{"id":99541,"date":"2025-02-26T15:39:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T20:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=99541"},"modified":"2025-02-26T16:05:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T21:05:23","slug":"research-retrospective-digging-into-brocks-deep-agricultural-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/02\/research-retrospective-digging-into-brocks-deep-agricultural-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"RESEARCH RETROSPECTIVE: Digging into Brock\u2019s deep agricultural roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of a monthly series celebrating research breakthroughs and successes at Brock University over the past\u00a0<\/em>60 years<\/em><\/a>. To read other stories in the series, visit\u00a0<\/em>The Brock News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

When the late Mikio Chiba<\/a> arrived on campus in 1973, he planted the seeds for Brock University\u2019s future as an agricultural research hub.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Chiba took up the role of Honorary Research Professor with the Department of Chemistry alongside his position at the then-Agriculture Canada Vineland Research Station.<\/p>\n

Four of Chiba\u2019s colleagues \u2014 A.J. McGinnis, Humberto Dias, Elmer Hagley and Charles Marks \u2014 soon followed him, joining the Department of Biological Sciences as Honorary Research Professors.<\/p>\n

Experts in pest infestations and viral infections damaging fruit plants, the group collaborated<\/a> with Brock researchers and co-supervised graduate students, cultivating new opportunities for agricultural research at the University.<\/p>\n

Half a century later, agricultural research at Brock has generated significant results and garnered international recognition.<\/p>\n

In the mid-1990s, for example, then-Professor of Biological Sciences Yousef Haj-Ahmad and a biotechnology company called Syrtec Inc. investigated how a type of roundworm<\/a> could eradicate the grape berry moth, which attacks grapes in the vineyard.<\/p>\n

More recently, Professor of Biological Sciences Michael Bidochka and his team published a groundbreaking 2012 study<\/a> showing a fungus that kills 200 different kinds of soil-born insects also transfers nitrogen from insects into plants, making the fungus a natural plant fertilizer.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, Brock also played a leading role in helping Niagara\u2019s burgeoning grape and wine sector find ways to grow.<\/p>\n

Honorary doctorate recipients Donald Ziraldo<\/a> (LLC \u2018 94) and the late Karl Kaiser<\/a> (BSc \u201974, LLC ’94), who co-founded of Inniskillin Wines, were among the 37 industry and University representatives who formed the Queen\u2019s Landing Forum to discuss strategies for meeting the industry\u2019s local and national needs.<\/p>\n

Not long after that meeting, Brock partnered with the Grape Growers of Ontario and the Wine Council of Ontario. Ziraldo and John Howard, then-owner of Vineland Estates Winery, headed up a national campaign that raised $2.1 million from members of Canada\u2019s grape and wine industry to establish the University\u2019s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI)<\/a> in 1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur early research focused on innovations in Icewine fermentation to improve a signature Canadian wine and ensure its dominance in the international market, along with best practices to address damage from multicoloured Asian ladybeetles, sour rot, climate change impacts and other challenges facing industry,\u201d recalls Professor of Biological Sciences and CCOVI Director Debbie Inglis.<\/p>\n

She says CCOVI\u2019s flagship VineAlert<\/a> program \u2014 funded by Ontario Grape and Wine Research Inc. and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada \u2014 made its mark in the industry by helping grape growers avoid grapevine bud injury due to very cold temperatures.<\/p>\n

Among its many research accomplishments, CCOVI has leadership roles in a number of nation-wide agricultural initiatives including CLEan plAnt extractioN SEquencing Diagnostics (CLEANSED)<\/a>, projects under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership\u00a0(SCAP)\u2019s AgriScience Cluster<\/a> and a national grapevine germplasm repository<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A huge nod to CCOVI\u2019s expertise is its leadership of the multi-institutional Research Farm<\/a>, a state-of-the-art facility aiming to transform Canada\u2019s agriculture ecosystem into a self-reliant, sustainable model that can be applied globally.<\/p>\n

Other areas where Brock research is making a difference in agriculture include:<\/p>\n