As part of a renewed commitment under Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) conducts the priority-setting process on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA). Vineland continues to be responsible for collecting and synthesizing research priorities from various horticultural groups. These priorities feed into OMAFA’s priority setting process which is used by researchers across the province to address the gaps and needs of Ontario’s horticultural sector.

Vineland aims to help create a meaningful set of research priorities and transition to a three-year priority setting process.

Improvements will be made by addressing the needs of small, medium and large crop commodity groups while also considering short-, medium- and long-term priorities within and across these groups. Enhancing the alignment of funding and granting opportunities at the regional, provincial and federal levels will also aid these improvements. 

Additionally, key contacts, such as researchers and industry organizations, will be compiled to provide a resource list that supports the horticulture sector’s sustainability, competitiveness and growth. Year 1 (2023-2024) of this project concentrated on identifying crop commodities’ attitudes towards the previous research priority setting process to identify priority areas which were used to inform sector consultations. Year 2 (2024-2025) involved sector consultation with each of the commodity groups. All 16 groups were contacted, and consultation was completed with 13 of them to understand their opinions and concerns around priority setting which were used to develop recommendations for a new priority setting process. Year 3 (2025-2026) will involve using these recommendations and further industry consultations to establish the new priority setting process and priority list for 2026-2029.

Link here for full report: https://www.vinelandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-Ontario-Horticulture-Research-Priorities_Vineland.pdf

To learn more about the Ontario horticulture research priority setting process or to inquire about how to be involved, please contact:

Amy Bowen, PhD

Director – Consumer, Sensory & Market Insight

Vineland Research and Innovation Centre

Email: amy.bowen@vinelandresearch.com

Source:  Vineland Research & Innovation Centre July 8, 2025 posting