U of G to showcase future of food at royal winter fair

Nov 03, 2023

The University of Guelph is excited to return to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair this year to showcase its innovative research on the future of food. Visitors to the U of G exhibit will have the opportunity to learn about:

Careers in the agri-food sector
One Health, an approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of animal, human, land, and plant health

Vertical farming, climate resilience, biodiversity, soil health, food security, AI, and technology
Robotics to detect plant disease
New methods to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables using cold plasma

U of G is also the presenting education sponsor of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. As such, U of G faculty and researchers from the Ontario Agricultural College will lead discussions at the Education Symposium: The Future of Food, from November 7-9.

Speakers at the symposium will include:

Dr. Rene van Acker, Ontario Agricultural College dean
Dr. Asim Biswas, Ontario Agricultural College professor and Research Chair in Soils and Precision Agriculture
Dr. Christine Baes, animal biosciences professor
Paul Kelly, Honey Bee Research Centre
Dr. Andreas Boecker, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics

Food science PhD student Louis Colaruotolo
Brad Howie, Indigenous environmental science
PhD student Navneet N.

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair has attracted more than 300,000 visitors annually since 1922. This year's fair takes place November 3-12 at Exhibition Place in Toronto.

Video: LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

White rot, also known as sclerotinia, is a common agricultural fungal disease caused by various virulent species of Sclerotinia. It initially affects the root system (mycelium) before spreading to the aerial parts through the dissemination of spores.

Sclerotinia is undoubtedly a disease of major economic importance, and very damaging in the event of a heavy attack.

All these attacks come from the primary inoculum stored in the soil: sclerotia. These forms of resistance can survive in the soil for over 10 years, maintaining constant contamination of susceptible host crops, causing symptoms on the crop and replenishing the soil inoculum with new sclerotia.