ABP invests $228,000 in research to boost beef industry’s competitiveness and sustainability

ABP’s producer-led research committee once again invested producer check-off dollars into research in 2024 to improve the competitiveness, sustainability, and profitability of beef producers.

Proposals are received through the Agriculture Funding Consortium, undergo a scientific technical review and then are evaluated by the producer representatives on the ABP research committee. Decisions are guided by the Five-Year Canadian Beef Research and Technology Transfer Strategy and consider scientific merit as well as benefits for the beef sector in the short, medium, or long-term. The Research Committee continues to work closely with other funding organizations to ensure producer check-off dollars are invested wisely.

ABP committed $228,000 to nine projects with a total project value of more than $3.9 million, for a leverage ratio of $17.2:1, meaning that every dollar spent by ABP was matched by more than $17 from other funding sources.

Project topics include:

• Examining antimicrobial resistance in understudied pathogens that contribute to bovine respiratory disease
• Investigating the potential of probiotics to support animal health (two projects with different approaches)
• Investigating the potential of probiotics to support animal health (two projects with different appraoches)
• Preventing bacterial biofilm formation in processing plants
• Double cropping
• Regional variety trials of crops commonly used for silage
• Examining the molecular basis of heterosis (hybrid vigour)
• Improving feed barley variety development through genomic selection
• Furthering perennial legume variety development (sainfoin, alfalfa) with higher leaf lipid content

In 2024, ABP also committed $300,000 over three years to support Western Crop Innovations (WCI). This investment will help to ensure that a feed barley breeding program continues to exist in Canada and will provide barley varieties with improved genetics for yield, lodging and disease resistance to producers across western Canada. We look forward to seeing WCI fulfill its immense potential over the coming years.

Finally, we would like to invite you to block off March 25, 2025 in your calendars for the next edition of the ABP Beef Research Showcase. It will be held in Vermillion this year.

This article was first published in Volume 5 Issue 1 of ABP Magazine (February 2025). Watch for more digital content from the magazine on ABP Daily.