Farmscape for June 6, 2005  (Episode 1826)

A new national research facility being built in Manitoba will take a whole farm approach to the creation of sustainable intensive livestock production systems.

The "National Centre for Livestock and the Environment" is under  construction at the University of Manitoba's Glenlea Research Farm.

Plans include facilities for farrow to finish swine research, feedlot cattle research, a feed mill and laboratory facilities along with crop production sites at Glenlea and Carman.

Animal Science Department Head Dr. Karin Wittenberg says the centre is designed for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research at a whole farm level.

Clip-Dr. Karin Wittenberg-University of Manitoba's 

We are looking at both the livestock production system and the land or resource management cropping production system.

It's designed to find solutions to some of the key issues facing intensive animal agriculture, issues around environmental stewardship, around food safety and the movement of microorganisms in the environment that may have a consequence to plant, animal or human health like plant disease and to have, as part of its focus, animal health and welfare.

It has the infrastructure that allows us to bring medical microbiologists, environmental microbiologists as well as microbiologists involved in food production together with food safety experts, agriculture production experts and engineers to focus on these key areas that I think, or we think, are going to become critical to future growth and success of the intensive animal agriculture industry in Canada.

Dr. Wittenberg expects the feed mill to be completed this summer and the swine facilities to be completed this fall.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council