"That’s pretty substantial, to say the least," Richard Melvin, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, said in an interview after the announcement. "This will add some additional resources to that work."
The federal funding, awarded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Growing Forward Program, is meant to support growth in the organic sector by strengthening industry science.
Although the organic sector is experiencing growth of 15 to 20 per cent a year, about 80 per cent of the organic food consumed in Canada is imported, said a news release Wednesday.
The Organic Science Cluster aims to help Canadian organic farmers capture more of this $2 billion domestic market while also improving their ability to compete globally.
It is a collaborative effort led by the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Bible Hill and the Organic Federation of Canada.
The program will run until 2013, with activities in nine provinces engaging all major Canadian agricultural universities.
Twenty industry partners, representing many parts of the organic sector across Canada, are expected to contribute $2.2 million in funds to support research activities.
Those involved in the Organic Science Cluster include leading scientists in organic agriculture who will be working to increase the quality and quantity of products produced and to promote aspects of organic production that are important to Canadian consumers.
Work will include research into improvements in phosphorus use in organic crop production, low-till production without herbicides and breakthroughs in energy-efficient organic greenhouse production.
It will also develop effective systems for management of organic horticultural crops, characterize the contribution of organic production to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, establish benchmarks for animal health and welfare in dairy farming, and address barriers in high-value fruit production.
