Sustainable Production Systems Research Program

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Mission and Priorities

Sustainable Production Systems Mission

The mission of the Sustainable Production Systems Program is to enhance the long-term global competitiveness and sustainability of Ontario's agriculture and food system through excellence in research. This program will contribute to the Ontario government objectives of “better health” and “stronger people - stronger economy”.  This will be accomplished through support of a competitive and sustainable Ontario agricultural sector that will lead to societal and economic benefits for the entire province. 

Priorities

 

Sustainable Production Systems Priorities

Priority 1 - Productivity Improvement
Productivity improvements in production systems improve the value derived from production by reducing costs, improving yield and/or quality of crop and livestock products. Global competition has increased significantly as different regions of the world with lower cost structures start to produce commodities that compete with Ontario. Productivity improvements may focus on either general or region-specific challenges including soil/climate constraints, diseases or pests.

Priority 2 - New Products
Development of new agricultural products (both food and non-food) through product development, traditional breeding programs and biotechnological approaches will be considered in this area. New products may raise intellectual property (IP) right constraints. Any LOI selected for submission of a full proposal may be requested to submit information on the freedom to operate and IP constraints.

Priority 3 - Agricultural Diseases and Human Health
Micro-organisms from plants and animals can cause food and water-borne diseases with serious public health implications and result in market restrictions that have a significant economic impact on the agricultural sector. Outbreaks of zoonotic diseases such as Avian Flu and human diseases caused by animal borne pathogens like E. coli, campylobacter and salmonella can result in many mortalities every year and have a significant impact on production productivity, trade, consumer confidence and be very costly to industry and to society in general.

Priority 4 - Value Chain Intelligence (Market Research) and Opportunities
Increased globalization of world food markets, concentration in the retail sector, rapidly changing technology in channels of distribution and homeland security regulations, have created major changes in the market place and require additional changes to the way products are produced and distributed. This market flux creates both opportunities and challenges. Value chain intelligence can help identify customer needs and anticipate future trends to assist producers in developing a competitive market place advantage through differentiation. Value Chain intelligence can capture new markets and improve profitability by analyzing where value can be added within a supply chain and how producers can take advantage of it.

Priority 5 - Production Management for Environmental Stewardship
Production Management for Environmental Stewardship involves research on management practices and production processes that produce positive environmental impacts on soil, water and air as well as increased profitability. They are becoming increasingly important because large segments of the public link their support for agriculture upon their understanding of the environmental impact of agriculture. Positive environmental impacts are also essential to ensuring the sustainability of agricultural production.  Projects that deal with the broad area of nutrient management would best fit within the Environment Program; however, there may be room for projects that deal with nutrient requirements of specific crops and how varying nutrient levels impact crop quality, pest management and loss of nutrients into the environment. 

Priority 6- Policy Supporting Agricultural Production Systems
Policy decisions can have a direct and significant impact on the competitiveness of the agricultural industry in Ontario. A portion of research funding for production systems should be available for research that analyzes current or future policy decisions with a direct impact for production agriculture.  Development of evidence and documentation to support policy debates around the required level of regulation on pesticides and animal health products could fit here.

Priority 7- Exploring Frontiers
As the title suggests, Exploring Frontiers is intended to investigate novel scientific questions that can demonstrate promise for longer-term, but potentially very significant, paybacks to the sector.