British Columbia’s agri-food industry is receiving more than $1.5 million for 17 new projects that support a broad range of innovative products, practices and technologies of direct benefit to the sector.

The projects announced today include:

• Testing the feasibility of a small scale micro-malting facility to produce local custom malted grains for the growing B.C. craft brewing and distilling industries.
• Investigating the potential of earwigs as a biological control of several important insect pests in apple orchards in the Okanagan and Similkameen.
• Developing a specialized grinder that will crush raw ungulate bone into a dry bone powder. There is a demand for bone powder in the pet food and supplement markets.

The funding comes from the Governments of Canada and British Columbia’s commitment under the Growing Forward 2 agreement to provide up to $13.4 million between 2013 and 2018 through the Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program. Projects funded through the program must have the potential to lead to the commercialization and/or adoption of innovative products, technologies and practices. So far, 80 projects have shared more than $7 million in funding.

Growing Forward 2 is a five-year agreement launched in 2013 that provides a $3-billion, federal-provincial-territorial government investment in innovation, competitiveness and market development.

The Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program is administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. Additional program information and application forms are available at: http://iafbc.ca/agri-innovation.htm

Quotes:

Gerry Ritz, Federal Agriculture Minister -

“Canada’s agricultural industry continues to thrive and compete in the global marketplace. These diverse projects will undoubtedly play a significant role in ensuring that innovation continues to bring immense benefits to the industry.”

Norm Letnick, B.C. Minister of Agriculture -

“By supporting innovation, we are assisting the B.C. agriculture sector in maintaining their competitive edge. This funding directly supports projects that can result in sector-wide benefits, so together we can continue to grow our industry.”

Ken Bates, Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. board chair -

“The Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation program funds projects that are looking for operable solutions to the issues facing agriculture. This is a program focused on creating better opportunities for B.C.’s farmers and food processors and increasing our ability to compete as we look to the future.”

Learn More:

For information on federal Growing Forward 2 programs, visit: www.agr.gc.ca/GrowingForward2

Information on Growing Forward 2 programs in British Columbia is available at: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=EB8322DE53664C7289317829FA25360E

A backgrounder follows.

Media Contacts:

Dave Townsend
Government Communications and Public Engagement
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
250 356-7098
250 889-5945 (cell)

Jeff English
Director of Communications
The Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
613 773-1059

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613 773-7972
1 866 345-7972

BACKGROUNDER

Projects providing B.C. agriculture with innovative ideas receive funding

AgWest Veterinary Group Ltd.:
$15,650 to demonstrate the Aqua Cow Rise System equipment and help downer cows regain the ability to stand. The project will take place on commercial farms in the Fraser Valley.

Applied Bio-nomics Ltd.:
$204,375 to research whether a storage mite is an alternative host prey for Amblyseius fallacis, a spider mite predator. If successful, a higher number of lower-cost bio-control tools will be available to berry growers.

BC Agricultural Research & Development Corp.:
$115,500 to assess the technical and economic feasibility of building a gasification plant to convert used horse bedding and poultry litter into renewable energy and ash.

BC Broiler Hatching Egg Commission:
$30,000 to launch a hatch monitoring program that will improve the current process. The system will provide detailed egg and hatch information in real-time from all hatcheries. This will improve supply and viability of hatching eggs and enhance production management.

BC Chicken Marketing Board:
$39,750 to develop a web-based grower dashboard system. The new online system will streamline required data and improve efficiency for producers.

BC Greenhouse Growers Association:
$14,740 for two projects that will demonstrate the safety and efficacy of using Polyoxin D for integrated disease management in greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers. 

Cawston Cold Storage:
$140,160 to test the potential of using earwigs as biological control for several apple orchard insect pests including the rosy apple aphid, leafrollers, budmoth and apple clearwing moth.

Kalala Organic Vineyards Ltd.:
$4,300 to study the effectiveness of using Humic acid as foliar nutrition in a commercial organic vineyard.

Net Zero Waste Abbotsford Inc.:
$42,315 for a project to capture waste heat from composting to heat greenhouses.

NovoBind Livestock Technologies Inc.:
$415,000 to develop a bio-control mechanism for Salmonella that can be safely administered as a feed supplement.

Pemberton Distillery Inc.:
$14,775 to test a small scale micro-malting facility that will produce local specialty and custom malted grains for the craft brewing and distilling industries in B.C.

Red Dog Deli Raw Food Company Inc.:
$9,500 to develop a specialized bone grinder for raw ungulate bone crushing. The processing will provide a dry bone powder that is in demand in the pet food and supplement market.

SFE Laboratories Inc.:
$248,520 to design a multiplex diagnostic kit for the simultaneous detection of four major pathogenic bacteria relevant to different food products.

The Farm House Natural Cheeses:
$10,000 to finalize and implement the packaging design and labeling for a new cheese product.

University of British Columbia:
$10,000 to study the effects of the pre-pubertal growth rate on puberty and estrus behaviour of Holstein heifers.

University of Fraser Valley:
$221,520 to test several innovative greenhouse enhancement prototypes designed to increase yield potential and urban application while reducing capital and cultivation costs of traditional greenhouses.

Media Contacts:

Dave Townsend
Government Communications and Public Engagement
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
250 356-7098
250 889-5945 (cell)

Jeff English
Director of Communications
The Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
613 773-1059

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613 773-7972
1 866 345-7972