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Feature Stories
$1.25 million ARDI
grant supports Richardson Centre research
That's quite a cluster
Winter tomato harvest generates interest
Recently funded
projects
ARDI Council met twice in July to review applications for funding.
In total, Council members approved $967,586 in funding for 16
projects. All 16 projects can be found from
ARDI’s home page.
Funding application
deadlines
ARDI’s next deadline
for new funding applications is
Feb. 1, 2006.
Please check with
ARDI’s Program Officer to find out if your project meets eligibility
criteria.
Lori-Ann Kaminski,
ARDI Program Officer
Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural
Initiatives
Agri-Food Innovation and
Adaptation Branch
65 3rd Avenue NE,
Box 1149
Carman, MB R0G 0J0
phone: (204) 745-5637
fax: (204) 745-5690
email:
lkaminski@gov.mb.ca
Want to subscribe to
the newsletter or comment on anything?
Please contact ARDI’s
Communications Coordinator,
Rhea Yates,
at
rheayates@mts.net
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$1.25 million ARDI
grant supports Richardson Centre research
Funding from the
Agri-Food Research and Development Initiative (ARDI) is moving the
Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals into a
new phase. As construction of the new building is nearing completion,
ARDI funds will allow the centre to begin hiring key technical and
operations staff.
 With
the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals behind
him, David Gislason announces $1.25 million in support for technical
and support staff at the centre.
ARDI Chair
David
Gislason announced the $1.25 million over
five years at a funding announcement outside the Richardson Centre,
located on Innovation Drive in Smartpark, on Sept. 16.
“Research done at this centre will create new opportunities for
western Canadian farmers to participate in the growing international
market for natural, nutritional products,” Gislason said. “As a
farmer, I know we need every market advantage we can get. We must seek
ways of extracting more value from the crops we produce.”
More than 80 people
attended the funding announcement. In addition to Gislason, speakers
included Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister
Rosann Wowchuk, Winnipeg South Centre MP
Anita Neville, the University of Manitoba’s
Vice-President (Research)
Dr. Joanne Keselman,
and the Acting Director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods
and Nutraceuticals,
Dr. Digvir Jayas.
Scientists at the
Richardson Centre will be studying crops like wheat, oats, canola,
flax and buckwheat to unlock the mysteries of the health-giving
properties within them. As Dr. Keselman noted, these crops are
familiar to most of us living on the prairies, and have been a
cornerstone of the prairie economy for decades. “When our scientists
look at these same crops, however, they see something new,” Keselman
said. “They see the hidden potential and the powerful health benefits
that these plants can deliver.”
Gislason said there
is a growing awareness of the fact that human health is influenced by
the food that we eat and ARDI Council’s aim is to make clear the
connection between healthy lifestyles, healthy food and the farms that
produce them.
Some definitions
A functional food is
similar in appearance to a conventional food, is consumed as part of a
usual diet and has demonstrated physiological benefits and/or reduces
the risk of chronic disease.
A nutraceutical is a
product isolated or purified from foods and is sold in medicinal form
(pill, powder or potion) and has demonstrated physiological benefits
or provides protection against chronic disease.
That’s quite a cluster!
It’s unanimous –
Manitoba is becoming an important centre of knowledge in
the global field of functional foods and nutraceuticals. Starting with
research and development and ending with the sale of new products to a
health-conscious consumer, Manitoba’s emerging nutraceuticals cluster
can do it all.
In addition to the
Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and
Nutraceuticals, Manitoba is home to the
National
Centre for Agri-Food Research in Medicine (NCARM).
Located at the St. Boniface General Hospital Research Centre, it’s the
only research group of its kind housed within a medical facility and
it’s designed to explore the life-saving potential of nutraceuticals
and functional foods. What happens when people with heart disease
consume flaxseed, for example? Researchers here are finding out.
Manitoba’s Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie
takes over where the research leaves off, helping to develop products
with broad-based appeal. Then, Manitoba’s food processing industry,
including
Great Plains Aseptic Processing,
with its TetraPac packaging facility, will ensure these products get
to the consumer.
ARDI is a long-time
supporter of Manitoba’s functional foods and
nutraceuticals and food processing industries:
More information
about Manitoba's emerging functional foods and nutraceuticals cluster
can be found in
"Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals: An Economic Opportunity", a
powerpoint presentation reproduced with the permission of Dr. Digvir
Jayas, Interim Director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods
and Nutraceuticals.
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Winter tomato harvest generates interest
 Angela
Brown, a reporter for the Central Plains Herald-Leader in
Portage la Prairie, is the latest to file
a story about a solar greenhouse in Elie that is getting all
kinds of attention on the provincial and national scene. The
greenhouse draws exclusively upon solar energy for heat, yet even
in mid-winter in Manitoba, vegetables such as tomatoes are doing
well.
ARDI is a major
funding partner in the greenhouse project, providing a research
and development grant of $32,450. Other project partners include
Dr. Qiang Zhang at the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the
University of Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro and greenhouse owner Wenka
Liu.
With tomato plants reaching well
over their heads, (l to r) Dr. Qiang Zhang, David Gislason,
Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Rosann Wowchuk
and Manitoba Hydro engineer Ray Boris admire the tomatoes produced
by grower Wenka Liu (holding tomato). |
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