Ottawa, ON – Equine Canada wishes to announce the launch of a national telephone survey — the National Equine Industry Traceability Readiness Study. The study is one of two research and data gathering exercises that are being conducted during the development phase of the national equine identification and traceability program. The information gathered during the research exercises will be used to inform the creation and implementation of a national program that best serves the needs of Canadian horse owners and industry participants.
Data collection for the National Equine Industry Traceability Readiness Study will be conducted by Strategic Equine Inc. of Newmarket, Ontario, through telephone interviews with Canadian horse owners and industry participants from across the country. Those contacted by SEI will be selected randomly from membership lists provided by Canadian equine industry associations. Those who are contacted, and wish to participate, will be asked a series of questions about their horses and their participation in the industry. All information collected will be pooled for statistical analysis only.
The development phase of the national equine identification and traceability program formally began in March of 2010, following Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has approved up to $478,766 in funding to Equine Canada for preliminary research and data-gathering initiatives. The funding approval followed an AAFC announcement in July 2009, which detailed the commitment of the Government of Canada to the development of a comprehensive national traceability system for livestock and poultry, to be implemented by 2011. The objective of the creation of a national traceability system for livestock is to assist governments and industry in limiting the economic effect of animal health, plant health, food safety and other emergencies and to proactively gain access to foreign markets requiring traceability.
Equine Canada has contracted Strategic Equine Inc. to conduct data collection and statistical analysis for the National Equine Industry Traceability Readiness Study. The study will assist in
the planning and development process for a national equine identification and traceability program and help to ensure that the resulting system reflects the unique needs and practices of the Canadian horse industry.
For more information on the national equine identification and traceability program, please see:
www.agr.gc.ca/cb/index_e.php?s1=n&s2=2009&page=n90710a.
For more information on the National Equine Industry Traceability Readiness Study, contact:
Equine Canada
www.equinecanada.ca
inquiries@equinecanada.ca
1-866-282-8395 x 136
For more information on the data collection phase of the National Equine Industry Traceability Readiness Study, contact:
Strategic Equine Inc.
info@strategicequine.ca
905-953-8250
