Alberta Beef Producers Press Release, December 9, 2015
 
Alberta Beef Producers (ABP), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AF) are pleased to announce the Alberta Beef, Forage and Grazing Centre Agreement. It is an industry-government partnership designed to coordinate and advance research and extension activities related to the forage and beef sectors in the province.
 
The initial five-year agreement highlights specific, measureable, long-term strategic goals designed to improve the productivity, competitiveness, sustainability, land and resource use efficiency of the forage-beef system. The goals are as follows:

    Build and maintain research and extension capacity
    Reduce winter feeding costs by 50 percent
    Reduce environmental footprint of the cowherd by 15 percent
    Improve cow efficiency by 15 percent
    Reduce backgrounding costs by 50 percent
    Improve late summer/fall pasture productivity by 30 percent

The concept for the Alberta Beef, Forage and Grazing Centre arose from producer and industry group concerns regarding the need for essential applied forage research and extension for beef producers in Alberta. This need was further confirmed during focus group sessions held in Strathmore, Lacombe, Vegreville and Grande Prairie in 2011.
 
To read more about this and other Western Canadian forage news, check out the SFC's December 22, 2015 edition of the Forage and Livestock eNews,
 
Posted January 2, 2016

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