State-of-the-art greenhouse research centre opens in Ontario

London, Ont. – An advanced greenhouse research facility has opened at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre (SCPFRC) in London, Ont.

The $10-million centre will conduct research on improving crop quality, productivity, and disease and insect resistance. The centre will also triple the SCPFRC’s greenhouse capacity.

According to Agriculture Canada, some of the work to be undertaken at the new centre includes:

• identifying fruit tree germplasm resistant to the plum pox virus;
• reducing the reliance of cereal grain crops on commercial nitrogen fertilizer;
• using protein-trafficking technologies to develop plant-based animal vaccines as an alternative to antibiotics;
• improving the nutritional quality of dry beans; and,
• developing higher-yielding, higher-quality alfalfa cultivars for the dairy and cattle sectors.