Research Priorities

The beef industry has defined six core research objectives under which more specific priorities and research outcomes are established:

1. Develop, enhance and encourage adoption of beneficial practices and innovations that support industry sustainability, resilience and competitiveness.
2. Increase producer profitability and sector resilience by responsibly increasing productivity or decreasing costs of production and risks while contributing to broader economic growth.
3. Support continuous improvements in Canadian beef demand through advancements in the quality and safety of Canadian beef.
4. Generate and mobilize trusted science to inform decision makers, policy and beneficial management practices and to support consumer confidence and public trust.
5. Accelerate innovation by developing, enhancing and encouraging adoption of leading-edge technologies that support industry productivity, competitiveness and sustainability.
6. Ensure the maintenance and rejuvenation of critical research capacity and infrastructure that facilitate proactive inquiry and long-term innovation to support industry advancement.

Within the core objectives, more specific priority areas are established:

• Beef Quality
• Food Safety
• Animal Health, Welfare & Antimicrobial Resistance
• Cattle Nutrition & Production Efficiency
• Forage & Feed Production
• Environmental Sustainability

For all priority areas, proposed research needs to give strong consideration to the following overarching aims:

1. Improved communication, collaboration and understanding between researchers and industry, with research/industry collaborations increasing to account for 25% of research activities.
2. Cost-benefit analysis completed to support recommendations and knowledge transfer from research projects that impact production profitability.
3. Encouragement of interdisciplinary teams undertaking systems-based approaches integrating appropriate parts of the value chain.
4. Investigate technologies with the potential to reduce labor and improve production efficiencies throughout the forage, cattle and beef production chain.
5. Enhanced awareness and consideration of relevant international research and development activities to avoid duplication and identify opportunities for collaboration.

The BCRC establishes clearly defined research outcomes through a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process prior to each call for proposals. The BCRC’s research objectives are aligned with those in the Five-Year Canadian Beef Research and Knowledge Mobilization Strategy.