We are happy to report a successful Farm Fair 2025. There were great booths, livestock shows and events that make the annual event a great stop for anyone with an interest in livestock production. As a genomics research group, we think livestock shows are a great way to demonstrate the power of selection. Phenotypes like coat colour, coat texture and animal size are all things we can see very clearly with a heritable genetic basis (See below). While the focus was on cattle, we saw the same principles in practice with the rabbit show at Farm Fair as well. Of course, we were not there just to experience it, Livestock Gentec actively participated in the events at the Farm Forward event and at the University of Alberta ALES booth.
Dr. John Basarab Livestock Gentec CEO was an expert at the “Ask an Expert” event for the Farm Forward young livestock producers’ event at Farm Fair. The day was oriented towards young livestock producers and covered a lot of ground. Financial planning, biosecurity, and mental health were just among a few of the topics discussed. The audience was also treated to our University of Alberta colleague Dr. Edward Bork presenting on the transformational power of virtual fencing in livestock grazing. The “Ask an Expert” event was a little more personal, Dr. Basarab ran a round table discussion with smaller groups who asked their questions. The groups rotated after a short discussion to get a chance to talk with more experts. It made for a frantic hour, but we think there were many great discussions and questions. We found some conversations carried over into the lunch hour. The consensus from the attendees is Farm Forward was jam-packed, but incredibly informative over a broad number of topics. We received the following encouraging statement from the organizers on Dr. Basarab’s participation:
“It is vital to the entire livestock industry of Alberta that the next generation feels informed, supported and that the future for them in this industry is viable. This is why Farmfair International has placed an emphasis on educating and supporting young adults who are interested in careers in agriculture. We appreciate passionate educators like Dr. John Basarab, who come to the Farm Forward event to share their knowledge and encouragement with our audience.”
Pictured: Dr. John Basarab speaking to avid listeners at Farm Forward November 8, 2025.
This year we were at the ALES booth all four days (November 5-8). We had great conversations with producers, high school students, members of the public, funders, and collaborators. At the booth we displayed some plain language posters and materials on our NSERC Alliance project: “Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Canadian Beef Industry through the Development and Adoption of Genomic Tools” and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural program grant administered by Results Driven Agricultural Research (RDAR) program “Using genomics to improve the profitability and sustainability of Alberta’s beef industry”. To stimulate conversation around our material we brought a microscope with display showing dried and ground fecal material. The aim was to show what the fecal material looked like when we collected near infrared spectra on these samples (see more on fecal NIRS as a methane proxy here). As you can see from the pictures it is not immediately identifiable as cattle feces, so it made a good conversation starter when folks were wondering what they were looking at under the microscope.
Overall the booth was a great opportunity to bring out the whole team and share our research activities.
We want to thank the University of Alberta ALES department, specifically, ALES research and innovation director Dr. Rene Dery and ALES Dean Dr. Rickey Yada, for the logistic and financial support in coordinating the event. It was also great to get to interact with other ALES research teams and learn more about their activities as well. We hope to come out next year and keep the tradition going.