Special Initiatives Projects

The effects of Three Sisters on pollinator diversity, abundance and the related effects on plant health and crop yield

Lead Applicant: Joshua Nasielski

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2022/2023

Research Centre: Ontario Crops Research Centre – Emo & New Liskeard

Examining need, capacity, and barriers to accessing food animal veterinary services in underserved areas of rural Ontario

Lead Applicant: Sara Epp

Research Priority: Animal Health & Welfare

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Identifying agricultural communities in Ontario underserviced by food animal veterinarians and examining the barriers to attracting and retaining food animal veterinarians to these areas.

 

Requirements for increasing pasture utilization and developing benchmarked targets for ruminant production systems for Ontario

Lead Applicant: Kim Schneider

Research Priority: Competitive Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: Ontario Crop Research Centre- New Liskeard & Elora

Research Summary: Calibrating the rising plate meter, a standard piece of equipment to measure pasture biomass, and using it to improve Ontario pasture usage.

 

A global evaluation of modern meat inspection regulation standards

Lead Applicant: Lawrence Goodridge

Research Priority: Food Safety

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Comparing the Canadian approach to meat and poultry inspection standards with other jurisdictions around the world.

 

Garlic germplasm and clean seed production

Lead Applicant: Rebecca Hallett

Research Priority: Plant Health & Protection

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: Ontario Crops Research Centre- New Liskeard

Research Summary: Improving disease-free garlic seed production efficiency in Ontario.

 

Farmland values and farmland rents data for Ontario

Lead Applicant: Brady Deaton

Research Priority: Productive Land Capacity

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Developing a website to help farmers access information about farmland markets in Ontario.

 

Evaluating and improving agri-environmental indicators for Ontario

Lead Applicant: Adam Gillespie

Research Priority: Soil Health

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Examining provincial and regional trends in Canada's Agri-Environmental Indicators for soil and water quality.

 

Creating Modelling Inputs for Soil Map Renewal from LiDAR Data

Lead Applicant: John Lindsay

Research Priority: Soil Health

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Creating specialized data set for application in the prediction and mapping of soil properties across different landscapes.

 

Improved NASM framework for food processing wash-water and solid residuals

Lead Applicant: Richard G. Zytner

Research Priority: Soil Health

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Exploring policies and practices used by jurisdictions outside of Ontario to identify improvements for the management of non-agriculture source materials from the processing of various foods.

 

Enhancing Soil Health Knowledge with the Ontario Topsoil Sampling Program

Lead Applicant: Asim Biswas

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Building on Ontario's topsoil sampling program by adding more soil samples, developing a dataset for Ontario's soils, and developing a soil health assessment tool.