poultry meat industrie s is positive because of increasing per capita consumption of chicken and the potential for gains in turkey consumption. The number of perma nently employed poultry scientists at publicly funded institutions has declined in Western Canada. University training in Poultry Science is restricted to four major institutions where it has been integrated in to Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine programs. For the most part, poultry scientists have developed successful research programs and th is research has been enhanced by scientists employed in term positions . Publicly funded poultry extension has declined but this reduction ha s been compensated to some degree by industry-sponsored programs and t he private sector. The majority of research funding, which was once de rived from government, is now provided by industry; government contrib utions are frequently contingent on initial industry support. The cons equence of this type of funding arrangement is a trend to more short-t erm and less long-term research. Canada has no strategic plan regardin g poultry training, research, or extension and this needs to be addres sed before there is a further reduction in the country's infrastructur e. Modern communication technology offers promise to reduce the isolat ion of scientists in different parts of Canada.