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Blockchain—or any advanced analysis in the food system—first requires that a critical mass of food and production approaches be in place. 

The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance provides a foundation for agri-food research and innovation that is unmatched elsewhere in the country.  

“Whether they recognize it or not, researchers at Guelph who are supported through the Alliance or other funding programs are creating data that will be populating our blockchain ledgers,” says Malcolm Campbell, vice-president (research) at U of G.

Cutlery and stir sticks made from coffee waste material and biopolymers in a certified industrially compostable biocomposite resin recently created by researchers in U of G’s Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre (BDDC).

Longtime BDDC collaborator Competitive Green Technologies (CGTech) based in Leamington, Ont., licensed the formulation to make a compostable, commercially viable resin.  

The new poultry research centre is a partnership between the Government of Ontario through the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario (ARIO) and the poultry sector’s four regulatory boards (Chicken Farmers of Ontario, Egg Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chick Commission and the Turkey Farmers of Ontario) and the University of Guelph.

The Ontario government is investing more than $15 million to help address veterinary shortages in rural and northern communities, making it easier for farmers and large animal owners to access veterinary care when and where they need it.

Leveraging the existing University of Guelph Doctor of Veterinary Medicine curriculum, the new DVM program will focus on the recruitment of students from northern, rural and Indigenous communities.

Woodhouse and her adviser, Dr. David Kelton, looked at 300 on-farm bulk tanks and tracked several on-farm practices.

Read the article on Hoard's Dairymen: Let’s better keep dairy fat fully intact

See Woodhouse's HQP scholar profile to learn more about her research.

Her work, which is also funded by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, seeks a flexible, stretchy bale wrap alternative that is easy to use on-farm.

Read the Farmtario article here or the recent Alliance research update: Scientists one step closer to a sustainable bale wrap

During his recent presentation at the South Western Ontario Dairy Symposium at Woodstock, Ont., Dr. Trevor DeVries, U of G Animal Biosciences professor and Canada Research Chair in Dairy Cattle Behaviour and Welfare, looked at key aspects of optimizing health and production on robotic dairies.

Read the article on RealAgriculture.com

The study began in fall 2020 and was followed by a larger-scale project in 2021, funded in part by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, that collected nearly 30,000 survey responses from residents in Bruce, Dufferin, Durham, Elgin, Grey, Middlesex and Oxford counties.

The goal of this research is to inform post-COVID rural policy.

The Collaborative Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program in Rural and Northern Community Practice will expand the number of veterinarians trained in Ontario who are practicing within Northern, rural and Indigenous communities, ensuring livestock producers have the necessary veterinary services needed to expand operations.

A group of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) scholars joined Arrell Food Institute scholars from various academic disciplines for a field trip to learn about food security organizations and circular economy initiatives in the City of Guelph.

The trip is part one of the unique experiential training and education opportunities through which U of G is filling the needs of the agri-food workforce and equipping its graduates to enter a dynamic industry.