April-May 2016                                                                                                       
                   

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Welcome to the latest happenings in the OMAFRA - U of G Partnership:      Research, Veterinary Clinical Education, Agriculture & Food Lab, and Animal Health Lab programs.

    Fun Partnership Facts: Test Your Knowledge
                                                       
      1.  
How long have U of G and the                     2.  What are the four programs of 
           Province been 'partners' in the                        the current OMAFRA - U of G
            advancement of agriculture and food?            Partnership?

            
3.  What new state-of-the-art research          4. What is the name of the                           facility has the Partnership
                           Partnership's research
            recently helped fund?                                    commercialization fund?               
          
 A nswers to questions at the Bottom
Gryphon's LAAIR Finale: the final 4 contestants

The exciting final round of funding in the Gryphon's LAAIR  Research Commercialization Program takes place Wed. April 20, 2016. $125,000 is up for grabs for each faculty member who successfully pitches their business case to the industry judges - convincing them that  their technology has the best chance of market success.
But they only have 15 minutes to do it.

Following the pitch, the judges will grill the presenters with tough questions to make their final decisions. 
Up for the final pitch will be:

Dr. Wael Ahmed:  Field tests of novel   airlift pump technology for sustainable  aquaculture production                                                         

Dr. John  Dutcher: Advanced
nutraceuticals from Ontario      sweet corn


Dr. Suresh Neethirajan:   On-farm field trial for validating a point-of-care device for detectin g metabolic diseases in dairy cattle 
Dr. Gopinadhan Paliyath : Addressing the  registration for use for a novel post-harvest technology for fruits and vegetables based on phospholipase-D Inhibition   
Come out to an exciting morning of research opportunities! See sidebar for time and place.

In This Issue
  Key Partnership Date


 Final pitches to the judges 

 April 20, 9 am to noon
 Pathobiology / AHL Bldg
 Room 1810
Marketing Strategies for 'Local' and 'Organic'  

 To help Ontario producers  formulate effective marketing  strategies for local and organic foods,  Prof. John  Cranfield of FARE investigated con sumer preferences and value chains involved.

 He found that while Canadian  consumers prefer to purchase locally produced foods (and are willing to pay more for them), they'd like to be able to buy them at retail grocery chains. For suppliers of  local and organic foods, aggregating them would make delivery more cost-efficient to large institutional customers and retail chains.
Funding for Species Networks' Top Research Priorities                          
    
T en new research projects have been approved - one for each of the 10 species networks of the Animal Health Lab and OMAFRA's   'Disease Surveillance Plan' . The projects will be undertaken collaboratively  between OMAFRA and U of G.

Examples of the projects include:      

Beef:    Surveillance for bovine calfhood diseases including Salmonella dublin.

Poultry:   Evaluating virulence genes and antimicrobial susceptibility of avian pathogenic E. coli from Ontario broiler and breeder flocks.

Swine:  Creation of a network of sentinel pig farms to enable coordinated preparedness, early detection, and response to animal disease.  
                                       
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'Covering' Your Profits Maintains Soil Quality


 With intense cultivation and low crop residues being left in the field, soils are susceptible to degradation including compaction, erosion and low organic matter. To improve productive soils in the vegetable industry, Prof. Laura Van Eerd explored the role cover crops can play in maintaining soil quality.  Her research found that cover crops did, in fact, have a positive influence on soil health and had no negative effect on yield or quality of the main crop.  And the best part - profit margins were as good or higher!

                                                                Back to Top


 Answers to Fun Partnership Facts Bottom

 1. The working relationship between the University and the province dates back over 135 years and is unique in Canada.

 2. The Partnership includes Research, Veterinary Clinical Education, the Agriculture & Food Lab and the Animal Health Lab programs.

 3. The Livestock Research and Innovation Centre - dairy phase opened in 2015. It's a great example of the unique capacity the Partnership has built at the U of G - in both infrastructure (research stations, equipment) and specialized expertise.

 4. The Partnership's research commercialization program is called 'Gryphon's LAAIR' (Leading to Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research).