Innovation in Livestock Genetic Improvement L'innovation dans l'amelioration genetique animale Innovation bei der genetischen Verbesserung von Nutztieren

summary summary Innovation inLivestock GeneticImprovement The application of geneticselection technologies inlivestock breeding offers uniqueopportunities to enhance theproductivity, profitability andcompetitiveness of the livestockindustry. However, there is a concernthat the uptake of these technologieshas been slower in the sheep andbeef sectors in comparison to thedairy, pig and poultry sectors. Thisarticle discusses how an agriculturalinnovation systems perspective canhelp identify the dynamics oftechnology uptake in the livestocksector using the adoption ofEstimated Breeding Values (EBVs) insheep production in Scotland as acase study. Five major (systemic)challenges were identified: a weaklyintegrated sheep supply chain(market structure failure); thepresence of a powerful factionantagonistic towards EBVs (networkfailure); a challenging policyenvironment (hard institutionalfailure); a dismantled and weakadvisory service with regard to EBVs(capabilities failure); and an outdatedand inflexible data managementsystem (infrastructure failure). Whilstefforts are being made to address thebarriers individually it is argued that amore holistic approach is needed toinnovation. The findings are shown tohave wider implications forinnovation within the agriculturalsector of the European Union.