2019–2020 Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario annual report

Ministry mandate and role of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario

Ministry mandate

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) works to advance the government's priorities through its efforts to promote a more competitive and productive agri‐ food and agri‐products sector, economic growth and opportunities for rural Ontario.

The 2019–2020 ministry priorities were:

• protection and assurance in the agri‐food system (food safety, animal, plant and human health)
• stewardship of Ontario’s capacity to produce food (soil and water quality, climate change)
• fostering economic sustainability and growth of the agri‐food sector and rural Ontario

Role of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario

The Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario (ARIO) is a non‐profit corporate body whose duties and responsibilities are defined within the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.13. reporting to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. As the ARIO is a non‐profit organization, it is exempt from income taxes and was created by the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario Act with responsibilities over the coordination and direction of agricultural research programs in Ontario, which cover all aspects of the agri‐food system.

The Ontario government, through OMAFRA, is the ARIO’s primary funding source, although programs are supported through other sources as well, as permitted under the ARIO Act. Additional funding sources come from commercial sources and royalty revenues and can be designated or non‐designated for specific projects.

ARIO’s mandate remains strongly aligned to the Government of Ontario’s goals and priorities:

• providing strategic advice to the minister on agri‐food and agri‐products research and innovation by continuing to advise the minister on research priorities and issues related to the ministry’s mandate
• leading the ARIO’s Infrastructure Strategy initiative to modernize the province’s agri‐food and agri‐products research and innovation infrastructure platforms, which are key to delivering research and innovation that drives economic sustainability and growth
• promoting the Ontario agri‐food and agri‐products research and innovation system
• providing administrative and managerial oversight of Ontario research programs (such as New Directions and Food Safety) and the 17 ARIO‐owned research properties

2019–20 ARIO members

Secretariat support to ARIO

OMAFRA’s Research and Innovation Branch staff:

• Jen Liptrot, Director
• Kelli Rice, Manager – Research Accountability, Management, and Administration Unit
• Adam Meyer, Manager – Research and Knowledge Management Unit

Letter from the chair

November 2020

The Honourable Ernie Hardeman
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Legislative Buildings, Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A3

Dear Minister Hardeman,

I am pleased to share the 56th Annual Report of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario (ARIO) for the 2019–20 fiscal year. Due to delays in year‐end financial reporting and COVID‑19, the submission of this report is delayed for this year.

During the past year, ARIO has continued advancing components of its research infrastructure renewal strategy, building partnerships across the agri‐food value chain, and emphasizing the importance of research and innovation as the way to build and maintain Ontario’s competitive advantage in the agri‐food and the agri‐products sector moving forward. Some highlights of our work in the past year include:

• grand opening of the cow/calf facility at Elora (Figure 1) which is now fully operational and is part of the Ontario Beef Research Centre.
• continued relocation of the Guelph Turfgrass Institute and accompanying research plots from the Guelph Research Station to the University of Guelph Arboretum, as part of the broader divestment (in‐progress) of the Guelph Research Station
• continued disposal of surplus assets at Alfred, Kemptville, New Liskeard and Guelph

Looking ahead to the 2021–22 fiscal year, ARIO will continue to make significant strides towards the modernization of core research capacity and platforms in several key sectors ranging from livestock and field crops to aquaculture. These projects include, but are not limited to:

• completion of a new beef feedlot at the Ontario Beef Research Centre which features advanced precision feeding capacity for beef nutrition research
• commencement of construction for the new Ontario Swine Research Centre at Elora Research Centre
• completion of expanded feeding and preparation capacity to support the Beef and Dairy research herds at Elora Research Station (Figure 2)
• continued construction of two new Agronomy Research Services Buildings at Ridgetown and New Liskeard which allow for upgraded field crops research capacity in both northern and southern Ontario soil and climatic conditions

Together, with industry partners and the research community, ARIO will continue to focus on targeted investments in the agri‐food research sector that benefit Ontario’s economy and ensure continued growth and sustainability in the years ahead.

ARIO continues to advocate on behalf of the agri‐food sector and provide advice on research and innovation priorities in support of its mandate, including the Ontario Agri‐food Innovation Alliance and the ministry research priorities.

Over this past year, members were engaged in foresight discussions, provided input to the ministry research priorities and heard from several researchers on their projects and research outcomes. Also, we appreciated the opportunity to engage directly with you on ARIO priorities and emerging needs of the sector. These fruitful discussions enable us to provide the best advice to the ministry on research and innovation that meet its mandate and sector needs.

The agri‐food sector continues to be a cornerstone of Ontario’s economic strength and success and we continue to be excited about the investments in infrastructure and research projects we are making that will support agriculture in this province long into the future.

Sincerely,

Lorne Hepworth
Chair, Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario

Director of research and chair's report

We are pleased to provide an update and some highlights from the 2019–20 fiscal year for ARIO and its continuing support of agri‐food research and innovation in Ontario.

ARIO initiated a strategic planning process in March 2018, to take stock on what ARIO has achieved and determine its desired function given the current mandate. The process assessed the strategic and operational objectives, member skills and expertise necessary for success in the future and communications opportunities that will enhance the profile of ARIO. This strategic planning process has guided the direction of the organization over the past year.

Research infrastructure strategy

ARIO’s research infrastructure strategy provides a plan for the renewal and modernization of Ontario’s aging network of agri‐food research infrastructure and platforms. Implementation of the ARIO Infrastructure Strategy is resulting in a state-of-the-art multi‐disciplinary research and innovation platform focused on consumer, market and economic outcomes. Benefits include the creation of new and value‐added products, developing solutions to current and emerging issues and validating new technologies, processes and approaches to Ontario conditions.

A cornerstone of ARIO’s Infrastructure Strategy is industry engaging directly with government and academia to address the highest research priorities and needs of the Ontario agri‐food sector. Modernized infrastructure enables scientific excellence, knowledge dissemination and industry adoption, all of which are necessary to the economic growth of the agri‐food and agri‐products sector for the province.

The ARIO continues to plan and make strategic infrastructure investments through the ARIO Infrastructure Strategy. The strategy is supported by industry who provides capital dollars to projects (typically 20%) and is guided by two key pillars which seeks to modernize research infrastructure as well as drive operational efficiencies across the research station portfolio through consolidations of facilities and livestock.

Evidence of this reinvestment in research infrastructure in a time of restraint can be seen in various ARIO projects across the province:

• The completion of construction of a new Agronomy Research Services building at the Ontario Crops Research Centre in Winchester in Spring 2019 will support the field crops research needs of eastern Ontario while allowing ARIO to dispose of a wide range of older field crops buildings within the ARIO portfolio which were expensive to maintain and past their useful lifecycle for research.
• Site preparation at the Ontario Crops Research Centre in New Liskeard for an Agronomy Research Services building with construction starting in fiscal 2020‐2021 will allow ARIO to dispose of a wide range of older field crops buildings which were costly to maintain and past their useful lifecycle for research.
• Relocation of the Ontario Turfgrass Research Centre and accompanying research plots to the University of Guelph Arboretum where construction is currently underway and anticipated to be complete by late spring of 2021. Relocation of turf grass research allows for the disposition of old facilities and lands within the City of Guelph to a single modern and efficient facility co‐located in closer proximity to the University of Guelph.
• Grand opening of the new cow/calf beef research facility at Elora, which became fully operational in September 2019. This state-of-the-art building allows for the consolidation of the province’s entire beef research herd to Elora from other areas of the province. ARIO can now dispose of several older beef buildings no longer suitable for research, which are costly to operate and maintain due to their age.
• Advanced design of the new Ontario Swine Research Centre commenced in September 2019. The new centre at Elora will replace the present facilities at Arkell which are well past their useful lifecycle, costly to operate and difficult to retrofit due to age. The planned research facilities will more closely resemble the current state of industry production taking place in Ontario, leading to better applied research outcomes for the sector.

The ongoing work and completion of these major projects is evidence of how the ARIO Infrastructure Strategy is working effectively to modernize the research station portfolio and establish state‐of‐the‐art research infrastructure in the province with strong industry participation in research planning, program oversight and capital investment.

Property management

University of Guelph and the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (VRIC), in addition to providing program delivery, have operated the ARIO‐owned research stations and provide property management services, including the minor capital program, under agreements with ARIO. New agreements have been negotiated for the OMAFRA-UofG Agreement and a complementary agreement for the Vineland property has been established between ARIO and VRIC for property management at this station. Both agreements took effect April 1, 2018, upon the expiry of the previous agreements.

Minor capital program

The ARIO minor capital program is an ongoing multi‐year program that allocates funds across the ARIO property portfolio to support the renewal for repairs, life cycle renovations and program‐related improvements. The program is funded through an annual transfer payment from OMAFRA and is supplemented by revenues generated by the ARIO, such as tenant revenues.

Safety (human and animal), regulatory, building integrity and equipment failure issues that affect building and program operations across the network of ARIO properties are addressed through the approved annual minor capital plans submitted by University of Guelph and VRIC at the beginning of each fiscal. These projects are then completed throughout the year.

Research programs

The ministry’s open research programs, New Directions and Food Safety, were replaced in 2019–20 by the Ontario Agri‐Food Research Initiative (OAFRI), funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership and not administered by ARIO.

No calls for proposals were launched for either the New Directions or the Food Safety Research Programs in 2019–20 but active projects continue to be administered by the ARIO.

ARIO continues to administer active projects under the Quebec Ontario Cooperation for Agri‐Food Research from the 2018–19 call. No call was launched in the year 2019–20.

Access to ARIO research infrastructure

Researchers continue to leverage the ARIO network of research stations through the Ontario Agri‐food Innovation Alliance. University of Guelph researchers are provided subsidized access to the ARIO research stations to enable a broad spectrum of research across the sector. This is a highly valued resource for researchers and helps maximize the utilization of ARIO’s research infrastructure. Examples of projects that were approved in 2019–20 include:

• competitive production systems, such as:
  • development of evidence‐based feeding strategies for lactating sows using novel and evolving feeding technologies
  • supplementation of omega‐3 fatty acids as a nutraceutical strategy to control postpartum inflammation and enhance production efficiency and fertility in dairy cows
  • developing best management practices for late nitrogen applications in corn
  • evaluating the impact of pollination on cannabinoid production in industrial hemp
  • improving outcomes for Ontario apple producers though precision agriculture and labour efficiency strategies
• plant health and protection, such as:
  • enhanced integrated pest management of Stemphylium leaf blight and other foliar diseases of onion
  • herbicides and cover crops for improved corn establishment
  • genetic dissection of the resistance to Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) using advanced functional genomic tools and developing Ontario‐adapted SCN‐resistant cultivars
  • management and mitigation of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance in European corn borer in Canada
• animal health and welfare
  • characterization and validation of a potential probiotic with novel desired traits for animal application
  • investigation of alternative control measures for post‐weaning E. coli diarrhea in pigs
  • understanding how bovine respiratory disease risk factors promote development of pneumonia as a strategy to develop novel methods to prevent disease
  • pain control using various dosing regimens of meloxicam for band castration of newborn bull calves
  • improving the care and management of down dairy cows through developing evidence‐based best management practices
  • applying genomics to identify markers associated with genetic resistance of sheep gastrointestinal nematode parasite infection

Research priority setting

In 2019, OMAFRA launched a new internal research governance structure and process to guide research priority setting. The process involved OMAFRA’s experts to identify agri‐food and rural research priorities and to integrate stakeholder’s research needs into OMAFRA’s priority setting process. ARIO members were engaged in this process to provide feedback and insight into the research needs.

As a result of this new priority setting process, OMAFRA reorganized former research theme priorities into 11 new research priority areas. The priority areas are:

• food safety
• animal health and welfare
• plant health and protection
• soil health
• water quality and quantity
• sustainable production systems
• productive land capacity
• competitive production systems
• innovative products and products improvement
• trade, market and targeted sector growth opportunities
• strong rural communities

These priorities informed the call for research proposals under the Ontario Agri‐Food Innovation Alliance in 2019–20 and will continue to do so going forward.

Knowledge translation and transfer (KTT)

This year the ministry launched a revised KTT Strategy and workplan to refocus and enhance KTT activities. This has included an internal newsletter (first issue on July 2020), a Twitter feed, research project announcements, impact case studies and a webinar series. A focus on capacity building of KTT skills has resulted in the development and distribution of the KTT Best Practices manual in partnership with University of Guelph.

In addition, every Ontario Agri‐food Innovation Alliance and OAFRI research program proposal is required to have a KTT plan which identifies key target audiences for research outcomes and outlines methods of engagement to share research processes and results with industry stakeholders. KTT plans continue to be monitored annually by OMAFRA staff to ensure that they are implemented successfully. This process helps drive results into action faster and enables the agri‐food sector to hear directly from researchers.

Conclusion

This past year saw several significant milestone accomplishments related to the ARIO Infrastructure Strategy along with continued effective property management and research program delivery. Next year promises more of the same and we are very much looking forward to the year ahead.

Finally, we would like to thank all those who support agri‐food research and innovation across the province ‐ industry, academia and the various levels of government.

Financial information

Performance measures

In accordance with the performance measures framework outlined in the MOU between ARIO and the ministry, the following performance measures in the area of infrastructure planning and management have been identified.

Performance measure 1: increased third party investment/collaboration in research and development infrastructure renewal

Target: Minimum of 20% of capital investment for new capital projects to come from non‐ government sources.

Results: The industry contributes a minimum of 20% of capital projects to research infrastructure. For current projects, the Beef Farmers of Ontario and Ontario Pork have committed to contributing 20% of the capital cost of new facilities. For beef, total project costs are to be $15.5 million, with $3 million from industry. For swine, the estimated budget is $15 million, pending completion of the design phase.

Performance measure 2: research station utilization represented by the percentage of utilization and available capacity at each ARIO research station

Target: In 2018–19, a new methodology was developed to track the utilization at the stations that captures the unique requirements and nuances of assessing the utilization rates for plant and animal production. 2018–19 will be used as a baseline to assess future targets.

Results: ARIO property use and capacity is measured through the calculation of a utilization rate for each research station, with the 2018–19 utilization rates used as targets. For livestock research stations, the unit of tracking is an Animal Research Day (ARD). Animal use is strictly controlled by Animal Use Protocols (AUPs) required under the Animals for Research Act and Canadian Council on Animal Care.

Station managers report on actual number of days each animal is used under each trial. It is possible for animals to be used on concurrent trials if the parameters of the trial do not interfere with each other. For Crop Research Stations, the unit of tracking is land area used for plots (hectares). Area is allocated on a seasonal basis, and there is generally no overlap of trials.

The utilization rate is calculated by adding research utilization to the research preparation requirements and dividing the total by the capacity of the station. The research preparation requirement accounts for the need for crop rotation, replacement animals or cycle time in space‐based animal facilities.

In general, the utilization rates for crop research stations are higher than those of the livestock research stations. Crop trials, to some extent, can expand to better utilize available research plot area by increasing replications or increasing the number of varieties being tested or evaluated for breeding or performance determination.

Livestock trials are more limited to the nature of the resident herd or available housing spaces or types and therefore cannot be easily scaled to increase usage. For example, in the beef cow‐ calf facilities at the Ontario Beef Research Centres at Elora and New Liskeard, calving occurs once per year in early spring. Trials looking at a short period of a calf’s development can only occur for the short duration post calving. It is not possible to bring in additional calves into the closed herd throughout the year, even though space may be available to conduct this type of work.

The research station capacity and utilization rates for 2019–20 are shown in Tables 7.2 and 7.3. Livestock research stations had an average utilization rate of 50.5% in 2019–20, exceeding the target of 49%. This was a small increase over the utilization rate for livestock research stations in 2018–19. Utilization at the beef stations (Elora and New Liskeard) were lower than last year due to the transition to the new facility at Elora part way through the year.

As experienced with the Ontario Dairy Research Centre, research projects tend to wind down leading up to a move to a new facility and can take several years to fully recover. This reduction in utilization was offset by increases at several other stations.

2019–20 value: 50.5%
Target: 49%
2018–19 value: 48.9%

Crop research stations had an average utilization rate of 80.7% in 2019–20, exceeding the target of 78%. Elora and Ridgetown continue to post high utilization rates, while Elora and New Liskeard have space available for additional research projects. With the hiring of additional faculty in northern crops research, the utilization rates are expected to increase at those stations in the future.

Research preparation area, the area used from crop rotation, increased from 236.17 ha in 2018–19 to 249.81 ha in 2019–20. Rotation varies based on agronomic practice and the specific requirements of the research projects. Overall, research utilization increased from 251.07 ha to 253.13 ha in 2019–20.

2019–20 value: 80.7%
Target: 78%
2018–19 value: 78.1%

University of Guelph is pursuing opportunities to improve utilization rates through efficiency, such as allowing more trials to occur concurrently, infrastructure improvements, such as improved tile drainage allowing a greater number of trials to take place at stations, encouraging additional research projects at underutilized stations and other actions to streamline research program administration. Considering these efforts are in the early stages, modest improvements in utilization should be expected in the future.

Audited financial statements

View ARIO’s audited financial statements for 2019-2020.