Achievements

To date in Quebec, the traceability system has been implemented from the farm to the slaughterhouse in the bovine, ovine and cervid sectors. As of June 2009, this includes:

The registration of nearly 24,000 producers, 27,000 premises, 7,900,000 animals
Over 33 million life-events for these animals
The processing of over 116,000 orders for ID tags
The sale of over 8 million tags!

With a mandate to provide a multi-species traceability system, ATQ is already proceeding with the implementation of a permanent identification and traceability system for the pork, poultry, table eggs and lettuce production sectors, as well as expanding it to the consumer's plate for the beef and ovine sectors.

Pilot projects

Agri-Tracabilite Quebec plays an active role in conducting pilot projects, in partnership with farmers, industry stakeholders and government representatives.

In order to observe and fieldtest real-life situations for Quebec's agricultural production sectors, pilot projects are an essential step in the implementation of a complete identification and traceability system, capable of adequately meeting the needs of multiple stakeholders.

Among other things, these pilot projects permit the following questions to be answered or evaluated:

What are the identification methods best adapted to the concerned sector?
How to synchronize the actions of all the stakeholders in the various value chains?
What type of partnerships should be formed?
What information should be collected?
How to maximize the automation of data transfer?

Directory of pilot projects

All told, more than a dozen pilot projects have been conducted by ATQ, in less than 10 years.

	FDX tags evaluation Some FDX tags, approved by CCIA, offer an alternative to HDX tags for the beef and the dairy industries. Reading tests will be conducted in key strategic premises with live animals, as well as resistance tests (ageing and breaking strength), held in CRIQ laboratory.	In Progress
	Bovine Tag Retention : Long Term Evaluation In cooperation with the Allflex Company, a rigorous follow-up project has been undertaken. Visits will be done once or twice a year to about 20 beef and dairy farms. The project will provide a statistical analysis of the on-farm rate of ear tag loss. Also, laboratory tests on the resistance of the tag materials will be done by a neutral body.	In Progress
	Live Animal Transport The goal of this project is to develop turnkey solutions adapted for the livestock transportation sector that will allow the automated collection and transfer into the ATQ database of information related to traceability. The Solutions for Transport Traceability is comprised of RFID readers, pocket computers with the TransTraq software installed, and portable printers.	In Progress
	Live Animal Transport - Information transfer section The project is aimed at the transfer of information using the Solutions for Transport Traceability at strategic points (auctions and abattoirs) following the transportation and unloading of livestock (beef, sheep, pork). Project partially funded by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada through the Canadian Integrated Traceability Program.	Finished
	Live Animal Transport - Lots section This project has as its principal objective to adapt the Solutions for Transport Traceability for animals with an individual identification (beef and sheep) to the practicalities of identification by lot (pork, poultry). Project partially funded by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada through the Canadian Integrated Traceability Program.	Finished
	Evaluation of equipment functionality This project is aimed at improving automated equipment for the collection and transfer of traceability information and its uptake by producers through field trials of a hand-held electronic system and a targeted information campaign. Project partially funded by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada through the Canadian Integrated Traceability Program.	Finished
	Table Eggs Traceability Project's objectives are to set up a single identification and traceability system for light breed bird lots in the Quebec table eggs industry as well as to provide a single identification system from the farm to the table for the eggs produced, graded and marketed by the producers enrolled in the quality assurance program.	Finished
	Ovine RFID tags comparison Two years after the implantation of the traceability system in the sheep sector, sheep and lamb producers have judged it pertinent to try new identifiers. In January 2006, a pilot project was begun to evaluate two new types of identifying tags.	Finished
	Bovine Tag Retention : Loose Housing Following the comprehensive identification of beef livestock, a certain number of on-farm verifications were done, as a follow-up to the pilot project done in 2003. A second pilot project wWilling to ever improve the existing system, Agri-Traçabilité Québec, with the participation of the PATLQ, the Quebec Artificial Breeding Centre, Holstein Canada and the tags provider, has set up a tag retention committee.as undertaken, this time looking at ear tag retention in loose housing conditions (6 dairy farms and 2 beef farms). Results : 84.95 % of the 831 dropped tags originate from the comprehensive identification operation.	Finished
	RFID and cervidae traceability The pilot project on cervidae permanent identification and traceability ended in December 2005. More than 5300 animals have been identified in the premises of 14 wapiti breeders, 12 red deer breeders, and 2 white-tailed deer breeders.	Finished
	Bovine Tags Retention : Stall Housing Willing to ever improve the existing system, Agri-Traçabilité Québec, with the participation of the PATLQ, the Quebec Artificial Breeding Centre, Holstein Canada and the tags provider, has set up a tag retention committee.