Agriculture committee  CPRC deals with the science base, not the economics. Part of the issue is that we have five member organizations, and four of them are producers and one is a processor. They all have different positions on various things. There's a lot of regionality to it, too. Markets in Ontario and Quebec are completely different from what you might find in the Maritimes or western Canada.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I think so. I think that's one of the aspects of genetics that we've drifted away from. We used to do a lot more of that in bygone times. As we get different priorities, the money goes there. However, it is gaining some interest. It's a matter of how we make them more adaptable for Canada and regions within Canada.

Agriculture committee  That isn't an area CPRC gets involved in, although we have worked a little bit with the Chicken Farmers of Canada on some studies for them. Anything that reduces revenue puts pressure on the system essentially, but that's about as far as I can go with it. That's not an area that we have any responsibility in.

Agriculture committee  We call them spent hens, just older birds really. Depending on the area of the country, there may be demand for them as food processing but it requires specialized equipment. In Atlantic Canada, there is a large market from the fur industry for spent hens. We have also supported several projects on looking at methods to increase the value of the spent hens to the industry and the processors.

Agriculture committee  Definitely. We will fall back. We already have. From the staffing adjustments in Ag Canada we've lost six positions: three researchers and three research associates. They were all dedicated strictly to poultry, quite a few of them in the area of poultry welfare and behaviour, something that is in the forefront now, which I'm sure you all have heard.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, on behalf of the Canadian Poultry Research Council and its member organizations, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. The Canadian Poultry Research Council, or CPRC, was established in November 2001 to provide funding and coordination for national research activities for its members.

Agriculture committee  I had a conversation with a very knowledgeable and experienced researcher a while back. I posed that question to him: what happens if we stop doing research in Canada in the poultry industry? He said we're probably okay for eight or 10 years. We can steal from other places, innovate, do some fancy stuff, but after that we'll hit the wall, especially with the changes that are going on all the time.

Agriculture committee  I think there are challenges in certain areas of the production organization. For example, if you have something that's attractive to a large processor, it's going to get done. But if you have something that's more of a niche product, it's much more difficult to find those funds to take it to market.

Agriculture committee  One of the directions we're going—and this came out of a major research conference that the CPRC coordinated in 2010—is we're moving to outcome-based research, in the sense that we want to achieve something first and then we will go to the researchers. Historically, the researchers come to us with their idea, in a lot of cases, and we look and say, "Well, how does that relate to what we want to do?”

Agriculture committee  Food safety at this point is most important. For another presentation I gathered some information, and almost half of the projects we've funded since CPRC started have some sort of food safety component. It goes to the credibility of our food system and our production system. There's not a livestock-based organization in this country that isn't vitally aware of that and working hard on it.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. We did submit a brief. At this point, we're concerned more with coordination and efficiency. Part of what's happening is that with the gaps and the increased administrative situation and everybody learning these new programs and the cluster.... We like the cluster.

Agriculture committee  I would say it was very much so. Also, we have five projects with Agriculture Canada or CFIA people, and they're great to work with.

Agriculture committee  We've estimated our assistance levels to be around 2.5% to 3% of the federal expenditures. We represent 7% of the farm gate. Research is extremely important to all aspects, all parts of the agricultural sector. If we were getting 7% of the budget, we would be able to do wonders.

Agriculture committee  We know what we'd do with it. We have ideas about it. Our national research strategy will outline a lot more of that.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Jacob. Research and innovation is like any other value chain for any other activity that impacts stakeholders at various parts of the chain. Research activities can be viewed as a continuum with major categories including primary or conceptual research, applied research, innovation, and application.