Research in the CRC for High Integrity Australian Pork

A key challenge faced by the Australian pork industry is the need to maintain local production of high quality food for a reasonable price and return on production capital invested, without negatively impacting pig welfare, the environment or the health of the consumer. Through innovative, collaborative, whole value chain research, development and education programs within the CRC, the Australian pork industry will meet this challenge by facilitating production that:
- is efficient and ethical without the need for sow confinement in stalls or crates or widespread use of antibiotic medications
- delivers key nutrients, safely, enhancing the health and well-being of consumers
-utilises revolutionary feed sources and effluent management systems resulting in emissions of less than 1 kg of CO₂ per kg of pork produced
-contributes significantly to Australia’s economic growth and food security without drawing on the ecological capital of other parts of the world.

Delivery of these outcomes will differentiate Australian pork as a high integrity meat that is welfare-optimal, premium quality, safe, nutritious and in high demand, which can be produced while conserving energy and water resources, minimising greenhouse gas emissions and maintaining efficiency and cost of production at a level that promotes investment, growth and sustainability of the industry

The objectives and milestones of the  Pork CRC are detailed in the download available here. 

The projects selected for approval by the Board in the 2011 round have just been released and a list is available for download

The research programs are:
Program 1 - Confinement-free Sow and Piglet Management - will optimise sow and piglet welfare in confinement-free systems while maintaining production efficiency.

Program 2 - Herd Health Management -will involve novel technologies for health diagnostics and management without antibiotics which will significantly reduce the reliance on antibiotic medications in production systems.

Program 3 - Healthy Pork Consumption - will complete research demonstrating that consumption of pork can improve the health status of target consumers through prevention or alleviation of Type-II diabetes, obesity, and colon cancer. It will also investigate paths to market for High Integrity Australian pork domestically and in Asia.

Program 4 - Carbon Conscious Nutrient Inputs and Outputs - will reduce effluent emissions through novel management, offsetting traditional nutrient inputs with alternate sources derived from algae, and restructuring grain breeding and ingredient evaluation programs to complement these new nutrient sources.

To accommodate those projects from the previous CRC that could not fit into the program structure for the new CRC, but will deliver outcomes of importnance to the pork industry, two additional programs were established.

Program 5 - Improving sow reproduction - will enhance the reproductive efficiency of the Australian industry by providing better means of detecting pregnancy , increasing litter size and ultimately volume. Program Leader - Dr Ray King

Program 6 - Nutritional manipulations to enhance the performance and feed efficiency of growing pigs - will enhance the performance and feed efficiency of growing pigs The research, will establish the extent chemosensory factors or components of ingredients might be used in diet formulations to manipulate feed intake. Program Leader - Dr Roger Campbell

The projects within these latter two programs will be completed by June 2012 and the programs finalized by December 2012


Research Summaries and Full Reports are available for projects completed for the CRC for an Internationally Competitive Australian Pork Industry


Research Highlights for 2010/11 available in the Annual Report

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