The creation of a unique cross-border, world class institute for beef economic research promises to provide a valued "neighbour" to boost beef industry competitiveness in both Canada and the U.S.

The new North American Institute for Beef Economic Research (NAIBER) is a joint initiative of both countries. Half of the seed funding for the institute was provided by Canada through the National Beef Industry Development Fund (NBIDF) and half was provided by the U.S. NAIBER efforts are conducted by beef economics researchers and experts in each country, and coordination of NAIBER is also shared between cross-border institutions.

"The vision for NAIBER is to create a leading source of information, analysis, and opinion on economic issues of importance to the North American beef industry," says Dave Plett, a southern Alberta feedlot operator and Chair of NBIDF. "NAIBER will provide an essential resource of economic knowledge to benefit the industry on both sides of the border."

Traditionally, Canada has looked to the former U.S.-based Research Institute on Livestock Pricing (RILP), led by Dr. Wayne Purcell of Virginia Tech University, to meet its beef economics research needs.

But it has long been thought Canada needed more research with a joint U.S. / Canadian grounded perspective. That need, coupled with the retirement of Purcell, led to the idea of developing NAIBER.

Source: DiscoverMooseJaw.com