Agri-food science: helping put Canada first

The Canadian agri-food sector has always been a good provider, delivering safe and high-quality products even in the face of the pitfalls that typically bedevil the industry. But why settle for good, or even better, when best is a reachable goal?

To help the sector's pursuit of global leadership requires a concerted effort on everyone's behalf. That is why the budget speech of December 2001 called for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, other governments, and farm groups to create together "a new, integrated, and financially sustainable agricultural policy." Clearly, science has a role, but it's by no means a solo act. Or, to switch to a more apt analogy, science is like the cereal in the television advertisements, "part of this complete breakfast."

Carrying this thought a bit further, the sector's balanced diet is composed of several interrelated parts. Food safety and quality, for starters, is an absolute requirement of the sector—who will buy our output without that guarantee? The environment, too, is a key consideration, as the underpinning of sustainable production and to meet consumer demand. By engaging in constant renewal—acquiring new skills, adopting new technology and making informed business choices—farmers can continue to be successful in the new century. A science and innovation component ensures the sector has the tools to continually advance, and bolsters the impact of the other priorities. Finally, effective business risk management should help protect farmers' incomes from the inherent risks in farming and promote on-farm productivity improvements, investment, and innovation.

Served with generous portions of these strategic priorities, Canada can become the world leader in food safety and quality, innovation, and environmentally responsible production to meet the needs of consumers at home and abroad.

As a science organization, our job at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is to serve the sector through our expertise. But doing so is more than just putting new tools and techniques on the shelves. We have to be plugged into the whole range of big-picture issues that affect the agri-food sector. Consumer preferences, trade and regulatory issues, business and investment trends, and government policy objectives are among the factors that all have to be taken into account.

To achieve this, the department runs a network of 19 research centres located across the country. Work at the centres is linked to four national science programs.

• The Environmental Health program aims to develop knowledge and technologies that minimize the impact of agricultural production on soils, air, water and biodiversity while maintaining the sustainability of the sector.
• The Sustainable Production Systems program targets the development of crop and livestock production systems that are economically and environmentally sustainable and improve the competitiveness of Canadian agri-food products in domestic and international markets.
• The Bioproducts and Bioprocesses program does research to discover and develop value-added biobased products and processes.
• The Food Safety and Quality program provides knowledge and technology to enhance the ability of the Canadian food industry and the government to keep the food system safe, and to produce quality food products to meet current and future consumer needs.

Each of the four national programs comprises a subset of interrelated themes that link back with the other three (go to our listing of priorities, programs, and themes). But the national programs are not just interlinked across the science capability of the department—they are in fact part of interdisciplinary teams, encompassing a vast pool of expertise that gives science a far richer context. And it's a two-way street—the realities of science factor into the decisions of other departmental specialty areas.

Our science delivery gets a further boost from the Matching Investment Initiative (MII). The MII allows the department to match private sector investment in collaborative research in our labs. It also allows us to set our research priorities in tune with market signals.

We hope that producers, businesses, researchers, students, government officials, and consumers across Canada and around the world will take advantage of this directory to guide them in their search for information and contacts concerning our people and our science capacity. We invite you to get in touch with us.

D. Gordon Dorrell
A/Assistant Deputy Minister, Research