Government of Canada invests in Canadian innovators developing solutions to improve food safety and plant health

Feb 01, 2023

The Government of Canada is investing in Canadian small businesses to develop innovative tools, products and services that are vital to the keeping Canada's food, plants and animals safe.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, and the Honorable Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced that $500,000 will be awarded to a Canadian small business, iFood Packaging Systems Corporation (Summerland, British Columbia) through the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program's phase 2 prototype development challenge. As methyl bromide- the current phytosanitary treatment method to control plant pests and pathogens- gets phased out due to its ozone depleting properties, this funding will be used to develop an innovative phytosanitary treatment solution that is more eco-friendly.

Through ISC, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also launched a new challenge related to developing a portable test to detect domoic acid in marine waters. Acute poisoning can be life threatening and cumulative low doses over time can cause cognitive disability or illness. Therefore, the intent of this device will be to inform harvesters of potential domoic acid risk in real-time which will help enhance food safety initiatives and save resources associated with food safety investigations, recall, and costly product destruction activities.

These ISC challenges provide opportunities for business-research collaboration between Canadian small businesses and the Government of Canada. Through these partnerships, we can support the advancement of science, innovation, and enable evidence-based decision-making to safeguard Canada's food, plants and animals, and consequently the health of Canadians and our environment.

Source : Canada.ca

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”

Government of Canada invests in Canadian innovators developing solutions to improve food safety and plant health

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Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

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