Overview
The Ontario Crops Research Centre – Bradford is located in the Bradford/ Holland Marsh, near the intersection of Highway 400 and Hwy 9. This region is the largest area of organic (muck) soil developed for agriculture in the province and one of the most intensive areas of agricultural production in the country.
The facilities at this centre include a plant pathology lab, greenhouses with ebb and flow benches and computer monitored environment, cold storage facilities to provide the specific requirements for long term storage of onions and carrots and several sites for field research. There are 4 ha of organic soil research plots on site, a further hectare of organic soil, rented from a local
grower and located in another area of the Marsh, and, recently, 2 ha of mineral soil nearby, to allow field trials to be conducted on mineral soil. Field trials are also conducted in commercial vegetable fields in cooperation with local growers.
Research at the centre focuses on the vegetable crops grown in the region, especially onions, carrots, lettuce, celery and Asian vegetables, but includes a wide variety of other vegetables. The emphasis is on discovery research in crop protection and production, to contribute to improved integrated pest management and integrated crop management of the target vegetable crops.
Collaborative work with seed companies, the crop protection industry, plant breeders and other scientists continues every year. Cost recovery trials to evaluate new cultivars and crop protection materials are conducted on a regular basis. The facility is GLP certified to conduct residue trials for registration of materials.
The Ontario Crops Research Centre – Bradford is owned by the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario and managed by the University of Guelph through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a collaboration between U of G and the Government of Ontario.
For more information visit https://bradford-crops.uoguelph.ca/
