Features Production Research
B.C. Innovation Council provides awards

September 22, 2009,
Vancouver, BC – The B.C. Innovation Council (BCIC) recently announced the
recipients of the BCIC Commercialization of Agricultural Technology (CAT)
Competition.

September 22, 2009,
Vancouver, BC – The B.C. Innovation Council (BCIC) recently announced the
recipients of the BCIC Commercialization of Agricultural Technology (CAT)
Competition.

The recipients were
awarded $10,000 each to put towards developing business plans for the next
round of competition. Out of 60 applicants to this competition, 22 companies
were successful in moving forward to the proof of concept stage.

The winning companies are
involved in a diverse range of advanced science and technology innovations in
the agriculture, food and bioproducts sectors. Top applicants will be required
to make a presentation to a panel of expert judges for a chance to win a
portion of the $600,000 proof of concept money.

• Several companies involved
  in horticulture have advanced to the next round of the competition. These
  include:
• AgriForest Biotech Ltd.'s
  main objective is to establish a photoautrotrophic micro-propagation facility
  with optimized environmental and in-vitro conditions for the large-scale
  production of several new commercially important plant varieties for the
  agriculture and horticulture industries. The commercial application of this
  technology can produce hundred of thousand of clones of new plant varieties within
  a year at a significantly lower cost than conventional tissue culture
  micro-propagation.
• EnWave Corporation's
  signature Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) microwave technology has been
  incorporated into nutraREVTM, which is designed for use in the food industry to
  replace freeze drying for the dehydration of fruits, vegetables, herbs,
  seafood, meats and low-fat snack foods. This technology dehydrates foods more
  quickly and less expensively than conventional methods of dehydration. EnWave
  intends to build a new version of this technology which suites the production
  requirements of small and medium sized food processing companies.
• Fresh Concept Canada Ltd.
  would like to apply technological advances in controlled atmosphere storage
  containers to ocean freight transportation of B.C. blueberries. By storing and
  transporting fruit crops under different atmospheric and temperature regimes,
  the shelf life and time to market can be extended with minimal adverse effects
  on taste or marketability. The ability to extend shelf life and to transport
  crops during this period opens new market opportunities for B.C. growers.
• Innovative Food Systems
  intends to provide a complete novel system for the sanitation, preservation,
  and maintenance of food products that will be ripe, ready-to-eat, and in a food
  safe configuration. The sanitation technologies will be synergistic to the
  developing modified atmosphere box and lid technologies recently patented. The
  production processes of the greenhouse, orchard and field crop industries will
  be enhanced to provide sanitized fresh produce.
• L.W. Truscott Farms
  intends to utilize culled fruit waste and other natural healthy ingredients to
  create food products that are a source of anthocyanins and anti-oxidants as
  well as other market value-added products. Twenty per cent of their own crop is
  currently being thrown away as culls and useable fruit. The utilization of
  culled fruit would reduce waste, create jobs in Creston, B.C., and provide
  financial stability.
• Mountain View Wasabi Inc.
  has developed a method of using plant tissue culture technology to produce
  large numbers of disease-free wasabi plants in a short amount of time. Their
  objective is to commercialize wasabi plants to growers so they can establish
  their field or greenhouse productions by supplying year-round disease-free
  transplants that do not require heavy pesticides applications to compromise
  environmental sustainability.
• Paramount Agri-support
  intends to convert biomass into charcoal (biochar) by burning it under oxygen
  free conditions to incorporate into a growth medium where it will improve water
  and nutrient retention, and promote the growth of beneficial soil microflora.
  They intend to use biochar and various microbes to design a series of novel
  products that will be targeted towards greenhouse growers or residential
  markets that service turf and home gardens.
• Researchers at the
  University of British Columbia – Okanagan will be introducing new
  drought-tolerant rootstock genotypes to the wine industry and providing a novel
  molecular-level portable kit for early drought stress detection. With these
  innovations both water use efficiency and irrigation management practices will
  be improved with respect to both the timing and quantity of water used for
  grapevine berry production for wine making in British Columbia.
• West Coast Aquaponics’
  technology exploits the symbiotic relationship between fish and plants in a
  closed system to produce a high value protein, and high quality vegetables or
  herbs close to or within urban areas. The system will consume less water than
  traditional aquaculture systems and methods of growing vegetables or herbs in
  soil, and will also be pesticide, hormone and chemical free.