Agriculture in his blood

Dr Roy Berg

The scene is familiar to every western Canadian - endless pastures full of cattle, wheat fields disappearing into the horizon under the biggest sky anywhere on earth. But something on the Alberta prairie has changed radically in the last 30 years, owing in no small measure to Dr. Roy Berg's pioneering research in animal genetics. Look more closely, and you'll see the cows that today dot the landscape are a kaleidoscope of color rather than the uniform hues of yesterday. Put simply, this changing palette has meant better beef, and more of it.

You might say Berg, who was raised on a farm near Millicent, Alta., has agriculture in his blood. He was the third of four brothers to study agriculture at the University of Alberta. Since Berg's graduation in 1950, 14 more family members from two generations have followed in his footsteps. Counting siblings, spouses and offspring, a total of 34 Bergs have degrees from the U of A; at this year's Alumni Association celebration of U of A families, the Berg family had the most members in attendance at 29.

Berg's strong ties with the rural community have, he admits, helped greatly in building bridges between the ivory tower and the farming industry. "You have to have some friends out there, because if there's no one listening to you, you have no impact," he says. "You could do your research and demonstrate some things, but if you haven't got an audience then nothing will happen. It'll get in the scientific literature, and that's where it'll stay."

Convincing a "conservative industry" to adopt his methods, however, was anything but easy. After completing his master's and doctoral degrees in animal genetics at the University of Minnesota, Berg returned to the U of A as an assistant professor in 1955. In 1960 he established the university's Kinsella Ranch in eastcentral Alberta and went on to show how selective cross-breeding - passing on the superior traits from a large number of breeds - could improve production by 30 to 40 per cent.

Despite the success of research at Kinsella, however, traditional pure-breeders remained steadfastly opposed to the idea of mixing breeds to produce synthetic strains. It took Berg a good 10 to 15 years of carefully controlled crossbreeding to sway industry insiders.

"At that time when he started, everyone was laughing at him," says Dr. Mac Makarechian, who worked with Berg at Kinsella. "And many producers opposed him really furiously. The pure-breeders were so strong, and believed in their breed so enthusiastically, that they thought if they mixed [breeds], everything would be destroyed."

Most of Berg's crossbreeding techniques gradually became the norm in commercial breeding, winning him induction into the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame and the International Stockman's Hall of Fame in Houston, Tex. At Kinsella he managed to produce doublemuscled steers with 50 per cent lean muscle tissue by live weight, compared to the average 35 per cent in the standard breeds.

What sets Berg apart from many in his line of work is an ability to communicate with persuasive force. He was known as a maverick who took risks, refused to be intimidated and told it "like it was." In a 1989 Folio article, he was described as "a fearless critic of conservative thought in teaching and research at the university, and in agricultural practice outside."

"I had colleagues in other institutions saying, 'You shouldn't be spouting off like that or you're going to get in trouble.' But I couldn't help it," says Berg. "I never had sense enough to realize this was a danger."

If you ask Berg, he'll tell you he made his greatest impact on Alberta agriculture in the classroom, especially through extension courses that disseminated new research quickly through the agricultural community. From his earliest days as a sessional instructor, Berg always put independent research and critical thinking ahead of simply absorbing information. He graded students on presentations and extensive takehome papers, dispensing with sitdown exams. It was a controversial approach in those days, but his students thrived on it.

As chair of the Department of Animal Science (1977-1982) and dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry (1983-1988), he promoted the development of an entrepreneurial spirit in students: "... that desire to be one who does things rather than having someone else tell you what to do all the time."

Since retiring in 1988, Berg, who lives in the parkland area east of Edmonton, has turned his efforts to environmental preservation. He is currently chair of the Beaverhill Lake Stakeholders Advisory Council, as well as a member of the advisory committee of the Ministik Lake Bird Sanctuary, and has been chair of the Beaverhill Lake Nature Centre in Tofield. He has also been a trustee of the Western Heritage Centre in Cochrane and currently serves on the Town of Tofield Economic Development Committee.

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