EASTERN CEREAL AND OILSEED RESEARCH CENTRE (ECORC)
CENTRE DE RECHERCHES DE L’EST SUR LES CÉRÉALES ET LES
OLÉAGINEUX (CRECO)
Michele Marcotte, Director Research and Development
Procinorte – Ottawa – March 6, 2014
K.W. NEATBY BLDG
CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM
960 Carling Avenue, OTTAWA, Ontario, K1A 0C6
AAFC Network of Centers with a presence
with a broad coverage of ecosystems and
commodities
ECORC
St.
John’s
Lacombe
Agassiz
MWP
Summerland
Lethbridge
Swift
Current
Winnipeg
Charlottetown
Frederict
on
St-Hyacinthe
Brandon
AAFC S&T Centres
AAFC S&T Facilities, Sites,
Offices
Québec
Saskatoon
Ottawa
Guelph
London
Harrow
St-Jean
Lennoxville
Kentville
Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm
• Established in 1887, by an Act of
Parliament, as one of the 5
demonstration farms in the country
• 1052 acres (425 hectares); 85
buildings (27 heritage designated)
Rooted in Science – Innovating for the
Future
S’enraciner dans la science – Innover pour
l’avenir0
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Our mandate...
National: for assessing and utilizing biodiversity and
environmental resources for Canadian agriculture
Regional: for crop development for Eastern
Canadian producers located between Manitoba and PEI.
Our focus is on Oats, Wheat, Barley, Corn and Soybean
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Area of Research (1)
•
Better Products for Stronger Markets
– Improving the genetic makeup of corn and corn
populations that have been bred for desirable traits for
the short-season areas
– Developing new varieties of soybeans for short-season
areas
– Developing winter and spring wheat, oats and barley
for eastern Canada, typically a humid climate. Traits
of importance are resistance to disease and insects,
improved quality, early maturity and tolerance for cold
and drought
– Developing methods to control Fusarium (a fungal
disease for corn, wheat, barley and oats), as well as
other cereal and oilseed diseases (e.g. Ug99, Asian
Soybean Rust), and other plant diseases (e.g. potato
wart, cabbage seedpod weevil, and nematodes)
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Area of Research (2)
• Investing in Healthier Crops
– Determining the best methods to produce
crops by less frequent tilling of the soil, and
making better use of organic nitrogen
sources
– Characterizing nitrogen and fertilizer needs
and their use by crops; the interactions
between crop yield and environment; optimal
crop rotations, as well as methods of
cultivating crops to reduce soil erosion
– Studying the interaction between plants and
the bacteria or fungi that infect them, the
effects of agricultural practices on crop
diseases, and cereal seed fungi
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SOYBEAN RESEARCH – Breeding and Markers, Agronomy, Pathology,
Food Attributes (e.g. GABA) for Niche Markets
Mycotoxin Research – Multidisciplinary Approach
Genomics/
Proteomics
Breeding/
Pathology
Mycotoxin
Chemistry
Mycology
CCFC
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Area of research (3)
•
Delivering Value through Science
– Isolating, characterizing and manipulating useful plant genes and
the elements that control or regulate them to allow research to
add product value, reduce environmental impacts on crops and
increase resistance to insects and disease
– Identifying the molecular markers associated with important crop
traits to facilitate the genetic enhancement of crops
– Evaluating and documenting the genetic profiles for corn, small
grain cereals, canola, and their resistance to fungal diseases
(e.g., Fusarium, Penicillium, Trichoderma, etc.)
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Areas of Research (4)
•
Enhancing Environmental Performance
– Establishing environmentally sustainable
ways to develop and use land for field
crop production in eastern Ontario and
western Quebec
– Formulating methods and models to
evaluate the impact of agriculture on
levels of carbon in the soil, as well as
greenhouse gas emissions
– Evaluating and modeling the dynamics of
agriculture-based contaminants in soil and
water, and studying best management
practices to reduce movements of
contaminants into the environment
– Creating resource databases for land use
and environmental assessments
Three areas of applications
- Crop Inventory
- Soil Moisture
- Land Management
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Area of Research (5)
• New Knowledge and Innovation
– Identifying and characterizing Canada's flora and fauna to define economically
important fungi, insects, weeds, and crops
– Studying ways to detect, measure, monitor and assess changes to support
conservation and sustainable use of Canadian biological resources
– Using molecular techniques to determine the genetic diversity of crops, weeds, and to
identify economically important fungi or insects affecting agriculture
– Developing knowledge on the classifications and relationships of important insect
groups
– Developing identification tools to facilitate diagnostics of domestic and invasive pests of
agricultural products for border protection
– Developing novel pest management strategies that exploit natural enemies and that
can be integrated with current agricultural practices
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AAFC Core Biological Resources
Biodiversity Collections:
maintained
alive
Fungi
Bacteria
Viruses
– 18,000
– 2,000
– 450
Insects
Plants
Nematodes
Fungi (DAOM)
– 17 million non-living
– 1.2 million specimens
– 40,000
– 350,000
Taxonomy library
reference collection
Plant Protection/Integrated Pest Management Strategy Eastern Canada
Support trade export
Border Protection Import
MISB
CFIA
CEF/ECORC
-Reference
Collections (CNC,
DAO, DAOM, CCFC)
-Genomics
-ID/Survey/BOLD
NRCan
CFS
DFO
PHA
C
RISK IDENTIFICATION
NEW TOOLS
R
CEF/ECORC
BIOCONTROL
Biocontainment
Biocontrol
AAFC London
AAFC West
Lethbridge
Summerland
Saskatoon
Winnipeg
HC
PMRA
AAFC Saint-Jean
AAFC
PMC
AAFC Harrow
Biopesticides
INDUSTRY
INDUSTRY
INDUSTRY
DEVELOPMENT OF
MITIGATION STRATEGIES
AND TECHNOLOGIES
D
PESTICIDE RISK
REDUCTION
PROGRAM
T
MINOR USE
PROGRAM
Facts, Figures, and Facilities
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68 research scientists and a total staff of 252
18 honorary research associates or emeritus researchers
9 terms and 9 casuals, 80-100 students, ~50 personnel for Integrated Services Management
425 hectares of experimental fields and plots on the historic Central Experimental Farm in
downtown Ottawa
Integrated Growth Facility – Greenhouses (2200 m2) established in 2008
Research Laboratories (mainly Neatby for 26689 m2 but also Saunders for 10000 m2 )
One of nine national sites in the AAFC Watershed Evaluation of Beneficial Management Practices
(South Nation)
National Arthropod Containment Facility providing a single entry point for exotic insects with
beneficial biocontrol potential
National Mycotoxin Analysis Laboratory serving AAFC cereal breeders and Fusarium resistance
research projects
National Soil Databases containing soil, climate, land use, and crop yield
Central genomics facility performing global gene expression profiling for a variety of organisms
(plant, fungal, animal) using an extensive DNA sequence database, a DNA microarray printer and
scanner, and robotic equipment
Electronic microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance center for use by AAFC scientists
National bioinformatics capacity for “biodiversity”
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