Pride Seeds has announced it is contributing $150,000 to the fundraising campaign for the proposed building of the Ontario Sustainable Crop Research and Innovation Centre project at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus.
The state-of-the-art facility will ensure that competitive and sustainable crop research remains at the forefront.
The cost of the new centre is estimated between $15 and $20 million, of which up to $4 million will come from private industry and alumni support.
The new facility will feature a molecular genetics lab, analytical lab, and fermentation lab suites, seed preparation and evaluation labs and plant breeding equipment.
Doug Alderman, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing for PRIDE Seeds said in a news release that the new facility will be a tremendous support to agriculture, not only in the region, but across the country.
“As a Canadian company, we’re proud of our contribution to Canada’s agri-food system, which is recognized internationally as one of the safest and most progressive in the world,” said Alderman. “The proposed new crops innovation centre represents a long-term commitment towards ensuring that Ridgetown Campus will continue to provide important applied research solutions for Ontario and Canadian farmers for decades to come, and we’re very pleased to be a part of it.”
Ken McEwan, Ridgetown Campus Director, said that once it’s fully operational the facility will accommodate 20 plus research scientists along with 16 to 20 research associates and technicians. Ridgetown scientists also support the development of future crop scientists through their supervision of 15 to 17 Masters and PhD students completing graduate studies at Ridgetown.
The proposed new crops innovation centre will leverage over $9 million in annual research investment and will facilitate the priorities of between 80 and 100 annual research partners.
