by SUSAN MANN
The University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus Agri-Food Foundation is embarking on a campaign to raise millions of dollars for research infrastructure upgrades and a new facility at the campus.
Ridgetown campus director Ken McEwan says the money being raised for a sustainable crop research and innovation centre and other upgrades is part of a province-wide renewal of crop research infrastructure across Ontario.
Facilities need to be renewed so the industry can remain globally competitive and to ensure the “longevity for our many agricultural stakeholders,” he says.
McEwan says the foundation is working with the university to raise $3 to $4 million in private donations for the work. It’s hoped the private sector donations will be matched by funding from federal, provincial and municipal governments. “We’re trying to draw awareness to this,” he says.
The funds will be used to pay for new lab space, analytical lab space, plant growth chambers, seed preparation and plant breeding equipment and cold storage space. McEwan says the money will go toward “quite a variety of things that would be of value to our campus.”
So far the foundation has raised $1.2 million, says its chair, Dave Baute. The foundation is described on the campus’ website as an organization with alumni and community representatives.
Baute says the money they’re raising is going towards “must haves in order to carry out some of the basic research that’s being done today.”
McEwan says the Ridgetown Campus currently has research facilities “but they’re dated back to the 1940s and 1950s.”
The sustainable crop research centre “will provide the infrastructure that’s needed to support leading-edge research,” he says.
There are no timelines in place for when the foundation has to raise the money or when the centre will be up and running.
Rob Gordon, dean of the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph, says
upgrading research infrastructure at Ridgetown “is part of a larger focus that the university, industry and the (Ontario agriculture) ministry are putting towards how we make the investments in research much more effective and productive in the future.”
He adds that “with all of the emerging issues regarding how we better manage the production of grains and oilseeds, there is a need for us to have state-of-the art infrastructure.”
The University of Guelph has more than 15 stations across Ontario where it does crop and livestock research. The stations are operated and managed by the university as part of the university/Ontario agriculture ministry partnership. But the stations are owned by the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario.
The broader infrastructure renewal effort is focused “on what we’re doing to continue to improve our ability for field crops work,” he says.
The field crop research infrastructure needs to be renewed because “there are a lot emerging issues and technologies that require us to maybe think about our crop production systems in a slightly different way,” he says, adding, for example, there’s more emphasis being placed on how researchers manage nutrients in field crop studies.
“The sophistication of Ontario’s crop production capacity” makes it critical for the province to have research infrastructure that enables scientists to answer questions really effectively, Gordon explains. “This is about having the capacity to do state-of-the art research. It’s about making our land bases more adaptive to a wider range of opportunities for research.”
The university, agricultural industry and ministry are still working out how much it will cost to renew the research infrastructure, Gordon says. BF
Comments
While I'm all for research and all that good stuff, I'm not overly-keen to give my money, or see public money given, to duplicate research which may be, for example, already ongoing or even already published, less than four hours away from here at Michigan State University.
In particular, even though I'm not an expert in crop production systems, I don't see a lot of difference between growing white beans, corn, soybeans, wheat and anything else in Huron County, Ontario and growing the same crops 40 miles west of here in Huron County, Michigan, and therefore, I see no need for identical research to be done in both jurisdictions.
While "re-inventing the wheel" by conducting isolationist research using either private or public money may be seen by scientists who have a job on the line and College Deans who have jobs to defend to be "good science", it is, nonetheless, a 1950's approach which, by ignoring the research and information instantly-available globally, is poor economic policy and even-poorer public policy.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
We do need research based in Ont. I have big changes in ground and cropping systems within 10 miles and that is before you account for being downwind from Lake Huron. Ontario research especially stuff not funded by someone selling the seed/chemical/equipment is way too limited now. Take the Bee issue, with the chemical companies on one side and the Bee keepers on the other with very differing opinions on a product that has supposedly been well researched. Someone is right and someone is wrong but without independent research we will never know who.
The problem is the research is being too concentrated in Ridgetown and Guelph, and being cut in the north and Kempville to save money.
John Gillespie
Ripley
Research is important but where do you draw the line as to how much replication happens ? In your micro climate along the lake you can argue all day long that it is different but reallity is that it is the same as some where else . You could even go as far as saying that things are specific to your operation only because of how and when you do things in your field . Even with in your field you could say that things are different . If you think it is too wet where you stopped to check , walk 10 or 20 feet and it very well could be different .
Research is done more as a generalization and does need to be tweaked to apply in each situation . Same as education . It is general in scope unless you take a certain course that is only specific to one thing only . Even then it relates to many other areas .
There really needs to be more research done in agriculture across borders . There is only so much funding to go around . Research dollars need to be spent much more wisely .
be careful with the U of G. After they raise this money they may just close the campus:(
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