Research profiles

Researchers at the University of Alberta and the University of Guelph have bred a new strain of canola that will allow farmers to reduce their pesticide use and could reduce crop losses by up to 25 percent. The new strain of canola is resistant to the weevil – an insect that is a major threat to canola production in Western Canada.

North Americans demand the highest quality local and exotic fruit and vegetables, consuming approximately 44 million tons of fresh produce each year. Yet this figure represents only half of the fresh fruit and vegetables which leave farmer’s fields; much of it is destroyed during handling and transportation. To reduce this waste, a team of researchers from the Université Laval, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and IPL Inc. designed a packaging system which provides greater protection for the produce and costs 80 percent less than existing crates.

The work of a former Simon Fraser University graduate student is helping small British Columbia roofing companies to compete cost-effectively with larger, international players. Through the MITACS Accelerate BC program, the SFU student partnered with Automated Systems Research, a company that specializes in estimation software for the roofing industry. The software produced virtual replicas of roofs, which companies then used as a basis for their quotes. However, the software didn’t always include every nook and cranny in a given roof – a costly omission. Using a computation geometry technique, the SFU student was able to modify the company’s software package, and provide companies with a more robust, accurate product.

Researchers at the University of Windsor are improving the bottom line of Canada’s auto manufacturers – by about $100 million. The team has taken a new approach to light metal casting by incorporating principles from different fields of engineering and software design. This novel approach has reduced production costs of some of the most popular vehicles driven by Canadians.

The global food supply is a grand challenge that affects every country around the world, many of whom are developing or emerging countries that rely on foreign relief to sustain large percentages of their population. Canadian university researchers understand this challenge, and are working on long term solutions to the global food supply challenge. A partnership between the University of Manitoba and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is saving Canadian farmers millions of dollars each year. The Canadian grain industry, with an annual value of $12 billion, experiences an annual loss of about $120 million – or 10 percent – due to insect infestation. The multi-disciplinary research team has examined a variety of factors to help reduce spoilage to minimize these losses. Their discoveries have resulted in new, cost-effective and eco-friendly insecticides and more accurate methods for identifying infestation and measuring optimum moisture levels, which have recently been adopted as new international (ISO) standards for grain storage. Canadian farmers and researchers are now transferring their knowledge to farmers around the world; including China where annual crop losses due to infestation are greater than 50 percent.