I had the opportunity to attend the 97th annual meeting of Poultry Science Association (PSA) held 20-23 July in Niagara Falls, Canada. For this blog, I'd like to talk briefly about a session which was about the “Future of Poultry Science”. This issue was discussed from different perspectives including research, student, and university administration.

As we all know, there has been considerable expansion in the poultry industry and poultry education/research centres have made outstanding contributions to this phenomenal growth. Despite the advancements in the poultry industry, the number of active poultry science departments has declined dramatically over these years. It is argued that one of the reasons for this relates to how industry and poultry research centres have been dealing with each other over the years.

It seems that poultry research centres have not been moving at the pace that the poultry industry has been moving. The poultry industry has been directly benefiting from the data being generated at research centres and efficient interactions between these two can make excellent opportunities for them to continually understand and address their short- and long-term concerns. How connected are poultry research centres and the industry today? In my opinion, the connection level is not as it should be.

Enhancement of the relationship between research centres and the poultry industry should always be one of our main concerns. There is a continuous need to disseminate the knowledge generated by poultry research centres. There is also a constant need for support of poultry research by the industry. It is becoming quite difficult to continue conducting research projects without obtaining support from the industry. The poultry industry and research centres will remain as two major but mutually dependent players in the battle field for the future of poultry science.

What do you think of the future?