Canada's Heritage Turkey Foundation has an extensive multi-year research roadmap

Integrated Applied Research Supporting Heritage Turkey Conservation

Research at Pips Farm focuses on the conservation and practical viability of Canada’s heritage turkeys, with particular emphasis on the Canadian Bronze. The work is organized into interconnected research tracks that reflect how real-world farming, biology, and economics intersect rather than existing as isolated studies.

Some projects follow linear research paths, where results from one study are required to inform or enable the next—such as genetics informing breeding decisions, or nutrition research shaping health and reproduction outcomes. Other projects are independent and concurrent, allowing experimentation and data collection to happen in parallel across different areas of farm operation and management. Together, these chains and clusters of research create a cumulative body of knowledge that would be difficult or impossible to generate through a single study.

The outcomes of this research directly support heritage turkey conservation by documenting traits, practices, and outcomes that are rarely captured in commercial poultry research. By generating practical, field-based data on feed, housing, pasturing, reproduction, health, and processing, the work reduces guesswork for small farms and homesteads, saving time, lowering costs, and improving animal welfare.

Equally important, the research helps educate the public about the biological, cultural, and agricultural differences between heritage and commercial turkeys, highlighting the long-term benefits of genetic diversity and traditional breeding over industrial production models.

By improving efficiency and profitability for small-scale producers raising heritage turkeys for meat, the research strengthens the economic foundation needed to sustain conservation efforts. This feedback loop—where better data leads to better farming outcomes, which in turn supports ongoing conservation—plays a critical role in preventing the Canadian Bronze turkey from becoming threatened or lost altogether.

2026 Project Roadmap