Overview
The Ontario Crops Research Centre – Simcoe has 86.8 hectares of land on the edge of the highly productive Norfolk sand plain in the central Erie region. Its mission is to help strengthen the fruit and vegetable industries in the potentially highly productive zone along the north shore of Lake Erie.
Simcoe operates research programs covering vegetables, fruits, and various alternative crops for the sandy tobacco soils of the area. The ratio of research input is about 70 % vegetables and 30 % fruit, which reflects the approximate distribution of horticultural production in the Lake Erie counties.
Greenhouses
Simcoe has a range of four outer-connected heated glasshouses covering 670 m² and a greenhouse-headroom/ propagating area. There are also four Conviron E15 Chambers with a growth area of 1.4 m² each, with CMP4000 controllers connected to a central host computer for controlled environment studies. Installed in 1996, they are equipped with a high light package in addition to base features.
Simcoe Post Harvest Evaluation, Handling, and Storage Units
The Ontario Crops Research Centre – Simcoe has a unit of six cold storages with an approximate capacity of 90 m³. One of these is permanently assigned to seed storage, and another is equipped with a Filacell unit for storing leafy products at high humidity.
The Ontario Crops Research Centre – Simcoe 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.
