Features Business Policy
Agriculture research gets a boost from feds

December 12, 2011, Montreal, Que – Canadian farmers will
benefit from enhanced profitability after the federal government recently
announced an investment of nearly $2 million to McGill University to study and
develop greenhouse gas mitigation practices for water management systems.

December 12, 2011, Montreal, Que – Canadian farmers will
benefit from enhanced profitability after the federal government recently
announced an investment of nearly $2 million to McGill University to study and
develop greenhouse gas mitigation practices for water management systems.

McGill
University will use the investment to study the greenhouse gas-related effects
of various irrigation and drainage production systems for horticultural crops
in Eastern Canada. Results of this research will provide farmers with
state-of-the-art agricultural water management technologies that reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and enhance economic competitiveness.

“It is
important that agriculture be conducted in a way that reduces the effects of
soil, water and air pollution,” said Dr. Chandra Madramootoo, dean of the
Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill University.
“Innovative agricultural practices can contribute to carbon sequestration and
the reduction of greenhouse gases. Our project involves working with producers
in Eastern Canada and applying such practices, which will enhance the
competitiveness of Canadian agriculture, while at the same time protecting the
environment.”

Funding
for this project is through the Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program (AAGP), a
five-year, $27-million initiative that focuses on the development of on-farm
greenhouse gas mitigation technologies.

The AGGP
represents Canada’s initial contribution to the Global Research Alliance, an
international network of more than 30 member-countries that will coordinate and
increase agricultural research on greenhouse gas mitigation and make new
mitigation technologies and beneficial management practices available to
farmers.