Ontario and Quebec to work together on integrated pest management research

Saturday, November 14, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario and Quebec farmers will be given new tools and knowledge to manage greenhouse and fruit/vegetable pests thanks to pest management research projects the agriculture ministries in the two provinces are working on together.

The pest management projects began in 2015 and will end in the summer of 2018. They’re part of a package of research that includes work on water management, which also began this year and will end in 2018. There are three integrated pest management and three water projects.

Each province put in $750,000 plus indirect costs for the six projects, according to an email sent by Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson Susin Micallef. Micallef noted in her email that the responses it contained were on behalf of Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal’s office.

Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario president Lorne Small says he “likes to see the two provinces working together.”

Small says the agricultural industries in the two provinces “are remarkably similar in many ways. To me, it’s really positive they’re working together.”

Leal and Quebec Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Pierre Paradis met Nov. 9 to talk about ways to “enhance their collaboration to help build up the economies of both provinces” and reinforce their regional partnership based on shared priorities, according to a Nov. 10 press release from the Ontario agriculture ministry.

The two ministers also recognized the need to continue investing in sustainable agricultural practices and agreed one way to launch early action in addressing climate change was to fund the joint pest management and water research projects.

One of the water research projects is designed to provide novel technologies for optimal water use in food processing, while another is studying drainage management in crop production and a third looks at groundwater use for agricultural production, Micallef said in her email.

Each of the water and pest management projects has a Quebec and Ontario researcher leading it, and the experiments are being done in both provinces. Project reports will be submitted annually so the Quebec and Ontario agriculture ministries can monitor the progress of the research, Micallef said. In addition, there’s a plan to disseminate the findings and knowledge the research generates.

Ontario and Quebec combined is an economic powerhouse in Canada. In 2014, together they accounted for nearly 36 per cent of Canada’s farm cash receipts from primary agricultural production and more than 60 per cent of food and beverage processing revenues in Canada, the Ontario agriculture ministry’s release says.

The two provinces, with a combined population of 21.9 million people, form the largest economic region of Canada and account for about 56 per cent of the country’s total GDP. In 2014, the total value of Ontario’s agri-food exports was $12.5 billion and Quebec’s was $7 billion, the release says.

The supply managed sectors in Ontario and Quebec account for 65.1 per cent of Canada’s supply managed farm gate receipts. BF