The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance creates impact by directing the efforts of our people, places and programs toward six key outcomes that support the agri-food and rural sectors—at home and around the world.

These outcomes are the focus of Growing Ontario Solutions, the OMAFRA–University of Guelph Agreement annual report for 2019/20. Growing Ontario Solutions delves into the stories behind the numbers to demonstrate how the Alliance drives impact in Ontario.

Omid Norouzi, a PhD candidate and Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) scholar in the School of Engineering, aims to cut global greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural and food waste by converting that waste into fuel.

Waste generated from agriculture (e.g., from farm operations, manure, harvest waste) and food (e.g., non-edible parts of fruits) generates environmental pollutants, particularly greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Norouzi says if his small-scale research at the Bio-Renewable Innovation Lab can be scaled up and implemented, it “could shrink our environmental footprint by reducing waste and create new revenue streams and new jobs by extracting value from the by-products we currently throw away.”