Saskatoon – Lee Whittington, the Manager of Information Services for the Prairie Swine Centre of Saskatoon, is the recipient of this year’s Animal Industries Award in Extension and Public Service from the Canadian Society of Animal Science.

The award is to recognize outstanding service to the animal industries of Canada in technology transfer, leadership, and education in animal science. It’s sponsored by the Canadian Pork Council, Chicken Farmers of Canada and Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Lee Whittington’s largest and highest profile project was the Pork Interpretive Gallery (P.I.G.) constructed within the Prairie Swine Centre’s Elstow Research Farm. He raised more than a million dollars with half of that amount coming from the pork industry to finance the construction and initial operation of the gallery.

“The Pork Interpretive Gallery would never have happened without Lee’s tireless efforts,” notes John Patience, President of the Prairie Swine Centre. “Through his vision, the industry has a wonderful facility to showcase the pork industry to young people and the general public.”

Lee Whittington’s other accomplishments include:

· a quarterly newsletter that reaches 4,500 prairie producers four times a year.

· the first nation-wide satellite conference held for the pork industry (‘95 to ‘99).

· study tours to the United States for Canadian pork producers and consultants.

· the first training course focusing on Hydrogen Sulphide Awareness training

· the first Canadian web-based database for the swine industry providing easy search access to thousands of research reports.

In addition to scores of published research reports, Lee Whittington is a popular speaker throughout North America. He has presented in eight Canadian provinces, 6 U.S. states, Scotland, England, The Netherlands, Denmark and Ukraine.

“Technology transfer isn’t complete until we have achieved technology adoption by the commercial industry,” says Whittington, who joined the Prairie Swine Centre in 1992. “Research results have no value sitting on a shelf.”

In 1979, Lee Whittington graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. Believing in continuous improvement, Lee has continued to upgrade his education, completing the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (Ontario) in 1989, and an MBA in 1997 at the University of Saskatchewan.

Prairie Swine Centre Inc., located in Saskatoon, is a non-profit research corporation affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, and is recognized globally for its contributions to practical, applied science in pork production in the disciplines of Nutrition, Engineering and Animal Behaviour.