Niagara\u2019s Agribusiness Sector: Towards a More Resilient Innovation Cluster<\/a>,\u201d the latest policy brief from Brock University\u2019s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO) in collaboration with the Niagara Region\u2019s Economic Development division.<\/p>\n“Niagara’s agribusiness sector should link more closely to the manufacturing and tourism sectors so that the region’s economy can better\u00a0adapt to change,” says\u00a0NCO Director and policy brief author Charles Conteh, who presented the brief on Tuesday, June 18 at the Meridian Community Centre in Pelham. “Research and innovation are among the tools that could\u00a0increase Niagara’s resiliency in this way.”<\/p>\n
Niagara agribusiness categories that generate the most jobs are farming as well as beverage and food manufacturing.<\/p>\n
Valerie Kuhns, the Niagara Region\u2019s Acting Director of Strategic Economic Initiatives, Economic Development, called agribusiness \u201ca critical component to Niagara\u2019s economy, contributing more than $1.4 billion to regional GDP.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to see new investment and economic opportunity across many agribusiness industries,\u201d she said, \u201chowever, there are challenges in the sector that we must better understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
One concerning trend is the \u201cmodest to weak showing\u201d of jobs in areas such as agricultural machinery manufacturing and equipment merchant wholesalers.<\/p>\n
The policy brief identifies three looming challenges in the sector\u2019s pursuit of greater resilience and adaptability. One is \u201clock-in syndrome,\u201d being stuck in a cultural rut with few fresh ideas and resistance to change. As a remedy, the authors suggest that agribusiness operators \u201cbuild conduits of research and innovation\u201d with manufacturing, tourism and other sectors, which would add value to all stages of agribusiness from farming and harvesting to the creation of products and processes.<\/p>\n
Another challenge is \u201corganizational thinness,\u201d or the lack of platforms or networks to create broader development through innovation and adaptation.<\/p>\n
The brief lists several institutions \u2014 including Brock University\u2019s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, Niagara College\u2019s Agriculture and Environment Innovation Centre and Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, among others \u2014 that could form an \u201cinnovation infrastructure support system.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means building an infrastructure of knowledge generation and mobilization that is well aligned with the needs of not only particular industries but also the sector as a whole across the value chain of activities,\u201d says the brief.<\/p>\n
A third challenge is \u201cinternal fragmentation,\u201d or lack of a shared understanding of\u00a0 agribusiness among farmers, entrepreneurs, workers, industry associations and educational institutions.<\/p>\n
The brief says such a common understanding is \u201ca prerequisite for strategic information flows between research centres and industry groups and across the industries that make up a sector\u2019s value chain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Niagara\u2019s agribusiness sector covers more than 215,000 acres of farmland and around 22 million square feet of greenhouse area. There are more than 1,800 farms, about 200 greenhouses, nearly 100 wineries and more than 112 food processing companies, says the brief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When asked what Niagara is known for beyond the famous Falls, many people say vineyards,\u00a0 fruit trees, wineries and greenhouses that grow flowers and vegetables year-round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":58910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3319,1,4,5,38],"tags":[8008,492,3095,8024,4104,8027,8023,1263,522,8026,8022,1210,6982,6981,63,617,8025,8028,3352,550],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58907"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58914,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58907\/revisions\/58914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}