Agriculture & Agrifood Canada

To prosper in the 21st century, Canadian agriculture must lead the world in food safety, innovation and environmentally responsible production. Together with farmers, the broader agri-food industry and consumers, governments are working to develop an action plan to help Canadian agriculture meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of a new century.

As the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector moves into the 21st century, it faces many challenges and opportunities for continued prosperity.

Federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Agriculture have pledged to meet today's challenges by jointly developing a comprehensive Agricultural Policy Framework composed of five elements:

• Business risk management
• Food safety and food quality
• Science and innovation
• Environment
• Renewal

Governments have been holding consultations about the policy direction with a wide range of groups and individuals. Please take some time to learn more about the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) , and how governments are engaging in a dialogue with Canadians.

Brock University

The Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) at Brock University is a partnership with the Wine Council of Ontario and the Ontario Grape Growers Marketing Board. Since its establishment in 1996, CCOVI has grown rapidly and it is now housed in Inniskillin Hall, a facility dedicated to research in Oenology and Viticulture in cool climate regions. Inniskillin Hall officially opened in June of 1999. The research facilities available include a state of the art biotechnology lab, sensory evaluation facilites, viticulture lab, pilot winery and 43,000 bottle wine cellar including the collection of the Canadian Wine Library. In addition to CCOVI's research programs a complete range of academic programs is available.

Environment Canada

Environment Canada (EC) works closely with WIN in many aspects of our program. Weather INnovations has partnered with Environment Canada in the establishment of climatic reference stations at several U of G research locations. EC also provides certain daily data from their network of stations to help WIN produce models and analysis products. EC further supports the WIN program with technical and research advice. WIN has contributed information to EC for a variety of research trials.

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs (O.M.A.F.R.A.)

O.M.A.F.R.A core businesses are divided into three areas, including Agriculture Research and Technology Transfer, Investment and Market Development and Risk Management.

Building a stronger, more competitive agri-food sector requires the development and transfer of innovative technologies to industry stakeholders. Investment in research is essential to encourage growth and jobs in the sector. The ministry's competitive research programs, and the enhanced partnership with the University of Guelph contribute to the prosperity of the agri-food sector and provide a platform for more business activity that directly benefits Ontario's economy.

The ministry supports Ontario's goals of economic growth and job creation through an aggressive investment retention and attraction program. This program is designed to maintain current levels of investment in Ontario's agri-food sector and to promote new investment from domestic and overseas clients in the farm, agri-business, biotechnology and food sectors. The ministry provides efficient, single-window access to government services and information on the province's infrastructure, capital access, research and development, training and general business climate.

The ministry helps manage risk in two distinct areas: agricultural and food production. In agricultural production, the ministry and the federal government offer voluntary, cost-shared financial risk management programs to farmers. In food production, the ministry, along with the food manufacturers, is responsible for the safety of food under provincial inspection programs.

WIN and O.M.A.F.R.A. work together on a variety of projects some of which include the following:

• Winter Temperature Index - Albert Tenuta
• Crop Pest Reports
• Landscape Ontario
• Hort Matters
• Processing Crop Update
• Research by Kristen Callow - Swede Midge

WIN has a close relationship with O.M.A.F.R.A. and appreciates their support and participation with our organization.

University of Guelph, Guelph Grape and Wine Research Group

Spread over the large research-intensive campus at Guelph are a number of faculty members with experience and interest in the production of grapes and wine - in all nearly twenty researchers spanning three colleges, eight departments and three locations in Southern Ontario.

Together these individuals have created the Guelph Grape and Wine Research Group. This group is focused on the development of strong collaborative programs, particularly in the areas of vineyard management, stress and disease resistance, enhancement of quality traits and microbiology, fermentation and downstream processing.

With its large force of interested scientists, the University of Guelph is poised to offer major research contributions to the Canadian grape and wine industries. A core goal of each program will be to carry out high-quality research leading to premium wine development, combining benefit to the wine industry with excellent student training and scientific contributions.

For more information write to wine@uoguelph.ca or phone us at 519-824-4120 x56077

University of Western Ontario

UWO operates an environmental field research centre near Ilderton. The main research activities at this location include a network of radar sites for monitoring high level wind patterns which are valuable to the weather forecasters and the aviation industry. WIN works closely with the site manager Peter Duenk in the maintenance and monitoring of the station. The station was refurbished in 2002 and fitted with a new Campbell 23X logger. This site can generate data files for barometric pressure as well as rainfall, temperature, wind, relative humidity and soil temperature. We appreciate the solid partnership we have with the University of Western Ontario.

Vintners Quality Alliance

VQA is Canada's wine authority, as designated by the Vintners Quality Alliance Act. The role of the alliance is to enforce the quality standards set out by the Act, and to educate and collaborate with the grape and wine industry. VQA has also established an appellation system in Ontario which gives wine consumers the opportunity to choose wines based on the location and methods by which the grapes were grown. The alliance works with grape growers to review and develop regulations and to further the wine industry in Ontario.