Background

The Ontario Research Enhancement Program (OREP) is a $4-million two-year federal research initiative that will be administered by the Research Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), with input from the agriculture and agri-food sector, universities and the province.

Research will focus on two areas identified by the sector as:

1. Priorities responding to consumer demand for higher quality products; and

2. Ensuring crop-production management systems are environmentally sustainable.

Biotechnology will be one of the areas explored. Ontario's agricultural production is based primarily on growing diversified crops using intensive production practices, but long-term viability is linked to the development of sustainable crop production management systems.

There are also opportunities to enhance the economic contribution of Ontario's agriculture and agri-food sector by adding value to the diversified primary commodities produced in the province. The Program is expected to be of particular interest to the corn, soybean, greenhouse, fruit and vegetable sectors and the emphasis will be on projects focusing on food quality improvement and sustainable crop production management such as:

1. The development of value-added animal and crop food products and ingredients that meet domestic and export market demands, with a particular emphasis on quality issues such as processing, packaging, shelf life, new product and ingredient development, high-value alternative uses, probiotics and functional foods;

2. Biotechnologies to reduce environmental pressures related to crop protection practices; and,

3. Integrated crop protection and production practices for both field and greenhouse crops.

New projects will be initiated and more resources will be provided to current R&D activities. The Program will be managed by AAFC's Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre (SCPFRC), London, Ontario. Research will be conducted by SCPFRC, and also by two other AAFC centres, the Eastern Cereals and Oilseeds Research Centre in Ottawa and the Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre in Harrow. All projects will include at least one AAFC collaborator from one or more of the three Research Centres.