This agenda will continue to change as we update the list of speakers, their topics, and time frames - so be sure to continue to check for updates.

Here is the agenda so far!

July 11, 2008 - Preliminary Agenda as of February 11, 2008
7:00 am - 8:00 am	Registration
8:00 am - 8:30 am	Dennis Laycraft, Executive Vice President, Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Calgary AB, opening comments on the state of the Canadian industry.
8:30 am - 9:00 am	The Economic Outlook Glen Hodgson, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, The Conference Board of Canada, Ottawa, ON, will provide the most recent economic forecast and discuss Canada's position for growth. Questions from the floor.
9:00 am - 9:30 am	US Policy and its impact on Agriculture Bill Holbrook, Holbrook Consulting Services, Kearney, MO will provide a review of US Ag and Energy Policy, how US agriculture will be impacted and its response to world demand. Questions from the floor.
9:30 am - 10:00 am	Gregg Doud, Chief Economist, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Washington, DC, will provide a US perspective of the ethanol policy, origin labeling, and major beef industry issues. Questions from the floor.
10:00 am - 10:30 am	Coffee Break
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Brad Wildeman, Pound-Maker, Lanigan SK will discuss the challenges in the beef industry and where we are advancing over our competitors. Questions from the floor.
11:00 am - 11:30 am	Novel Approaches to Vaccination: impact on economics of beef production Dr. Lorne Babiuk, Vice President (Research) University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB will discuss how infectious diseases have a significant impact on production and may be used as trade barriers. Novel approaches to developing vaccines to reduce these problems will be addressed. Questions from the floor.
11:30 am - 12:00 pm	New Genomic Tools to Help Beef Producers Compete in Domestic and Global Markets Dr. David Bailey, President and CEO, Genome Alberta, Calgary, AB will present recent advances made by the human medical communities using genomic technologies and how those same tools to be applied to the livestock sectors. For the Canadian beef cattle industry, access to the new tools is of great importance given the industry's current financial state and the global challenges such as diseases, climate change and high feed input costs. Genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics are now available to our producers and the costs for these services are dropping rapidly. Questions from the floor.
12:00 pm - 1:45 pm	Lunch
1:45 pm - 2:15 pm	Canadian Beef: The world is waiting Andrea Mandel-Campbell, Author, Journalist, Toronto, ON, will discuss that Canada has a lot to offer the world, but all too often has chosen the path of least resistance: selling commodities to the US. In today's world that's a losing proposition. Why the Canadian beef industry must add value and embrace global marketing. Questions from the floor.
2:15 pm - 2:45 pm	Christopher Wolf, Director, The Turover-Straus Group, Inc., Springfield Missouri, will discuss all the pieces in delivering a product and maintaining a brand and what the beef industry has to do to stay ahead of the game. Questions from the floor.
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm	Coffee Break
3:15 pm - 4:00 pm	Eating - Is there a solution to the confusion? Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director, McGill Office for Science and Society, McGill University, Montreal, PQ will discuss how the current onslaught of nutritional information often leaves consumers confused and worried. A proper scientific analysis of research findings is the only way to separate sense from nonsense. Questions from the floor.
4:00 pm - 4:15 pm	Dennis Laycraft, Executive Vice President, Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Calgary AB will close the conference.
4:15 pm - 6:00 pm	Wrap-up reception, Roundup Centre Foyer
End of program.