The Milk Producer - August 2009 - (Page 27)

ISSUESUPDATE By Sharon Laidlaw Tracing a new path National traceability system gets thorough airing at DFC’s annual meeting in Saskatchewan G etting industry to work with all levels of government to implement a national traceability system by 2011 is gong to have to be a collaborative effort, delegates were told. “Traceability started as an industry initiative,” said Susie Miller, director general of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Food Value Chain Bureau. “It’s the provinces that should undertake this project because they have the tools to administer and implement this program.” She stressed Ottawa’s role is simply to assist in developing a credible system, to provide funding and help set standards to manage disease. “It was never our intention to take over the role of industry. We’re here to provide leadership, co-operation and communicate for change.” Kerry St. Cyr, executive director for the Canadian Cattle Identification agency (CCIA) expressed similar thoughts. “Collaboration and partnerships is the most effective way to get this done,” he said. “People have to take leadership and ownership of this.” The CCIA, along with key industry stakeholders, is proposing to create a national multi-species traceability system operated by a new Canadian Livestock and Poultry Traceability Agency (CLPTA). Part of its mandate would link its system to other data agencies and develop a national traceability query tool. Each sector would have a right to become a member and appoint a representative to a board of directors. Animal traceability would focus on three pillars: animal identification, premise identification and animal movement, and how each is regulated federally and provincially. Federal, provincial and territorial ministers have agreed to establish a national traceability system by 2011. A collaborative effort is needed, say industry experts, to see it come to fruition. Traceability at work Quebec’s traceability system, developed in 2001 by AgriTraçabilité Quebec (ATQ), is a mandatory program subsidized by the province’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The Quebec government, which sets regulations for the program, has committed $21.5 million over four years toward the project’s development. The system tracks all an animal’s movements between various premises using innovative information technologies and stores this information in a single database. To date, data from more than 24,000 producers, involving 7.9 milMilkPRODUCER | August 2009 | 27 Dairy Farmers of Canada [DFC] held its annual meeting recently in Regina, Sask. Assistant Editor Sharon Laidlaw filed these reports from the meeting.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - August 2009

The Milk Producer - August 2009
Contents
Editor's Notes
DFO Chair's Message
Dairy Update
Industry Roundup
DFC Promotion
Our Readers Have Spoken
Issues Update
Research
Applied Science
Ruminations
Markets
New 'n' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - August 2009