Ottawa invests more money in organic research

The Federal government has announced over $6.8 million over five years for the Organic Science Cluster is geared to research and advancing sustainable practices. 

Allison Squires is president of the Canadian Organic Growers says the organic sector is unique in that it encompasses everything from aquaculture to cranberries to horticulture and field crops.

She says this pot of money will go towards projects in all these different areas, out of the 14 projects two are based in the prairies.

"There's a research project thats looking at long term GHG emissions in organic vs conventional farming. There's another one on different ways to utilize phospherous and recycle phospherous in their growing system."

She says its research projects like that in conjunction with farmers will help further this area of expertise in the sector.

The research will focus on the environmental benefits of sustainable farming practices, and address challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, soil health and water quality as well as developing solutions to production challenges such as organic crop adaptability and pest management. 

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay says this investment will help our organic farmers manage environmental challenges and fine-tune their practices so they can keep delivering top-quality food, sustainably.

He says it’s support like this that allows our organic sector to lead the way and reach even more customers here in Canada and around the world.