Features | Page 22 | Ontario Agricultural College

Features

Food Science Students Creating Two New U of G Hot Sauces

A spicy hot sauce grown, brewed and bottled by University of Guelph food science students will be back again this year and this time it will be accompanied by a bold new sister sauce.

CannonFire – named in honour of Old Jeremiah, the naval gun that’s become a landmark on the U of G campus – will be back on sale again this winter, with students planning to bottle and sell more bottles than ever.

Corncob Silks Could Have Crop Protection Powers, U of G Researchers Discover

That silky, gold-coloured tuft you normally discard along with your corncob husks is worth more than you think.

For the first time, a team of University of Guelph researchers has shown corn silks naturally contain diverse microbes, a finding that may point to a new strategy to protect the cob from fungal infections.

Their discovery of this corn silk microbiome may help improve breeding and farming practices to avert costly and harmful fungal outbreaks, protect one of the world’s three most important food crops and increase food security globally.

U of G Researcher Developing Earlier, Tastier Ontario Peaches

Ontario peaches with better colour, taste and texture, and that are available in stores two weeks earlier than other local peaches, is the goal of University of Guelph research.

Using molecular genetics, plant breeder Dr. Jay Subramanian has been developing new peach and plum varieties to appeal to both consumers and growers.

U of G Student-Led Landscaping Project Honours Front-Line Workers

Offering “the gift of rest” to front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic is the goal of a novel fundraising project by University of Guelph students.

The One Bench One Tree project aims to install a park-style bench and a native tree at Canadian hospitals to provide a shady respite for nurses, doctors and other health-care workers, said Alli Neuhauser, a second-year master of landscape architecture (MLA) student and a member of the organizing committee.

Fernando Montaño Lopez taking soil samples from a community garden plot.

Students improving life: Using research to examine carbon and improve soil science knowledge in rural communities

Fernando Montaño Lopez is an international graduate student in the School of Environmental Science (SES). He is currently using digital soil mapping to research the effect of land conversion on soil carbon and nutrient dynamics in the Great Clay Belt of Northern Ontario.

Fernando’s family roots emerge from a Zapotec indigenous community, in a south rural area of Oaxaca in Mexico. His grandparents were dedicated to agriculture and Fernando developed his fascination with soil science at a young age. 

U of G Alumna Named Food Day Canada Coordinator

A University of Guelph alumna and well-known advocate for Canadian food and farming has been named coordinator of Food Day Canada.

Crystal Mackay, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’93, will take on the role this month to lead planning of Canada’s largest culinary celebration.

Head shot of Jesse Popp.

Q&A with Dr. Jesse Popp

Dr. Jesse Popp holds the Chair in Indigenous Environmental Science in the School of Environmental Sciences. As the principal investigator, she leads Wildlife, Indigenous Science, Ecology Lab (WISE lab), a nationally recognized, multidisciplinary, and collaborative research program at the University of Guelph.

News Archive