The changing face of Ontario's agricultural research

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Today, shrinking government budgets are altering how the province's research infrastructure. is being managed and even envisioned. Livestock research facilities are being consolidated and outfits like Niagara's Vineland Research and Innovation Centre are becoming more industry- and customer-focused

by MARY BAXTER

Rodney Bierhuizen really likes the work that is going on at his local research station, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in the Niagara Region.

Bierhuizen and his family own Sunrise Greenhouses Ltd., a nearly one-million-square-foot greenhouse and field crop operation that produces niche flower products for the North American market. In 2012, they launched a new product developed in partnership with Vineland: a dwarf edible grape that can be grown inside or out in a standard six-inch grower's pot. This year, it's sold exclusively in Canada under the Loblaws Inc. President's Choice brand. Next year, the company will launch the grape in the United States.

The tiny grape, a naturally occurring mutation of Pinot Meunier (a black wine grape), was discovered by U.S. researchers and commercialized using Vineland's advanced breeding technology. Sunrise has also used the technology to develop other varieties, ranging from Riesling to Merlot to table grape varieties.

Even before management of the 218-acre, provincially owned facility changed hands a few years ago, it provided good crop support to Sunrise, Bierhuizen says. Now, as exemplified by the development of the dwarf grape, Vineland "is a lot more industry-focused and segment-focused" and tackles research all along the production chain. "They're essentially taking the best researchers from around the world and anything that pertains to agriculture, horticulture and really seeing what can be done in terms of innovation."

For years, Ontario's regional research stations have played key roles in agriculture by conducting applied research and sharing it locally through agricultural extension activities. Today, shrinking government budgets are changing how the province's research infrastructure is being managed and even envisioned. The emergence of the new Vineland is a case in point.

By 2006, the station "kind of hit the bottom of the curve," says Jim Brandle, the centre's CEO. "There wasn't very much staff left either on the federal or provincial side. There wasn't a lot of support in the community."

The malaise that affected Vineland was happening throughout the country. "It used to be that all agriculture researchers went to ag school and they were all educated in the same way. They all thought about the same things and they all understood very clearly that agricultural research is an economic development activity," says Brandle. "They were very connected to the farm community."

But as downsizing occurred in the country's public agricultural research portfolio, "you no longer have people living at research stations in rural communities and there's far fewer of them. They're not as connected to each other, and they're not as connected to the ag community." Researchers lose sight of what needs to be done and a breach forms. Research that could advance farm businesses sits idle.

At Vineland, the provincial government tackled the issue by striking an expert panel to study its revitalization. Developing "a world-class research institution" was their solution – "an international hub for horticulture and floriculture research, innovation and commercial activity with a focus on grapes, tender fruit, greenhouse floriculture and ornamentals."

The journey to consumation would not be easy. Along with a disappearance of intellectual capacity at the facility, Vineland's infrastructure (35 buildings) needed major upgrades; some needed to be demolished. The panel recommended $25 million be contributed and transferring ownership of the land to the non-profit organization so working capital could be raised through a mortgage. The province ended up contributing $12.5 million. The land continues to be owned by a provincial agency, the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario (ARIO).

Responsive to customer needs
By 2010, the vision had narrowed, with three core areas defined for research: consumer insights and product innovation; applied genomics; and horticultural production systems. Unchanged was the vision of remaining close to industry (food processors, retailers and farmers, including Bierhuizen's father, Robert, are among those who sit on the board) and being responsive to its needs.  

Today, project proposals are assessed to determine if they meet the centre's criteria to proceed. They must respond to a validated consumer or customer need. The science must be "excellent," Brandle says. And business partners must be found.

Taking those steps ensures the solution passes from the hands of the researcher to its intended recipient and commercialization occurs. "Out of that, we have a very high probability of succeeding and having impact," he says.

Brandle uses the example of developing robotic equipment for horticulture. The goal is to reduce costs of production through automation. Specialists in the area are hired and the researchers partner with businesses such as Cambridge Metal Products and AEMK Systems Inc. in Waterloo to design software and build machines. Farmers such as the Bierhuizens help test the equipment.

In its 2007 report, the panel had noted that Vineland's revitalization could act as a "model for transformation" for the province's other agricultural research stations, many of which were "in a similar state of underutilization and threatened obsolescence." In particular, the panel saw the effort as an example of how to foster strong partnerships and how to achieve "an enhanced commitment to applied research within localized climate-specific parameters."

Michael Toombs, director of research and innovation for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) and Ontario Ministry of Rural Affairs and ARIO's general manager, says what really makes Vineland different and inspirational is its focus on how best to advance the industry.

"It is purely industry led," he says, referring to the non-profit's 10-member board. Neither government nor an academic institution manages the facility and, while government contributes funding, "we are funding it but we are not leading it," he says. "We're trying to create that more sustaining model where all are partners at the table rather than a little group deciding what needs to be done."

The development of a new dairy innovation centre at the province's Elora research station takes industry involvement one step further by applying it directly to infrastructure. Industry has committed 20 per cent of the costs to the 172,000-square-foot dairy research facility now under construction. The facility's development budget is $25 million and the province has committed $20 million. Dairy Farmers of Ontario has contributed $1 million and an industry-led fundraising campaign is targeting $4 million.

Having "skin in the game" can help industry set priorities, Toombs notes.

Indeed, the project spurred the formation of the Livestock Research Innovation Corporation (LRIC), a not-for-profit organization incorporated in August 2012 by beef, dairy, poultry and pork provincial commodity organizations. Tim Nelson, its CEO, says the fledgling organization's purpose is similar to Vineland's in that it co-ordinates research prioritized by industry to advance industry development. The difference: LRIC doesn't have a research station. Rather, "we're trying to insert ourselves in what I call the research continuum in a number of places where we know there are gaps and where there's an opportunity to get some efficiencies," he says.

Industry buy-in
One area that has been identified for improvement is broadening industry involvement in developing provincial research priorities. Currently, a few people "around the table" identify and confirm industry issues. The system works, Nelson says, "but what we wanted to do was to ensure that, in order to get industry buy-in, industry had to have much more involvement and therefore ownership in developing those priorities and those outcomes."

The new organization goes right back to the producers to initiate the priorities which are subsequently passed to the province. (The agriculture ministry's research advisory network convenes expert panels every five years to identify long-term research priorities for seven categories. Each category is monitored by an advisory group and these groups update the categories' priorities annually.)

Managing, distributing and monitoring industry research funds will be other functions of the new organization. Its projected annual budget of $500,000 also includes plans to consult international experts in developing and managing public/private partnerships. Some provincial funding will ensure that research for other livestock commodity sectors, such as sheep, goats and rabbits, will also be addressed.

Another key activity has been developing an agreement with the federal government that would see the livestock industry contribute 20 per cent of the cost of new research infrastructure. "This is completely a new model," Nelson says.

Nelson is a fan of consolidating research infrastructure for livestock. It can lower overheads and drive efficiencies. He uses the example of sharing necropsy rooms and isolation chambers.

He notes that, initially, the vision was to consolidate the province's livestock research facilities under one roof at the Elora research station. However, that goal faces "significant" challenges, such as how to tackle biosecurity. There may also be opportunities elsewhere. "What we do need to do is look at the infrastructure that we have, not only here but right across the country," to make sure infrastructure and human resources are used as efficiently as possible, he says.

With urbanization rapidly increasing around the province's Arkell station in Guelph, where swine, poultry and equine research units are located, relocation is inevitable, he says. No new location has been established, although the organization is in discussion with the swine and poultry researchers at Arkell.

Consolidation of livestock research will inevitably affect other facilities across the province. "You don't need five dairy research facilities in Ontario when there's a state-of-the-art world class $21-million one in Elora," says Richard Moccia, the University of Guelph associate vice president, strategic partnerships.

For example, the recently updated robotic dairy facility at the university's Kemptville campus will remain open but mostly for teaching purposes. The Ridgetown campus dairy, which still uses tie stalls, on the other hand, won't receive new investment as a research facility. "Whether it closes or not will depend on a whole variety of other factors," such as whether Elora comes on line in time, Moccia says.

Ridgetown's swine facilities may fare better. Even though the goal is to have a single provincial swine facility, some money will likely be spent this year to "perk up" the barn "because we have training needs there," Moccia says.

Delivery alternatives
Consolidation is not the vision for the provincial infrastructure that supports field crop research. "Because of soil variability, climatic zones and so on, you do need a presence in various locations," Toombs says. "So you'll always need in some way a representation across the province."

But that's not to say 100 stations are needed. And does it mean the province has to own all the study areas? "Probably not and we don't own everything now," Toombs says. "There are many alternatives to how you deliver things. I always try to steer clear of ‘you have to keep it here because it's always been here or you have to do this because you always have.'" Questions like, "What are the needs of industry, where are we going and let's see how we do it" need to be addressed using a systematic approach, he says.

Nevertheless, many farmers assert that it's important to maintain provincially owned regional field crop stations.  

The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association frequently does county and regional trials of company products to test their claims, says Gord Green, the organization's third vice-president and an Oxford County dairy and cash crop farmer. Public regional field crop research is "unbiased research that verifies the true real numbers on some of this stuff that we feel is very valuable. We don't want to see that go."

The stations also provide places to study the items that might benefit farmers but wouldn't necessarily interest private companies because there is no financial return in it for them.

Green says the regional stations he relies on the most are near the University of Guelph's main and Ridgetown campuses. He's not worried about their future because of their proximity to the campuses. He's more concerned about the stations farther afield, such as the provincially owned stations in northern Ontario. The University of Guelph operates two – New Liskeard and Emo – under its partnership agreement with OMAF. The third, the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station, is managed by an independent non-profit association of about 50 local farm businesses. Infrastructure Ontario owns the Thunder Bay site; ARIO owns the two Guelph sites.  

Farmers near the New Liskeard and Emo sites worry about the university's decision not to replace the stations' former field crops manager when he reached retirement. Responsibility for the two stations' research administration was instead shifted to Guelph's Kemptville campus. "Our thought was that closing New Liskeard would be an easy way to increase Kemptville's budget," says Norman Koch, who farms between 10,000 and 11,000 acres of cash crops near Earlton.

Moccia says there is no money to support a full-time position in the base funding the province provides the university for infrastructure management. There is funding for part-time staffing.

Under the 10-year Guelph/OMAF partnership (it's now in year six), the ministry annually contributes about $23.5 million towards infrastructure, Moccia says. The money is divided among 17 properties. It doesn't cover all of the costs; other university revenues are applied to make up the difference. Moccia notes that the budget for the two northern Ontario stations might be reported financially with Kemptville's but are determined on their own merits.

Some costs are covered through centralized budgets that address components like human resources and administration. Each facility's historical overhead costs are also factored in. But what doesn't show up on this budget sheet are the stations' maintenance needs, deferred costs, capital and programming requirements and the province's goals for achieving efficiencies.

Koch says that even before the departure of New Liskeard's field crops station manager, the community had wanted to become more connected to the station's research and have a greater say in what was being studied.

"There was research being done up here from which we weren't getting results, maybe because we didn't know where to look for them, but we think they should be available," he explains. "We want to see research that will put dollars in farmers' pockets."

Fostering northern research
Nearly two years ago, six farmers and two former farmers joined forces to try to foster more interest in supporting northern Ontario research. They met with former agriculture minister Ted McMeekin, who gave them two years to put together a proposal. They subsequently established the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance, a non-profit organization whose goal is to establish a research facility that would concentrate on the needs of northern Ontario farmers. They have submitted funding applications to the Federal Economic Development Initiative in Northern Ontario and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. There are also plans to submit applications under Growing Forward 2.

"We're going to want to partner up with everybody," says Koch. "We will be partnering with OMAF; we will be partnering with the University of Guelph. We will probably be partnering with some universities up in northern Ontario here that want to do more agricultural stuff."

The vision is to work on applied production research. The processing industry is becoming much more stringent in its requirements for agricultural products. Mills want certain grain varieties. Abattoirs want a certain type of animal. "We have to know the end users' needs and try to build something that they want," Koch says. Obtaining a greater understanding of how best to grow those products in the northern Ontario climate and soil conditions will help growers there meet market expectations.

Moreover, farming in northern Ontario presents all sorts of technical challenges that need to be sorted out. The season is not all that different from southern Ontario's, but if winter lingers, as it did this year, there is great pressure to get crops in the ground quickly. To do so requires more seeding equipment and evaluation of crops that can perform well in a significantly shortened growing season.

Research is needed also on the feasibility of developing processing within the region.

Koch would like to see the main operations of a northern Ontario research facility located in New Liskeard because of its proximity to the great and little clay belts, which have the greatest potential for agricultural expansion. Satellite farmer-driven facilities could also be established in areas like Manitoulin Island, Thunder Bay, Cochrane, Kapuskasing, Emo, Verner and Sault Ste. Marie. But he emphasizes that the goal is not to do research "just for the sake of research."

Nor is it expected that the research network would be funded purely from government and institutional funds. Last year, the group invested about $50,000 to tile-drain land for use as demonstration plots on one of their members' properties. While government funding would be needed to help launch the venture and do further planning, it's anticipated that the facility would eventually generate some of its income by farming cash crops – something that the New Liskeard facility already does. Other funds would come from research partnerships with universities.

"We think that when it's farmer/producer driven or corporate driven, it'll be more meaningful," Koch says. Northern Ontario's agricultural sector is expanding and people have been buying land to farm. To see research in the region dwindle or shut down would be "a slap in the face to the north."

Moccia indicates there are no plans to shut down field crop or horticultural research activity at New Liskeard. "The only kind of considerations for things at New Liskeard really relate around beef research." There are other beef research facilities in Ontario, he explains, and points out the province and the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario have been conducting a "whole infrastructure assessment and consolidation review."

Farmers take over
The eight members of the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance are not the first farmers in northern Ontario to try to take the reins of regional research. After the University of Guelph closed down the provincially owned research station in Thunder Bay in 2002, local farmers formed a non-profit corporation to resume its operation. The station reopened in 2003 and, like Vineland, it received a provincial funding kick-start – $1 million over five years. The money came from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.

For the first eight years, government grants contributed 75 per cent of the station's funding and the corporation was expected to generate 25 per cent, either in kind or in cash. But the government's share of the budget dwindled to roughly 50 per cent in the last funding round. The only other visible sources of income are annual membership fees ($75 with annual membership numbers averaging between 40 to 50 people) and occasional donations that have never exceeded $1,000 in a year. If more funding isn't found, "obviously we cannot sustain the station," says Tarlok Sahota, its research and business director.

Since its privatization, the 36-acre station has brought several innovations to local farmers. Fritz Jaspers, a dairy farmer who also farms about 1,000 acres, credits the station and Sahota for helping identify crop varieties to use and what fertilizers to apply.

In particular, the station's research has revealed that local soils are deficient in micronutrients such as sulphur and boron. It has helped identify optimal seeding dates, promoted the use of crop rotations and helped establish crops such as soybeans, forage corn and winter wheat, as well as introducing new crops, such as chickpeas. With this kind of information available to them, local farmers like Jaspers are now able to grow cash crop commodities. For Jaspers, the expanded cropping opportunities (along with custom work) have meant the ability to generate enough farm income to involve his two sons full-time in the operation.

Bruce Forrest, president of the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Association, says that with the station's privatization came a sense of freedom to do exactly what producers wanted. "There was no old boys' club to dictate what could be done or what couldn't be done. It left room for observation to take over and try and find solutions."

But there should have been more of a push to have producers shoulder more of its cost. "All we did was change banking institutions," he says of the station's reliance on northern Ontario economic development funding. Now, it's hard to convince farmers to pay for something they have received for free. To convince the local farm community to buy in, the station's economic impact needs to be quantified, something they are still exploring how to do.

Complicating an appreciation of the station's contribution to local agriculture is the fact that many growers have been slow to adopt its findings. Bad growing conditions, such as this year's damp weather, might result in poor yields in new crops, discouraging their pursuit. To become involved in commodity cropping, other challenges need to be addressed, like the high cost of freight to get them to market.  

Raising income a challenge
There have been many ideas on how to generate more income for the station. Farming is one, using an approach similar to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. (The bank generates funds for international food donations through the sale of crops that have been donated by local communities.) Introducing service fees and raising membership fees, both of which have been suggested, present the same challenge: "Nobody likes to pay more than they have to unless they can see that they're getting beneficial results."

Forrest says the association has broached the idea of partnership with Thunder Bay's Lakehead University and Confederation College. But educational institutions "also look to see how much you can bring to the table; they don't need any more expenditures."

The Thunder Bay group has endorsed the northern Ontario network that Koch's group proposes, with some conditions. Each area's expertise should be acknowledged and incorporated in such a way that there is no duplication of effort. In Thunder Bay, the expertise on hand is applied soil and crops research and possibly livestock, he says. "We aren't plant breeders."  With its horticultural unit, that's New Liskeard's strength.

Forrest is cautious about how best to join forces. "If you join up with another group and the funding cuts continue, then the other group, if it's the stronger of the two, may decide to cut appendages to survive," he explains.

The association has also taken a look at Vineland to see if it could be a model, but the focus on high-value crops and advanced research is "completely out of our realm." Even the idea of finding industry partners is not applicable. The Thunder Bay station has done some partnerships with businesses, but the area's small farm community holds little market appeal for agribusiness.

Moccia is skeptical that the Vineland model can be successfully used to revitalize stations elsewhere in the province, or is really an alternative research station model at all. "Although it's being run by a not-for-profit private company, it is for now firmly and irrevocably attached to a combination of federal and provincial funding, exactly like a university is," he says. Vineland is also in the very early stages of development. It will take years to determine if it can generate enough income to become self-sustaining.

Leasing property, offering specialized services for a fee and holding licenses for intellectual property were some of the ways the Vineland renaissance panel envisioned the station helping to pay for itself. But the panel never once assumed the station would break free of government funding for its operations. "Ongoing federal and provincial operating funding" is one of the items it listed in its operating costs assumptions.

Today, the station maintains a core staff of 70 to 85, depending on the projects and the time of year, and costs more than $10 million annually to operate. The province provides "substantial" funding, says Brandle. The University of Guelph transfers roughly $1.5 million out of the annual amount it receives from the province to support partnerships and station management. The rest is generated from the marketplace, ranging from granting programs and industry money, including companies and commodity groups. Licensing revenue accounts for about one per cent of its income stream.  

Brandle counts independence and the ability to focus on the needs of industry stakeholders as the station's key strengths – the same qualities Forrest mentioned about Thunder Bay's agricultural station. And, intriguingly, although Vineland's work affects horticultural production nationally, and perhaps even internationally, much of its activity serves the local community. "That region we operate in, that's our laboratory," says Brandle. Provincial agricultural extension services are located on site, as well as federal researchers.

In some respects, therefore, Vineland can still be viewed as a regional research station – one that receives a significantly larger portion of funds than others in the province.

Asked if there is an inequity in how the province's agriculture ministry portions its regional applied research dollars, Toombs says no. "We are trying not to be everything to everybody. We are trying to be a priority-driven, industry-focused collaborative group and some people won't win out at the priorities." BF

SIDEBAR: Ontario's research stations
Ontario's agricultural research budget is the fourth largest research fund in the province, says Michael Toombs, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Ontario Ministry of Rural Affairs' director of research and innovation and general manager of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario. That the province owns 6,600 acres of research property across the province as well as buildings puts Ontario "in a very unique position in North America," he says.

"Most provinces do not own research properties; most provinces don't have active research; they're dependent on the federal government."

Ontario's 14 research stations and three agricultural colleges include:

SIDEBAR: A case for a northern Ontario research cluster?
It's a Saturday morning in July at the Mols' kitchen table in their Slate River Valley home near Thunder Bay. Conversation rocks.

Allan Mol, Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association's first vice-president, his wife Margaret and daughter Christina are debating where the future lies for the region's agricultural industry. In particular, this dairy farming family is talking about cash cropping.

"No one sells cash crops," declares Christina, a Ph.D. student at Lakehead University and secretary of the Soil and Crop Improvement Association's local chapter. "It's kind of a foreign concept here. Because who buys your cash crops? Right? You've got to ship it to northeastern Ontario."

Allan agrees that shipping "costs you quite a bit." Nevertheless, there are farmers in recent years who have begun to sell wheat and some soybeans. "It's a little extra. It's not something that somebody would base their whole farming operation on."

Mol says that, as the climate changes and the urbanization of southern Ontario intensifies, northern Ontario will inevitably play a greater role in the province's agricultural production. The resources are there – in areas such as the Thunder Bay region, the Rainy River District and the millions of acres that make up northeastern Ontario's clay belts. But research is needed to help northern Ontario agriculture expand – and the sooner the better to avoid a crisis. "Governments right now don't want to spend money" on that type of research, he says. "Well, OK. But eventually they're going to have to." BF