Biosecurity 2.0 for the modern Canadian dairy farm

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The Canadian dairy industry is a key contributor to the Canadian economy. In 2018, it generated $6.6B in net farm receipts and $17.7B in food sales. However, the introduction and spread of diseases in a herd is a constant threat to a dairy farm's profitability. Unlike other types of animal production systems, where facilities can be depopulated, decontaminated, and repopulated, dairies must deal with a continuous production system and, therefore, preventing introduction and spread of diseases in a farm is critical. For that reason, it is now crucial for our Canadian dairy producers to implement biosecurity plans that are based on strong scientific evidences. A major obstacle, however, is the shortage of Canadian scientists conducting cutting-edge research on biosecurity in milk production. The main objectives of our research are to accelerate the development of cutting-edge research on biosecurity on dairies and to train highly qualified personal in that domain, who will later further support the dairy industry in establishing the most efficient biosecurity programs. The proposed research program will cover three themes. First research theme will be the identification of key biosecurity practices for controlling and/or preventing introduction of diseases. Research conducted under that theme will allow identification of the biosecurity practices that can have the greatest impact on control and prevention of diseases while considering all aspects linked to on-farm applicability. These researches will support development of the best possible biosecurity programs in term of prevention of transmission of disease, but also in term of probability of being applied in an optimal manner and widely adopted by Canadian producers. Our second research theme will aim at validating rapid, robust, and efficient diagnostic strategies for supporting establishment of robust biosecurity programs. Our third research theme will be dedicated to the development of cost-efficient disease surveillance and control programs. These programs will support dairy producers, governments, and veterinarians in their daily work for controlling various dairy cattle diseases.