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Livestock/environment research gets down to business
Are Canada’s current livestock production systems environmentally sustainable? How do we know? And if some aren’t, what can be done to make them more so?
Answering these questions and others is the mandate of the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment, located at the University of Manitoba’s Glenlea site near Winnipeg. The centre, which opens in early 2007, brings together the experience and expertise of 30 scientists from fields such as animal science, plant science, soil science, food science, biosystems engineering, microbiology and agricultural economics.
The centre’s research facilities include two farrow-to-finish hog barns (one conventional and one alternate), a beef feedlot barn, a dairy barn, capacity for broilers and layers, and a feed mill. Glenlea will also be home to the planned Glenlea Farm Education Centre, an interactive educational facility aiming to give visitors a gate-to-plate understanding of food production. Up to 30,000 visitors are expected annually.
During the 20-year life cycle of their research, the centre’s scientists will study long-term issues relating to animal housing, manure handling, cropping systems, soil, air and water health, animal welfare and food safety.
The National Centre for Livestock and the Environment is considered North America’s only integrated facility for the study of management practices and ecological interactions on a whole-farm level.
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