Universities collaborate on agriculture research

The University of Guelph-based Arrell Food Institute has joined forces with the University of the Fraser Valley to collaborate on sustainable agriculture research, training and ag-tech startup incubation.

Why it matters: Canada has a poor track record of moving university research into the marketplace.

The two institutions recently announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will be led by AFI’s director Evan Fraser and by Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley.

Both institutes aim to influence policy and funding decision-makers in both governmental and corporate spheres as they determine future directions for agriculture and food-based research and development.

Fraser told Farmtario the agreement was informed by a recommendation from a 2017 federal government study known informally as the Barton Report. Former Ambassador to China Dominic Barton advised at the time that Canada take steps to become “a trusted and reliable source” of high-quality and low-carbon-footprint food for the world, Fraser said.

“And I don’t want to say there’s a deficiency within Canada’s agricultural sector when it comes to working towards that goal. There are a lot of organizations doing good work around these things.”

But “there’s an element of Canadian modesty,” he said, that often prevents innovative ideas from garnering enough societal and financial support to become reality.

Newman, a past Canada Research Chair in Food Security and the Environment who was also a member of a 2019 B.C. government task force on food security, agrees.

“We do a great job in this country of coming up with amazing ideas,” Newman told Farmtario. But despite the fact taxpayers often fund the research which leads to those ideas, “we don’t do a good job of turning those ideas into patents.”

Fraser said the MOU is a direct outcome of a 2023 report entitled Feeding the Future with Canadian Technology, published following a series of focus group meetings conducted by a committee he co-chaired with Newman and Peter Dhillon, chair of the Ocean Spray cranberry company’s board of directors. Dhillon was also a collaborator with Newman on B.C.’s food security task force.

The collaborators were interested in people’s perspectives on the role of science, technology and innovation as it pertains to food production, profitability and sustainability.

Envisioning an era when “technology can be marshalled towards that triple bottom line” of economic growth, sustainability for the people farming the land, and mitigated environmental impact, Fraser says the new partnership begins as an agreement to collaborate on research but the goal is to move as quickly as possible into promoting and supporting ag-tech innovations.

“Out here in B.C., we’re trying to solve some different problems,” Newman said. “Definitely in Western Canada, climate change is particularly important given our recent experiences with fire and drought.”

The potential for a carbon sequestration marketplace is also a topic. Researchers aim to quantify the climate change mitigation services already supplied by agriculture. Technology could play a role in helping farmers get credit if that marketplace ever develops, she added.

“I’m also a big proponent of growing year-round in Canada. I think, for Canada, it’s vital. And I think (Fraser) is a big proponent of that too.”

Speaking of possible early outcomes of the agreement in the realm of so-called “vertical agriculture,” she said, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see some big buildings with a lot of plants in them” as a result of the research collaboration.

Recently retired U of G plant agriculture professor Ralph Martin, an observer of the Arrell institute since it began, has written extensively about reducing wasted food. It is a cause that Fraser and the AFI have also championed. Martin also writes commentaries about the effects of large-scale agriculture on the environment, and he expressed caution about equating technology with sustainably feeding the world.

“A lot of my colleagues at Guelph supported a heavy reliance on technology,” he said in a recent interview. “And in agriculture, I think that can be problematic.”

Martin believes the merits of new technologies should be weighed against potential questions of food waste, environmental impact and who has control of the technology.

Still, he believes it’s beneficial to explore those technologies. Vertical farming, for example, may have significant environmental effects but it might still be necessary or even crucial in a world affected by climate change.

Research focus

Although innovations in processing or ag input production could have equally world-altering effects on Canada’s agricultural sector, Fraser says the institute has purposefully chosen to remain focused on innovations in the production realm.

An example, he said, is support for research into out-of-season berry production, which has the immediate potential to offset the carbon footprint of bringing berries from California through much of the year.

The Fraser Valley institute has maintained processing sector innovations as part of its focus.

Fraser acknowledges there may be producers and producer organizations who feel the goals of the two institutes are outside what’s needed on a lot of Canadian farms. But some don’t fit that stereotype.

Peter Dhillon of Ocean Spray is among a cohort of “sophisticated (ag) business people who understand food security on a global scale. That’s the circle we’re trying to work in,” Fraser said.

Northwestern Ontario dairy producer Peggy Brekveld, who recently stepped down as president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, says primary producers benefit from the work of organizations like the AFI even if that work doesn’t seem to directly affect them. She said such organizations “help build the connections between agriculture and broader public conversations.

“While a farmer might not see the benefits every single day, the influence of such research ensures that farming is not forgotten,” Brekveld told Farmtario. “As policy makers consider social, economic and environmental impacts, both good and bad, places like AFI can impact decisions on the best way forward for all of society, including food and rural communities.”

Fraser hopes the MOU inspires creation of a national network exploring food security and ag innovation, with a focus stretching beyond Canada into parts of the world where Canadian food and innovation could be part of the solution to food insecurity problems.

Promoting research is a focus but training is also big. There is an acknowledged labour crunch in Canadian agriculture, as well as an aging farmer demographic. Solutions are possible through technology but there will be significant training required to follow through on this transformation.

“None of this is easy stuff,” he said. “These are hard challenges to manage. My hope is that, in the next six to 12 months, we’ll be running programming.”