DairyTrace Advisory Committee Executive Summary – March 2018 - Cowsmo

DairyTrace Advisory Committee Executive Summary – March 2018

At its meeting on February 26, 2018, the CDN Board of Directors approved the establishment of its new DairyTrace Advisory Committee, the associated terms of reference and its membership, which includes representatives from the Boards of Directors of CDN and Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), industry partner organizations and regional representatives from provincial dairy associations.

The DairyTrace Advisory Committee held its inaugural meeting on March 23, 2018 at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel at the Toronto airport. The following is a summary of key discussion points, actions and recommendations stemming from that meeting, which will be considered for approval by the CDN Board of Directors at its meeting on April 13, 2018.

CDN's DairyTrace Advisory Committee Front row (l to r): Brian Van Doormaal (CDN General Manager), Gilles Côté (CDN Director), Daniel Gobeil (DFC Director), Robert Wright (CDN Director), Gert Schrijver (Committee Chairman, CDN & DFC Director), Sid Atkinson (DFC proAction Traceability Committee), Nancy Douglas (Atlantic provinces) Back row (l to r): Chantal Fleury (Quebec), Linda Markle (NLID/Breed Associations), Richard Cantin (Canadian DHI), Deb Haupstein (Western provinces), Kelly Barratt (Ontario), Nicole Sillett (DFC proAction Manager), Mélissa Lalonde (DFC proAction Traceability), Julie Blais (Agri-Traçabilité Québec)
CDN’s DairyTrace Advisory Committee
Front row (l to r): Brian Van Doormaal (CDN General Manager), Gilles Côté (CDN Director), Daniel Gobeil
(DFC Director), Robert Wright (CDN Director), Gert Schrijver (Committee Chairman, CDN & DFC Director),
Sid Atkinson (DFC proAction Traceability Committee), Nancy Douglas (Atlantic provinces)
Back row (l to r): Chantal Fleury (Quebec), Linda Markle (NLID/Breed Associations), Richard Cantin
(Canadian DHI), Deb Haupstein (Western provinces), Kelly Barratt (Ontario), Nicole Sillett (DFC proAction
Manager), Mélissa Lalonde (DFC proAction Traceability), Julie Blais (Agri-Traçabilité Québec)
  • CDN and DFC staff provided committee members with an overview of important background information related to national livestock traceability in Canada and, in particular, the vision of the DairyTrace Program for the dairy cattle sector. Key information points included:
  • As an outcome of a process led by the DFC Board of Directors to assess various
    options to establish a national traceability solution for dairy cattle, CDN was identified
    as the preferred organization to be the Responsible Administrator.
  • The definition of a Responsible Administrator for livestock traceability and the
    requirements that must be met by an organization interested in being approved by the
    Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
  • Committee members were also updated on the following key successes achieved to date in
    terms of the development and implementation of the DairyTrace Program:
  • CFIA confirmed that CDN meets the qualification criteria required to become the
    national Responsible Administrator for dairy bovine animals in Canada under Part XV
    of the Health of Animals Regulations.
  • DFC amended its existing contribution agreement with AAFC under Growing Forward 2
    to request funding for the initial stages of the development and implementation of
    DairyTrace, which was approved by AAFC.
  • CDN has signed agreements with Agri-Traçabilité Québec (ATQ) to license the use of
    the AGTWeb platform, with authorization from MAPAQ, and to develop the DairyTrace
    database and the associated traceability functionalities.
  • CDN and DFC Boards of Directors have approved the DairyTrace Program Charter
    that outlines the governance structure and main areas of activity as well as the
    expected deliverables of the DairyTrace Program.
  • The CDN Board of Directors, in collaboration with the DFC Board of Directors, has
    established the new permanent DairyTrace Advisory Committee of CDN with the key
    mandate of making recommendations about this important initiative for the dairy cattle
    sector nationally.
  • As part of the Administrator Agreement required between CDN and CFIA, a determination is
    required to define which bovine animals would be considered as “dairy cattle” and therefore
    fall under the responsibility of CDN as the national dairy cattle traceability administrator.
    Given that NLID uses a specific tag number series for dairy cattle born outside of Quebec,
    CFIA has determined that a similar approach should be used nationally. Such an approach
    would require dairy animals born in Quebec to also be identified with tags within a specified
    number series as managed by ATQ. This concept is being assessed in detail for possible
    implementation in the coming months.
  • Details of the DairyTrace Program Charter were presented to committee members. The
    spectrum of DairyTrace activities that fall under the responsibility of CDN include (a)
    administration and coordination of the program including reporting to CFIA, (b) management
    of all data collected for the national traceability solution, (c) customer services, especially to
    dairy producers, (d) ordering and distribution of tags via NLID and ATQ, and (e)
    communication and training of producers and industry personnel.
  • As a key part of the DairyTrace database development and functionality, CDN will be
    discussing data flow options with other major stakeholders involved with the traceability of
    cattle, specifically the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA), ATQ and NLID. To this
    end, the DairyTrace Advisory Committee recommended that dairy cattle traceability data
    from commingling sites outside of Quebec that handle both dairy and beef cattle should be
    collected and received by CDN in a manner that is most cost effective and least disruptive to
    such commingling sites. In addition, recording of all move-out data is highly encouraged.
  • For farms that have some cattle with tags identifying them as dairy and other cattle
    considered to be beef, the Committee recommended that DairyTrace should allow for the
    reception of traceability data for all cattle from such farms to facilitate traceability reporting
    by dairy producers.
  • The Committee members received a demonstration of the DairyTrace software currently
    being developed by ATQ in accordance with the contractual agreement with CDN.
    Development is progressing actively and Committee members will finalize the dairy cattle
    traceability business requirements in the coming months.
  • In terms of longer term planning, a funding request proposal for the continued development
    and implementation of the DairyTrace Program and related traceability functions is currently
    being prepared for submission to the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) program of
    AAFC. The DairyTrace Advisory Committee members identified various activities and
    deliverables that could be included in the scope of this proposal, which also helps to define
    the annual budget of expenses for the coming years.
  • Committee members also discussed the need to develop a DairyTrace communication plan
    including materials for different target groups as well as training sessions for industry
    stakeholders that will be service providers to help dairy producers comply to dairy cattle
    traceability recording and reporting requirements.
  • The next meeting of the Committee has be tentatively scheduled for the week of June 18,
    2018, again at the Sheraton Gateway Toronto Airport Hotel.

For further clarification regarding the above discussion points, please feel free to contact Chairman, Gert Schrijver ([email protected]), or Brian Van Doormaal ([email protected]).

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