Sustainable Production Systems Projects

Natural materials as alternatives to plastic bale wraps

Lead Applicant: Erica Pensini

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Tier 1

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: Ontario Crops Research Centre- New Liskeard

Research Summary: Producing and testing a natural bale and silage wrap made using corn by-products.

 

Enhancing Soil Health Knowledge with the Ontario Topsoil Sampling Program

Lead Applicant: Asim Biswas

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Building on Ontario's topsoil sampling program by adding more soil samples, developing a dataset for Ontario's soils, and developing a soil health assessment tool.

 

An inventory of rural municipal drainage infrastructure in Ontario

Lead Applicant: Glenn Fox

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Developing an Ontario-specific inventory of rural municipal drainage infrastructure that will include information such as length, state of repair and new construction.

 

Characterization of nuisance stray light, and evaluation of abatement strategies on crop productivity, in year-round greenhouse production

Lead Applicant: Thomas Graham

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Understanding light pollution coming from year-round greenhouses and exploring ways to reduce it without compromising crop health or economic outcomes.

 

Investigating noise impacts of grain dryers on neighbouring land uses

Lead Applicant: Erica Pensini

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Gathering information about the type, size, location and use of grain crop dryers in Ontario and measuring their noise and particulate emissions.

 

Assessing cover crop herbicide tolerance for adverse weather response

Lead Applicant: Darren Robinson

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: Ontario Crop Research Centre- Elora & Ridgetown

Research Summary: Exploring approaches to improve the success of terminating cover crops in the spring and examining cover crop tolerance to corn herbicides.

 

Odour quantification and mitigation from cannabis production facilities in Ontario

Lead Applicant: Bill Van Heyst

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Evaluating odours produced during cannabis production and assessing odour control technologies.

 

Towards a comprehensive framework for economical, social and environmental sustainability evaluation of Ontario's agriculture

Lead Applicant: Claudia Wagner-Riddle

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Special Initiatives Projects

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Improving sustainability indicators of Ontario's agri-food system by adding environmental and social components to the traditional economic focused evaluation.

 

Knowledge transfer on long-term influence of Ontario biomass crops on soil carbon, soil health and GHG emissions in several grower fields

Lead Applicant: Naresh Thevathasan

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Knowledge Translation and Transfer

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Disseminating new knowledge related to biomass (plants to be used as fuel) crops influence on soil health and organic carbon sequestration potentials to biomass growers and grain crop producers using a variety of strategies.

 

Optimizing environmental and economic outcomes for Ontario forage cropping systems

Lead Applicant: Kim Schneider

Research Priority: Sustainable Production Systems

Program Type: Tier 2

Funding Cycle: 2020/2021

Research Centre: Ontario Crops Research Centre - Elora

Research Summary: Exploring how different forage management practices (with a focus on fertility) affect yield and quality of various Ontario forage mixtures.