In setting new attendance records on April 5th and 6th LSC continues to grow, partly by increasing attendance by owners, managers, and staff from the production sector, and impressive industry sponsorship and support.
The program balances a mix of research and technical presentations with more practical topics and workshops where the research and technical topics are discussed as they apply at farm level.
This is done by including producers in the planning process. For the past number of years the Conference Chair has been a pork producer, and the planning process includes a number of producers, farm managers, and many others with a background in the production side of the industry. This helps keep in focus the fact that while the research, technical, and ‘higher level’ topics are important to the industry as a whole it all needs, at some point, to be in support of Ontario pork production. We also include pork producers and production managers on the speaking program, particularly in the breakout sessions, so that others can learn from their practical experiences in doing the job every day.
The written papers and summaries of the presentations provide a resource for the industry, going back to the first conference in 2001, and are freely available online at the conference website: www.londonswineconference.ca. There is also a link under ‘Highlights 2016’ to a video of a workshop by Elaine Froese on “Managing Generational Expectations”.
Put these dates for 2017 in your calendar: Wednesday March 29th and Thursday March 30th. If you want to be part of planning the next conference, the technical planning meeting is coming up:
London Swine Conference 2017 Technical Planning Meeting
June 16th, Woodstock OMAFRA Resource Centre 9am-Noon.
Woodstock, ON N4T 1W2
Phone: (519) 537-6621
Bring your ideas for our next conference, or send them to me if you can’t attend at jaydee.smith@ontario.ca.
