The University of Guelph will get a raise for its agri-food and rural research and development through a five-year, $300 million funding agreement with its home province.
Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky on Monday announced the funding levels for 2009 to 2013 inclusive, as part of a 10-year agreement that’s subject to annual review and to an impact study during its fifth year.
The funding, worth $60 million per year on average, is an increase over the one-time, $56 million agreement for 2008 and the $54 million annual investment from the province between 1996 and 2007.
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Described in a news release as the partnership that resulted in the Omega-3 egg, it also provides the province with “improved methods to detect animal diseases such as rabies and tuberculosis, protecting lives and livelihoods,” the province said in a release.
The deal calls for university and provincial ag ministry (OMAFRA) staff to work “more collaboratively” to plan research projects and transfer results to the industry.
It also calls for a research focus on seven particular themes recommended by the industry-led Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario: agriculture production systems, food for health, environmental sustainability, industrial uses for the bioeconomy, agriculture and rural policy, product development and enhancement, and emergency preparedness.
The agreement covers funding for Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), Animal Health Laboratory and Agriculture and Food Laboratory as well as its regional campuses and diploma programs at Alfred, Ridgetown and Kemptville.
2008
The one-time, $56 million agreement for 2008, as announced in the provincial budget March 25, addresses the same seven priorities as the 2009-13 plan, and includes an eighth focus on graduate student development.
It also includes a new knowledge translation and transfer (KIT) plan to make sure research is “efficiently disseminated and adopted,” including through marketing, publications and a “knowledge management database.”
From an animal health perspective, the 2008 funding will also support “strategic investment” in new tests for emerging animal diseases, baseline surveillance for early detection of emerging hazards, and development and testing of emergency and business continuity plans for the Animal Health Laboratory, the province said.
Initiatives to be funded at the Ontario Veterinary College will include placing graduates in new areas such as veterinary public health and zoonotic diseases (those that can be transmitted between animals and humans), and “new initiatives to address the need for large animal veterinarians in remote areas.”
