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BoarHub: a data sharing platform for boar semen quality and sow fertility Artificial insemination (AI) centres have played a major role in the Canadian swine industry for several decades. More than boar semen distributors and genetic improvement disseminators, they also generate and manage a lot of valuable data on a daily basis. Their customers (commercial pig barns) also collect more and more detailed information about sow fertility and productivity, but very little information is shared routinely. The proposed project aims at creating a data sharing platform (BoarHub) for boar semen quality and sow fertility/productivity. The Canadian swine industry has been a very dynamic agricultural sector, by adopting cutting-edge technology. For instance the early adoption of artificial insemination (AI) in commercial barns was critical to reach high performance levels and maintain excellent health status in pig barns. To remain among the top pork producers and exporters, the Canadian swine industry also needs to seize opportunities offered by novel information technologies in order to lower production costs and remain sustainable.

The BoarHub project aims at creating tools to share valuable information between AI centres and their customers. By creating feedback channels going both ways, the objective is to improve boar semen quality and enhance sow productivity, using potentially fewer boars than nowadays and enhancing sow productivity. This would lead to savings for both AI centres and commercial producers, better on-farm performance and higher sustainability for the whole sector. Having tools in place to automatically access information about boar semen would also benefit specific sectors of the swine industry such as the breeding sector, providing opportunity for genetic improvement of boar semen quality and early detection of boars carrying specific abnormalities. Other AI centres customers include research facilities managed by universities and research organizations which will have a simplified access to individual boar and semen information useful in applied research projects.