Les fruits comme les pêches et les prunes sont très périssables et ont une durée de conservation très courte ; on les appelle pour cette raison « fruits tendres ». Les producteurs doivent ainsi cultiver plusieurs variétés mûrissant à des moments différents pour assurer un approvisionnement continu sur le marché pendant la brève saison de […]

Urbanization is rapidly increasing in Canada and these areas are confronting major challenges associated with climatic change. Canadian cities must navigate these challenges and may also significantly contribute to mitigation efforts. However, municipalities and developers lack the state-of-the-art information, policies, and resources necessary to be successful in this endeavour. This research project uses a case […]

Research that supports Ontario’s wine industry has an opportunity to improve the quality of a white hybrid grape, Vidal, and to investigate the potential for a red hybrid grape, Marquette, which is seeing increased interest from growers and wineries. This project is a scientific evaluation of varying factors that could improve the expression of Vidal […]

Fruits such as peaches and plums are highly perishable fruits with a very short shelf life and hence are aptly called ‘tender fruits’. This necessitates the growing of several varieties that ripen at different time slots to ensure that there is a continual supply of these fruits in the market during the short season of […]

  Brown rot caused by Monilinia fructicola fungus is one of the biggest challenges for peach industry in Canada and particularly in Ontario. During favourable weather conditions for fungal infection, this fungus can wipe out 100% of the crop. The cultivation of resistant varieties has always been considered the most reliable management procedure for this […]

The agriculture industry is a labour intensive industry. Using a reliable method of plant monitoring can greatly help farmers to reduce their labours and consequently their production costs. Creating an accurate 3-D model of each plant or vegetable provides farmers with more information about the growth stage of the plant which helps them to make […]

Automated harvesting of horticultural produce is an opportunity for Canadian farmers to improve the quality of yield, reduce labour costs, and increase revenues. The research project will focus on the design and development of soft pneumatically-driven robotic grippers that conform to the natural shape of delicate produce, such as mushrooms, in an effort to minimize […]

The cost of labour makes up almost a third of the operating costs for greenhouse, nursery and floriculture operations. Many growers are seeking ways of automating labour intensive processes to reduce their exposure to increasing minimum wages and shortages of available labour. Planting flower bulbs is an example of one such process. The main barriers […]

Automatic harvesting of mushroom produce is a promising opportunity for mushroom growers to increase their revenues. This increased revenue will be obtained through savings in human labour as well as the expected increase in yield and quality due to the consistency of automated solutions compared to manual ones. Automated harvesting solutions do already exist for […]