Description of research and teaching

Ammatillinen henkilöhistoria

Olen maa- ja metsätaloustieteiden tohtori ja kotieläinten jalostustieteen dosentti. Olen hoitanut kotieläinten jalostustieteen professuuria 1.1.2009 - 31.12.2011 Helsingin Yliopistossa. Vuosina 2010 - 2013 toimin myös maataloustieteiden laitoksen johtajana. Yliopiston palvelukseen tulin 1.9.2008. Olen aikaisemmin hoitanut kotieläinten jalostustieteen professuuria 1995-1996 varsinaisen professorin ollessa vuoden pituisella sapattivapaalla.

Yliopistoa edeltävä toimeni oli maa- ja metsätalousministeriön selvitysmies, jonka tehtävä oli tarkastella Suomen kotieläintutkimuksen tilaa ja tehdä ehdotus kotieläintutkimuksen kehittämiseksi. Luovutin selvityksen ministeriölle elokuun lopussa 2008 ja se on luettavissa ministeriön sivuilla. Selvitysmiehen toimeen siirryin YK:n Maatalous- ja Elintarvikeorganisaation (FAO) projektipäällikön tehtävistä Roomasta. Projekti käsitteli maatalousosuuskuntien johtamista ja tietokoneistamista. Projektista on tietoa mm. www.coopworks.org sivuilla. Olen toiminut FAO:ssa myös aikaisemmin kotieläinten geeniresurssien kestävän käytön konsulttina.

Enne siirtymistäni Roomaan toimin lähes 20 vuotta kansallisissa kotieläinjalostusneuvontaorganisaatioissa erilaisissa johtotehtävissä. Viimeksi Faba:n toimitusjohtajana 2004-2006 ja sitä ennen Pohjoismaisen jalostusarvosteluyhdistyksen (NAV) toimitusjohtajana 2002-2004.

Olen toiminut maa- ja metsätalousminiteriön maataloudellisen tutkimuksen neuvottelukunnassa (MTNK), Kulttuurirahaston apurahalautakunnassa, EU:n geeniresurssien kestävän käytön tutkimusohjelman arviointiryhmässä, Tiuran säätiön hallituksessa, Agro-Food ry:n hallituksessa, TEKES’in asiantuntijana, RKTL:n kirjolohen jalostusvaliokunnassa ja useiden tutkimushankkeiden seurantaryhmissä. Vuodesta 2009 lähtien olen ollut NAV:in tieteellisen neuvoa-antavan toimikunnan jäsen.

Kansainvälisissä organisaatioissa olen toiminut ICAR’in (International Committee for Animal Recordin) ja Interbull’in hallituksissa, ja ICAR’in presidenttinä 2004-2006 sekä Bio- Competence Centre of Healthy Dairy Products tieteellisen neuvoa-antavan komitean jäsenenä.

Olen toiminut useiden kotieläinjalostukseen liittyvien tutkimushankkeiden ohjausryhmissä ja tutkimushankkeiden arvioijana useille eri rahoittajille (EU, Kulttuurirahasto, MMM) sekä tieteellisten julkaisujen vertaisarvioijana.

Description of research and teaching

I am Dr. Jarmo Juga, a Finnish citizen, born on October 10th, 1958. I am an adjunct professor and University lecturer. I worked as the head of department of Agricultural Sciences from 2010 to 2013. Previous work experience includes scientific, managerial and expert positions, mainly in animal breeding but also in cooperative business management. Before my current work at the university I was working for the Ministry of Agriculture and forestry in Finland with the main task of making proposals for future priorities and development of research in animal production in Finland. Before that I was working for FAO as a project coordinator in a multinational project to develop business management of agricultural cooperatives in developing countries, mainly in Kenya and Vietnam, via computerization.

I have my longest work experience in extension services in cattle and pig breeding, where my latest position was the managing director of Faba Breeding, which is a Finnish cooperative for cattle and pig breeding with about 11.000 members and 100 employees. I have also worked as the managing director of Nordisk Avelsvärdering (NAV), which is a Nordic company owned by the Danish, Finnish and Swedish cattle breeding organisations. I was very much involved in building the current Nordic co-operation in cattle breeding, which has resulted also Finland joining in the Nordic AI-company, Viking Genetics. My past work experience includes also positions as the head of cattle breeding and R&D departmets in Faba Breeding and as a professor of animal breeding at the University of Helsinki as well as a researcher in MTT Agrifood Research Finland. I left Faba Breeding in very good economical and professional shape when leaving for the position in FAO. I am still consulting Faba group.

I am an experienced animal breeder, main focus being in cattle breeding. I have both research and teaching experience, but also a lot of experience with practical design of breeding programs, calculation of economic weights, prediction of breeding values and so forth. My career has required good skills in the theoretical and practical animal breeding, team leadership and especially good communication with scientists, advisers and farmers. I have been involved in writing a text book in animal breeding, a computer simulation software for teaching cattle breeding and given an uncounted number of presentations in cattle and pig breeding for farmers both in finland and other countries as well as written scientific papers and reports and popular articles in this topic.

During my leadership the joint Nordic genetic evaluation of dairy cattle in NAV was in a research and development stage. The research was carried out by Nordic research and breeding organisations according to a mutual contracts. The company also implemented its first PC cluster computing system during that period together with DIAS in Foulum, Denmark. Building up this R&D network required good coordination and networking skills. I am currently in the NAV Scientific Advisory committee. I have also coordinated beneficially big research and development projects and gained funding to these projects from national, Nordic and EU funds. One of the most interesting project was the EU funded HPBREEDING jointly with MTT, Faba Breeding and Agricultutural Computing Centre (MLOY), where the Finnish test day model for milk traits was built utilizing parallel computing in a PC cluster. This project gained experience for NAV work, too.

I have been very much involved in governing international organisations with people from different origins and languages. This is due to my interest in international co-operation and belief in learning from each other. This involvement has gained me a lot of experience in strategies for managing genetic resources, recording schemes and international evaluation of breeding values. I have also experience in different international business environments. This co-operation includes organizations like FAO, Interbull, ICAR, EU lobby groups in animal breeding, EAAP national committees. I value the positions in Interbull steering committee and ICAR board very high. I even served as the president of ICAR for two years before joining FAO.