The work of the Global Institute for Food Security within the plant-protein ecosystem

As in any sector, research and experimentation have long been key to strengthening Canada’s plant-protein ecosystem. Among achievements too numerous to name, academic and research institutions have helped develop plant breeds that can withstand our climate and soils, and formulated ingredient recipes that not only work in end products, but that also taste great. Without them, the sector likely wouldn’t be where it is today.

Recently, these institutions have brought their expertise to various Protein Industries Canada co-investment projects, usually as consultants or participants. In August 2020, however, the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) became the first to sign on as a full consortium partner, in a project with Precision.ai, Sure Growth Solutions Inc. and Exceed Grain Marketing.

“PIC’s industry-focus aligns with GIFS’ mission to work with partners to discover, develop and deliver innovative solutions for the production of globally sustainable food,” GIFS director of business development Chris Barker said. “By collaborating with PIC, Precision.AI and others on this project, we’re striving to ensure our research goes further, benefits the agriculture and agri-food industry and delivers tangible food security for the entire sector.”

For this project, delivering food security means ensuring Canada’s farmers can produce protein-rich crops efficiently and sustainably through the use of artificially intelligent spraying technology. This pest-detecting technology is expected to reduce crop protection product use by up to 95 per cent each growing season.

GIFS brings valuable plant phenotyping capabilities to the project. Researchers at the USask Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre (P²IRC), managed by GIFS, have been working on image software analyses tools that provide valuable plant data to breeders. Through this project and the data generated, they will provide information that will speed up the decision-making process for plant breeders, helping to accelerate crop breeding even further.

“What is most exciting about this project is that the technology and the information it generates will enable the targeted delivery of pesticides to weeds, significantly reducing pesticide use, while still maintaining crop yield,” Barker said. “While this will save producers some money every growing season, more importantly, it will make it easier for Canadian farmers to deliver quality crops that meet and even exceed all customer and regulatory requirements.

The project will be a significant undertaking, and Barker expects it will lead to great things for GIFS, researchers, Canada’s farmers, global consumers and the plant-protein sector as a whole. And more opportunities appear as the partners work together—opportunities that may not have become available without the partnership and collaboration presented by the work within the Protein Industries Canada Supercluster.

“Ultimately, we have the same goals,” Barker said. “For GIFS, it’s about food security. We can’t do that unless we’re working with everybody along the value chain of agriculture, from producers right through to retailers and ultimately consumers … so a Supercluster project really demands that level of thinking through the supply chain, whether it’s in agriculture or any other sector.”