June 2020


A collaboration between OMAFRA and the University of Guelph
Alliance Innovations
Stories of the Alliance people, places and programs generating impact in the agri-food sector in Ontario and around the world.
Beverley Hale Associate Vice-President Research Agri-Food Partnership
W elcome to  t he  new Ontario   Agri-Food Innovation Alliance newsletter, Alliance Innovations . The   Alliance is the new public face of the longstanding collaboration between the University of Guelph and the   Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

OMAFRA and U of G work together to foster the safety and prosperity of Ontario’s agri-food sector. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing this stable, long-term investment in research innovation pay off: researchers are not starting from scratch to develop solutions to unforeseen pressures on the food system. In this edition there are several examples of innovative new technologies that were built quickly from strong existing foundations.

As we connect remotely with research, industry and government partners to focus on the essential work that will see the agri-food community through current challenges, we hope this newsletter will become another way to stay connected. We also invite you to follow us on Twitter @AgInnovationOn or on LinkedIn or to connect via email . We look forward to sharing the important news about A lliance innovations that bring together academia, government and industry to generate Ontario solutions with global impact.

With warm regards,
Bev Hale, Associate VP of Research (Agri-Food Partnership), University of Guelph
What's New?
COVID-19 wordmark from U of G assets
How the Office of Research is responding to COVID-19
The Office of Research is ensuring the health and safety of its research community and the long-term success of the University’s research enterprise.
2018-19 Annual Report shows how the Alliance achieves key impacts
Find out how the Alliance is generating impact at home and around the world in the 2018-19 Annual Report of the OMAFRA and University of Guelph Agreement.

Farmers in field with laptop - ag economics
Special issue of the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics
The development of this issue focused on COVID-19 was led by Prof. Alan Ker, OAC Research Chair in Agricultural Risk and Policy, and includes articles by several U of G faculty.
Backgrounder: What is the Alliance?
The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance is a collaboration that delivers Ontario solutions with global impact. We serve Ontario’s $37-billion agri-food sector by investing in an innovative research system that returns impactful, sustainable solutions while ensuring animal well-being and public health and safety.

We create impact by directing the efforts of our people, places and programs toward six key outcomes that support the agri-food and rural sector – at home and around the world.

To learn more about the Alliance, visit uoguelph.ca/alliance . 
Oluwatimileyin Abolarin
Our people are innovators, researchers, thought leaders and problem solvers. We work with partners across the agri-food and rural sectors to address challenges and pursue emerging opportunities for the benefit of Ontario.

• R esearchers • Technical staff • H ighly Qualified Personnel • Veterinarians •
Bradford Muck Crops Research Station
Our places enable research, innovation and laboratory testing. State-of-the-art research infrastructure complements these places to create a provincial platform for agri-food innovation.

Robot in greenhouse
 Our programs support discovery, learning and outreach for the benefit of all Ontarians:

Research Highlights
Alliance-funded fruit and vegetable technology adapted to sanitize N95 masks amid COVID-19 pandemic
The clean flow healthcare mini
Prof. Keith Warriner is a food scientist, but when he heard about the shortage of N95 masks for front-line health-care workers battling COVID-19, he saw an opportunity to contribute.

Warriner and several collaborators have adapted technology that uses UV light, hydrogen peroxide and ozone to decontaminate fruits, vegetables and food packaging to help in the fight against COVID-19. Their original work was funded by OMAFRA, in part by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance.
Twitter can be used to track spread of infectious diseases, U of G researchers discover
Rozita Dara
Samira Yousefinaghani
University of Guelph computer science and veterinary researchers have discovered that Twitter can be another tool in helping to detect the spread of infectious animal disease outbreaks, sometimes even earlier than conventional tracking methods.

While the study, funded by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, set out to investigate Twitter’s use as an early warning system for tracking and mitigating costly and dangerous poultry diseases, the researchers say this framework could also be applied to monitoring the threat of new infectious diseases in general.
Publications
A selection of Alliance people, places and programs cited in popular and trade media

  1. Sustainability in dairy: Helping improve food efficiency and lower methane emissions with genomics (Milk Producer magazine, March 2020)
  2. Ontario farmers are fighting for mental-health support (tvo.org interview with Emo Research Station manager Kim Jo Bliss)
  3. Innovative cover crop approaches: Bio strip-till research a first in Ontario (Ontario Grain Farmer magazine)
  4. Twitter can be used to track spread of diseases like COVID-19: Guelph researchers (CBC News)
  5. U of G mask-cleaning technology makes headlines (featured on GlobalNews.ca and CBC Radio’s Morning Edition)
Events
Wheat field
Celebrating 40 and 25 years of long-term rotational plots
This year marks two important anniversaries of long-term rotational crop research: 40 years at the Elora Research Station and 25 at Ridgetown Campus. We are working with Soils at Guelph to create a webinar series to highlight key findings. Details will be provided in a future issue.
Gryphon's LAAIR showcase and pitch competition
On May 27, five corporations with roots in the U of G research community went head-to-head to win a total of $20,000 in prizes to be used to grow their businesses. The Alliance supports Gryphon’s LAAIR to advance the commercialization of research findings to benefit the Ontario agri-food sector.
Data Management Plan information session
A Data Management Plan summarizes how data generated over the course of a research project will be stored, shared and maintained. Carol Perry, acting head of research and scholarship at the University of Guelph's McLaughlin Library, held a virtual tutorial on May 28 for more than 50 participants.
Make an Alliance Connection
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Comments? Feedback? Events or content to include? Email [email protected].
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Ontario logo - used with permission