North America's pork industry will meet at Banff Pork Seminar 2020

Date posted: October 22, 2019

It is simply the best place to be in the pork industry in North America. The 2020 Banff Pork Seminar (BPS) runs Jan. 7 to 9 at the beautiful Banff Springs Hotelin Banff Alta.

"The fact that this is our 49th Seminar underlines the value to the industry," says BPS program co-chair Dr. Ruurd Zijlstra of the University of Alberta. "This seminar has remained a leader because it always brings the best speakers together.

"It is also unparalleled opportunity for networking and fun. That's because the event has really grown into Banff Pork Seminar Week, with companies and organizations using this as a destination to bring staff and clients together for related business meetings."

The 2020 theme is "External forces, internal solutions" says BPS program co-chair Dr. Michael Dyck of the University of Alberta. "We face strong external forces," he says. "How we respond, how we develop internal industry solutions will define our success.

"The plenary speakers at BPS 2020 bring new, current perspective on the hard issues while a host of speakers in the Breakout Sessions provide clear thinking and implementable ideas on the practical side of the industry."

Here's a session snapshot. Tuesday's welcome reception eases into the week. Wednesday's Joe Schwarcz of McGill University tackles "Sense, nonsense and science." Then Tiffany Lee of the North American Meat Institute talks "The alternative protein movement: A challenge or unique opportunity."

Thursday, Brett Stuart of Global AgriTrends talks "Global markets and trends. And Klaus Depner of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute will outline "How much we need to know about African Swine Fever to be able to prevent, control and eradicate." Thursday's BPS 2020 closing plenary session looks at the thorny and growing issue of wild boars in Canada.

Breakout sessions topics include liability and the producer, nutrition, vaccines and health, sow management, pig resilience and smart technology. Wednesday's breakouts features an innovators' session; Thursday that time slot features a session on cross culture communications.

Full program details and registration information is available at the Seminar website www.banffpork.ca. Follow on Twitter @banffpork. Connect on Facebook /BanffPork. Get complete Seminar coverage in a Special Meeting Report via the link on the Seminar site.