Berry Treasure Farm Ltd.:
$10,000 to test the efficacy of high tunnels housing (similar to a greenhouse structure) over Red Currents in reducing disease and providing higher quality fruit and berries earlier.
BC Association of Abattoirs:
- $198,000 to develop commercial and community-scale product lines of locally-sourced raw pet food while advancing understanding of pet nutrition and standards of pet food safety.
- $264,900 to develop an added “marketplace” feature to the recently launched BC BeefNet - a program launched for chefs across the province to improve the value and full-use of cattle processed at B.C. abattoirs. The marketplace feature allows chefs to sell portions of the animal they’ve purchased to specialty markets, secondary food processors and pet food manufacturers.
- $50,365 to pilot an auditing program that traces B.C. beef from retail distribution back to its source.
BC Grain Producers Association:
- $122,796 to demonstrate the benefits of newly registered plant genetics. This project will provide local seed growers with the opportunity to produce new seed varieties and supply future commercial demand.
- $49,117 to determine if winter wheat can survive in northern climates with the goal of providing northern producers with a selection of wheat varieties to meet future demand.
- $73,677 to collect data on the effects of canola and wheat seeding rates on maturity and yield.
- $49,117 to explore lentils as a potential new crop for the Peace region. Results from the project will determine if lentil farming is viable in the area.
- $24,558 to explore a potential quinoa crop for the Peace River region. The project will determine the feasibility of growing quinoa in the region.
- $73,677 to explore flax as a commercial crop for producers in the Peace River region.
- $49,117 to work with plant breeders to produce different varieties of wheat, barley and oats with improved yield and maturity traits for the Peace River region.
- $49,117 to study new pea varieties for the Peace River Region that can consistently be harvested before September.
Earth Renu Energy Corp.:
$45,875 to develop a potassium phosphate fertilizer using the by-products of converting used cooking oil to biodiesel. This technology can assist with the disposal and conversion of organic wastes to both energy and fertilizer to grow new crops.
GreenScene Agritek Inc.:
$100,000 to develop technology to remove virtually all pathogens and molds -, while capturing and reusing the heat from the process- to recycle- waste horse bedding. This will provide the equine industry with a more affordable waste disposal option and safer animal bedding.
Invasive Species Council of BC:
$131,700 to reduce the sale and spread of invasive species through the horticultural industry by developing tools and resources that will increase grower awareness and participation in relevant programs.
KRL Solutions Ltd.:
$109,904 to develop and test new, never-tried livestock identification tags (Gumby tags) that are more likely to stay on the cattle. These tags can potentially provide a significant enhancement to traceability systems so that meat products can be more accurately traced back to the original animal.
Lower Mainland Horticultural Improvement Association:
$7,000 to test and develop carrot and parsnip varieties that meet local consumer demand and are suited for growing conditions in the Fraser Valley.
Quadrogen Power Systems, Inc.:
$196,996 to demonstrate how high performance gas clean-up and exhaust monitoring will allow greenhouse growers to co-produce renewable heat and carbon dioxide from existing boilers. With the ability to substitute renewable biogas for natural gas, greenhouse producers can reduce their exposure to rising energy costs and lessen the carbon intensity of their operations.
Quantotech Solutions Ltd.:
$40,460 to design and test novel, energy-saving LED fixtures that will enable producers in northern and rural areas to grow lettuces, leafy greens, micro-greens, and culinary herbs year-round while reducing energy usage by 40 per cent.
Seabreeze Dairy Farm:
$325,900 to demonstrate a nutrition recovery system for dairy manure and digestate. This project will process a combination of raw manure and digestate from their anaerobic digester to produce a value-added fertilizer by-product.
Tech Mist Spray Solutions, Inc.:
$198,131 to evaluate a new approach to reduce pests and pathogens in greenhouses through an environmentally sustainable disinfection system. This is a newly patented technology that can reduce the overall greenhouse chemical footprint.
Thompson Rivers University:
- $112,200 to use unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as drones) equipped with infrared cameras to track cattle movement in forested range land and detect animal health at feedlots.
- $38,000 to determine the levels of K2 (a vitamin linked to regulating calcium depositions into bones) in regular-fat dairy products and -to improve the production of the desired nutrient in the Canadian herd.
University of British Columbia:
- $67,000 for a series of linked projects focusing on animal welfare and improving the adoption of automated milking systems by B.C. dairy producers.
- $33,513 to develop a decision support tool to assess risks to water quality in mixed-use community watersheds and help determine which best management practices will be most effective and efficient at mitigating these risks.
- $44,000 to examine best management practices to minimize the impact of grazing cattle on water quality in mixed-use watersheds.
Vitalus Nutrition Inc.:
$28,500 to design a process to extract galactooligosaccharides from a by-product of the milk filtration process and convert it into a marketable, value-added high, protein food ingredient.
