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Feature
Stories
ARDI Chair takes part in
national consultation on research priorities
Barley
Tortillas and Barley Chips: Examining Market
Potential
ARDI Program
Officer at Western Forum
Water Consumption in
Early Weaned Piglets: The Effects of Adding
Antibiotics
Does the taste of an
antibiotic in water reduce critical water consumption in early
weaned piglets? Research co-funded by ARDI and the Manitoba Pork
Council shows that piglets drink about the same amount of water
whether an antibiotic is present or not. Dr. Nora Lewis, in the
Department of Animal Science at the University of Manitoba,
summarizes this research in Council Research News (PDF) on the Manitoba Pork
Council website.
ARDI application
info
ARDI has three
application deadlines each fiscal year. For the 2005/06 year, the
third application deadline is Feb. 1, 2006.
ARDI Council met twice in
November to review applications submitted by the Oct. 1 application
deadline. Approved projects will be posted on the ARDI home page.
Flax Canada
2015
A national initiative
formed to position flax as one of the main drivers of the Canadian
bio-economy by the year 2015 officially launched on Oct. 11 in
Saskatoon. Flax Canada
2015 will link researchers with industry,
the health care community and government to create new opportunities
in flax. ARDI’s contribution to Flax Canada 2015
totals $100,000.
Manitoba’s hemp
industry profiled
Ag-West Bio, an
initiative created to support the development of an economically
viable life sciences cluster in Saskatchewan, features several
Manitobans in its latest electronic publication Bio-Prospects (PDF).
The article, Growing green
insulation, centres on Parkland Biofibre in
Dauphin, Man. and its work to turn hemp residue into bio-fibre
insulation. The story quotes Don Dewar, President of Parkland
BioFibre, and Joe Federowich, President of Parkland Industrial Hemp
Growers. View full list of hemp projects supported by ARDI.
Want to subscribe to the
newsletter or comment on anything you’ve read
here?
Please
contact ARDI’s Communications Coordinator,
Rhea Yates,
at rheayates@mts.net |
ARDI Chair takes part
in national consultation on research
priorities
On the road to developing
a new national science strategy
ARDI Chair
David
Gislason took part in Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada’s regional consultations on research priorities in
November in Winkler, Man. “From animal and avian illness, to low
commodity values and high input costs in the crops sector,
agriculture is in some distress,” Gislason says. “Research offers
hope in these times of
adversity.”
- Studies
have shown that public research can generate major returns for the
agriculture and agri-food industry, returning $20 to the industry
for every dollar invested. (AAFC discussion document)
 Gislason, who farms near
Arborg, was one of about 40 people taking part in the one-day
roundtable discussion on Nov. 1. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is
reviewing research priorities to ensure that the department’s
research efforts are complementary with other players in the
national research community, and that the collective research
investments by governments, universities, and the private sector are
used to Canada's greatest advantage.
Gislason says the common
theme he heard emerging from the discussion in Winkler was the need
to ensure that producers
benefit from publicly funded research.
“This principle – that benefits from public research investments
should accrue to agriculture in general, and primary producers in
particular – guides decision-making at the ARDI Council as we
consider what research projects should be funded.”
ARDI looks for
opportunities to bring researchers from the worlds of academia,
medicine, agriculture and industry together to create opportunities
for farmers to extract more value from their production. For
example, research into specialty
crops particularly suited to local
conditions is one way to ensure that knowledge gained brings
benefits to Manitoba growers.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada supports
the notion of encouraging regions to build on their own particular
strengths. The new national science strategy will recognize the
different needs of sectors in the agriculture and agri-food
industry, and the differences between regions.
Barley
Tortillas and Barley Chips: Examining Market
Potential
A research project to lay
the groundwork for the creation of a food market niche for Canadian
barley has wrapped up with positive results. Dr. Nancy
Ames, a researcher with Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada, has shown through her research that
barley can be successfully
used in the production of nutritious and
high quality
tortillas and tortilla
chips. Ames has documented optimum
conditions for:
- milling
(extraction levels)
- blending
(proportion water/barley flour)
- baking
(dough thickness, oven temperature, frying temperature)
This knowledge can now be
used to assist manufacturing
companies launch barley tortillas or
chips into their product lines.
 Ames’ research also
looked into consumer acceptance of these new products. A sensory
taste panel looked at texture, taste and color and gave an overall
ranking for how much they liked the barley tortillas. The research
found that consumers like barley tortillas just as
much as wheat
tortillas.
Next, Ames turned her
attention to feasibility studies. Pilot and commercial scale
facilities in Manitoba and the U.S. stepped forward to determine
whether equipment designed for corn product manufacturing could be
successfully used to produce barley tortillas and chips. Ames is
prepared to use the insight gained through this work to help
manufacturing companies adopt barley products into their
lines.
Finally, Ames linked up
with the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of
Business to assess whether a new business
startup marketing these barley products could become profitable. The
answer, according to student business plans, is
yes.
One factor that may
propel a manufacturer into producing barley tortillas or chips is
the potential for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve a
heart health
claim for barley. This claim was filed in
November 2004 and a decision is expected in the coming months. Given
consumer interest in healthy living, packaging that can reinforce
the superior nutritional content of barley is a marketing bonus.
ARDI
Program Officer attends Western Forum in
Canmore
Before joining ARDI as
our Program Officer, Lori-Ann
Kaminski held a number of positions
carrying out entomological research, studying both beneficial
insects (Honeybees & Leafcutting bees) and pests of agricultural
crops. As Secretary/Treasurer for the Western Forum on
Pest Management, she has the opportunity
to stay up-to-date in current pest control practices.
 The Western Forum today
consists of two committees drawn from federal, provincial and
industry workers in entomology (Western Committee on Crop Pests) and
plant pathology (Western Committee on Plant Diseases). Earlier this
month, the group held its annual meeting in
Canmore.
The
Western Committee on Crop Pests (WCCP)
consists of a widely-based group of pest management experts and
researchers who meet annually to determine best practices for
integrated pest control in Western Canada. The WCCP recommends the
selection of safe and effective chemical pest control agents (not
necessarily products). The goal of the WCCP is to determine
integrated pest management methods that are cost-effective and do
not adversely affect the health of individuals, livestock, wildlife
or the environment. It also publishes the Western Committee on Crop Pests Guide to Integrated
Control of Plant Pests.
The
Western Committee on Plant Diseases
(WCPD), previously known as Western
Committee on Plant Disease Control (WCPDC), was organized as one of
the four committees under the auspices of Western Forum in 1976. It
functions as an advisory body to provincial government advisory
committees of the four western provinces and to other agencies
concerned with plant disease control within the region. Its
objective is to promote the development and adoption of sound
control measures for plant diseases of regional concern in the four
western provinces. The WCPD publishes the Guidelines for the Control of Plant Diseases in Western Canada.
In 2006 Manitoba welcomes
the Western Forum to Winnipeg. |
