Swine Industry Expansion Fuels Higher Demand for Contracted Research
Farmscape for September 9, 2003 (Episode 1338) The Prairie Swine Centre says the expansion of the Western Canadian swine industry combined with rising research costs are fueling a growing demand for contracted research. The Prairie Swine Centre's External Research Services Program began in the early 1990s and it became its own separate group in 1994. It offers companies and individuals access to confidential research services and results do not become public unless and until they decide to allow their release. External Research Services Research Scientist Dr. Murray Pettitt says a growing number of people are looking to evaluate products at a time when several research facilities have been phased out because of increasing costs. Clip-Dr. Murray Pettitt-Prairie Swine Centre The External Research Services program exists to provide research abilities to companies and individuals who do not have the capacities themselves. In doing so we provide access to animals, facilities and the expertise to run the work. Companies that service the industry can now carry out research on their product or their service or what ever they may be attempting to market and verify whether or not the product does work. We can configure rooms if need be. We can modify rooms if need be. We're very flexible. The External Research Services Program can basically tailor the data collection process to suite exactly what the client is after. Dr. Pettitt says, in addition to being able to access state of the art facilities and expertise, many companies choose to contract the Prairie Swine Centre because they realize they'll receive objective unbiased results. He says the ability to access independent third party research adds a certain level of credibility. For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane. *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council