The University of Windsor is working with the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada to address unique challenges facing the greenhouse vegetable sector.
The two groups have signed a memorandum of understanding to examine energy resilience, sustainability, and economic growth issues facing the greenhouse vegetable sector.
The partnership is expected to accelerate the development of made-in-Canada strategies that integrate cutting-edge research, technology, and policy positions to ensure a thriving and competitive greenhouse sector.
Dr. Rupp Carriveau, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, told AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show that this is a formal establishment and expansion of relationships that were already growing.
Carriveau says the university has over 35 professors doing research in agriculture, and these research projects have been in collaboration with groups that are part of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada.
He says that greenhouses are energy-intensive environments.
"They, of course, can be climactically independent of what's going on outside, but to provide that, you need substantial energy to do it. We always want to make sure that the energy, for one, is available. Two, when we can, that the energy is as environmentally responsible as possible," he says.
Carriveau says that one of the challenges they have is educating the public and the legislators, who already have so much on their plates.
"To do that, you have to have credible evidence to sort of back up all the points you're making, and that's where this sort of research comes in. This sort of really directed, guided research that's so interactive with the sector that when we bring those points forward, we have the evidence to sort of help make the points be made and help legislators understand," he says.
Essex County is home to the largest acreages of greenhouse agriculture in North America and second in the world to the Netherlands.
Carriveau says that you will see a lot more activities with formal partnerships as a result of this move.
"I think that gives us an opportunity to leverage the strength of sort of both sides," he says. "To see access to policymakers and then the people at this end who generate the evidence to help support that policy design."
The Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC) represents growers across the country involved in the production of over 120 different types of crops on over 14,000 farms, with a farm gate value of $7.4 billion in 2023.
"This collaboration with the University of Windsor highlights the innovation that characterizes Canada's fruit and vegetable growers," said Marcus Janzen, President of FVGC. "Now more than ever we need smart food policies that strengthen food security, drive economic growth, and support the resilience of Canadian agriculture."