U of G gets $16M over five years for agri-food training platform

The University of Guelph is getting nearly $16.3 million in funding to build Canada’s first ever national agri-food innovation and entrepreneurship training platform. 

The federal funding was announced Wednesday, and comes from a Lab to Market grant, aimed at supporting post-secondary institutions and their affiliates in creating and sustaining networks to develop and deliver entrepreneurial skills training. 

Given over the course of five years, the grant will support Sustainable Food Systems for Canada (SF4C), a platform designed to develop skills and offer entrepreneurial education, helping to turn new lab-based innovations to fully commercialized technologies. 

The goal is to make Canada the global leader in developing agri-food innovation by building Canada’s first ever nationally networked entrepreneurial platform to connect Canadian agri-food researchers and innovators with industry, government, and communities, said interim president and vice-chancellor Rene Van Acker in a press release. 

“Through training, mentorship, and networking, SF4C ensures a continuous pipeline of talent to drive Canada’s economic security and productivity in a changing world,” he said. 

The platform will have two national co-chairs: Evan Fraser and Lenore Newman, who will bring together experts from agriculture, veterinary medicine, Indigenous organizations and startups to support programs across Canada and create one of the world’s largest food system innovation training networks focused on agri-food. 

Fraser is a U of G professor and director of the Arrell Food Institute. Newman is a professor and director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley in B.C. 

Three programs will be developed under the initiative, including a training platform, a mentorship and concierge service to connect innovators with resources, and a suite of activities, events and workshops to “unify national expertise and reduce barriers to learning and business growth across Canada.”

Thirteen post-secondary institutions across Canada will be involved, including York University, the University of the Fraser Valley, Concordia University, Dalhousie University and George Brown College, among others.

There are also a number of other partners including BioEnterprise, the Canadian Food Innovation Network, the Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food, the National Circle for Indigenous Agriculture and Food and more. 

“Current methods of food production are insufficient to meet increasing global demand and to mitigate the effects of climate change,” Fraser said in the release. “Moreover, innovation is not a subset of the agricultural sector; it is a requirement for modern growers, producers, and processors. At the heart of SF4C is a philosophy to nurture business-minded research and develop a Canadian base of educated innovators who will bring as many solutions as possible to the market.” 

“As we face a changing climate and challenging global political situations, it is more important than ever to grow our domestic food system. SF4C is a national step forward in agricultural innovation,” Newman said.