Engaging Turkeys
Today is Thanksgiving, and yesterday's Star Tribune, in a preamble to the holiday, had an interesting story about the dramatic change in turkey production over the past 20 years. Turkeys grow larger and faster, but more cheaply, than they used to.
These changes are due to remarkably effective breeding (not genetic engineering) to get desirable characteristics. The breeding is done these days by two major companies, but much of the groundwork was laid by researchers in the Animal Science Department at the University of Minnesota. Their work has made Minnesota "the turkey capital of the world". It's interesting to look at the "Poultry U" web site to see the range of information that the U offers in support of turkey management:
- Management of turkey flocks: ventilation, heat stress, and litter
- Nutrition
- Processing, including rules and regulations
- Status of the turkey industry in the United States
- Turkey production in other countries
- Links to turkey industry publications
This type of service and direct connection to an agriculturally important industry typifies the traditional land grant mission of state universities. It is the forerunner of what we now term "technology transfer"; and it has the characteristics of a partnership of knowledge and problem definition between the public and the university that qualifies it to be called "public engagement". It also raises some issues, e.g., Does the university become too dependent on support in the state legislature from a commodity producer group? Do commercial interests unduly shape the U's research agenda? Does focus on an agricultural industry shortchange other aspects of rural life?
Despite these questions, most of us would conclude that, on balance, the U's involvement with the turkey industry has been a good thing. The next question is: How do we transfer this model to the key issues facing our state in the 21st century? Not just new high-tech industries, but also education, health care, aging, and similar issues that don't have a clear economic focus but which will determine the well-being of our society.