Driving growth in horticulture

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The Vineland Research and Innovation Centre will launch a campaign this week to raise funds for its new building complex near St. Catharines in the Niagara Region.

The facility, a non-profit organization that is aiming to bring cutting edge research to the Canadian horticultural industry and commercialize it, will present its master plan on Friday during the Canada Blooms gardening show in Toronto.

Mark Cullen, a gardening expert and media personality, is the capital campaign’s chair. Toronto-based Diamond + Schmitt Architects designed the plan.

Jim Brandle, the centre’s CEO, says the campus needs an update. “Vineland has been around for a long time and it fell on very hard times,” he says. “There’s not been a lot of renewal, certainly in the past 15 years, if not longer.”

The plan includes upgrades of existing facilities and building a 28,000 square foot laboratory. Construction is nearly complete on a centre to house start-up companies, Brandle says.

The entire project will cost $25 million and provide capacity for the next 25 years. Brandle says they have already received $12.5 million from the province and plan to obtain the rest through fundraising.

Between fundraising and developing architectural plans, it will take between a year and two years before construction can begin on the laboratory, he estimates.

Brandle says the changes are needed to accommodate the shift in vision for the centre: “We have a national agriculture science cluster around ornamental horticulture that spans from coast to coast that we’re participating in and leading at the same time.” The centre is in the process of hiring a vegetable breeder and includes mushrooms, fruit and flowers under its umbrella.

“We’re looking for big things that make a difference,” he says. “We want to drive growth into horticulture.” BF