Innovation Insights
Mike McMorris, LRIC CEO
The empty plate
At the recent LRIC annual general meeting, we welcomed three new directors to the Board:
Jean Szkotnicki
, past Executive Director of the Canadian Animal Health Institute;
Jim White
, past General Manager with Impact Vet; and
Franco Nacarrato
, Executive Director with Meat and Poultry Ontario.
The experience that these three individuals bring will help ensure that LRIC is successful in driving innovation in the livestock sector.
Annual meetings are a point to reflect and the following note in our annual report captured a key message to everyone along the food supply chain:
The past few months have challenged every part of society as together we grappled with a pandemic, the likes of which none of us has seen before. In Ontario, and in Canada, we too often take the necessities of life for granted. Food is one of those necessities. Every job in the food supply chain: farmer, trucker, processor, grocery store worker and local markets are now more recognized for the important role they play. Thanks to each and every one of you that ensured that our plates were not empty.
We may well be living though a moment in history that will become noteworthy for the amount of change that it inspires. If simultaneous pandemic, economic melt-down, world-wide equality protests and reaching a critical juncture with climate change don’t add up to significant change, nothing will. If the future is to be different, who gets to decide what that looks like?
First and foremost, anyone wanting to provide input to that future should understand that “
Different isn’t always better, but better is always different
”. And so, hanging onto status quo just because it is comfortable is not a viable option. Livestock agriculture will not be immune to significant change in the coming months and years. Leaders, within formal structures and organizations as well as those less formally involved, will need to be open-minded, creative and bold to ensure that the industry secures a solid future.
