Hello and thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. My name is Bryan Thiessen. My father, brother, and I operate a feeding and cattle operation in Saskatchewan and in Alberta. Raising a calf from birth to a 1,450-pound weight takes a lot time, forage, feed, and careful management of animal health and welfare. Transforming that finished animal into safe, nutritious, high-quality beef for consumers is also very technically complex. Getting all this done as economically and efficiently as possible requires constant innovation. Research has been critical to maintaining the growth, economic competitiveness, and sustainability of our multi-generational family farm.
I am a director with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and also the chair of the Beef Cattle Research Council. I am joined today by BCRC's executive director, Andrea Brocklebank. The BCRC funds research and innovation activities that will contribute to the competitiveness and sustainability of Canada's beef industry. We administer the beef science cluster and focus our research investment in six key areas. These are food safety, beef quality, animal health and welfare, feed grains and feed efficiency, forage and grassland productivity, and environmental sustainability.
Now I'm going to ask Andrea to elaborate on how genomic technology plays a significant role in each of these areas.