Minnesota Pork Board – Swine in Minnesota

On December 17th, swine-focused faculty members from the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences met with the members of the Minnesota Pork Board research committee.

This year was the third iteration of this meeting, hosted for the first time by Christensen Farms. Guests were invited to tour either the feed mill or the truck wash located in Sleepy Eye before sitting down for a day of productive exchange.

After a short presentation by the host company, Deans Brian Buhr and Trevor Ames gave an update on the main initiatives from their respective Colleges. Dean Ames introduced the latest AGREETT faculty hires, Noelle Noyes and Declan Schroeder, as well as the anticipated arrival of Dr. Matheus Costa in the new year. The 2+2 program in collaboration with South Dakota State University was received with enthusiasm by the swine producers.

After lunch, attendees were divided into groups to brainstorm research ideas in four main areas: swine nutrition, swine health, manure management, and swine production and housing. After two hours of spirited discussion, 15 researchable questions were identified as the most pressing problematics faced by the Minnesotan pork industry. The meeting left the researchers inspired to keep offering science-driven solutions, and all agreed to meet again in 2019.

The University of Minnesota highly values its partnerships with the industry stakeholders. With the objective to continue a fruitful and mutually beneficial collaboration, the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) at the University of Minnesota hosted the Minnesota Pork Board (MPB) Research Committee on December 15th, to exchange ideas and to discuss projects that would be the most beneficial for the swine industry in Minnesota.

After a review of the current and future swine projects happening at both Colleges, Dean Ames (CVM), and Dean Buhr (CFANS) gave an update on the new facilities being built on the St. Paul Campus including the new animal isolation units that will allow our scientists to perform cutting edge research on infectious diseases.

Lastly, the MPB research committee toured the newly remodeled Food Centric Corridor Infectious Disease Research Laboratory as well as the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

The U of MN would like to thank all the representatives from the Minnesota Pork Board who came to meet our researchers and made this day the great success it was.