POULTRY RESEARCH
Poultry industry faces research challenges
Collaboration among the industry, universities, growers, consumers and other
stakeholders is essential in meeting poultry research challenges.
BY MARY BECK
The long relationship between the poultry
industry and poultry scientists was celebrated in July at the 100th annual meeting
of the Poultry Science Association in St.
Louis. As the industry and the research
community enter the next phase of this
relationship, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead? We’ve come a long way
together, and it would be great to report that
the most dif;cult challenges are behind us,
but in fact many are already with us, and
more lie ahead.
Scientific investigation at land-grant
universities enabled today’s efficient and
productive poultry enterprise that feeds
the world with ever-decreasing numbers of
producers. Public perceptions and societal
pressures have created new challenges for
all animal production systems that industry
and universities must address together. Such
challenges include, for example, increasing
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A diverse cadre of university, government and industry scientists supports an efficient and productive industry.
safety, and generated concerns about animal
welfare and production practices.
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Read The case for funding agricultural research at
ps.fass.org/cgi/content/full/86/12/2483
threats from diseases shared by animals
and people; development and deployment of
new technologies and nutrient management
(GMOs and nanotechnologies); and percep-
Mary Beck, Ph.D., is a poultry physiologist
at Clemson University, a section editor for
Poultry Science and executive secretary of
the Southern Poultry Science Society; Email
mbeck@clemson.edu.
tions of the public about food safety (
antibiotics, food-borne pathogens), animal welfare
and air quality/environmental issues.
An essential element as we face these
challenges is a strong collaboration among
university, industry, growers, consumers and
other stakeholders. Only by asking the tough
questions and using the best collective wisdom from all sectors can we answer them effectively. I have long wrestled with the disconnect
between poultry/animal
science departments and
the poultry industry, as
the increasing size and complexity of poultry
companies means decision makers are more
insulated from the production operations on
which the industry is based. Bottom-line
considerations, driven by stockholder expectations for ;nancial returns, have largely
supplanted biology and science as the driver
of poultry production, and this has contributed, rightly or wrongly, to an undermining
of consumer con;dence in food quality and
Production/processing issues
and niche markets
In looking forward, an overarching issue facing us as an industry and a society is
feeding up to 9 billion people by 2050 in an
environmentally, ethically and economically
sustainable way that also ensures affordable,
nutritious and healthy food. That’s a tall
order and understanding what those words
really mean makes it even tougher. We
know that the environment is under pressure
from human overuse; that some consumers
want different housing systems for animals
in production; and that many people in the
world are already living below the poverty
level without access to adequate nutrition.
Food production, environmental quality and
human quality of life issues will be increasingly exacerbated by global climate change.
I believe we have the knowledge and the
technological power to address these issues
