Ontario’s Vineland Research and Innovation Centre for horticulture has set up a new stakeholder advisory committee to help keep the centre connected to stakeholders, producers and outside experts’ advice.
The not-for-profit centre in Ontario’s Niagara region announced the new advisory committee Thursday as the first of three it plans to establish. This committee is meant to address “sector-specific opportunities and the quality of knowledge transfer for
Vineland,” the centre said in a release.
“Vineland’s success will be driven by brilliant
science working hand in hand with market delivery,” said Donald Ziraldo, chairman of the centre’s board, in the release. “The stakeholder advisory
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remain based on achieving commercially relevant outcomes that will provide the
industry with strong competitive advantages.”
Debbie Whitehouse, executive director of the
Niagara Parks Commission and a former director with the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of
Horticulture, will chair the committee.
Other committee members will include John Bakker, Paul-André Bosc, David Donnelly,
Michael Ecker, Ward Hanlon, Pascale Harstar, Denton Hoffman, Ian Mole, Art
Moyer, Matthias Oppenlaender, Lynn Ogryzlo, Ken Porteous, Patrick Robson,
Harold Schooley, Jennifer Smith, Torrie Warner, and ex-officio members, Bill
Ingratta and Gary Whitfield.
The announcement of the new committee follows the naming Wednesday of four new members to the centre’s board: Robert Bierhuizen, president of Sunrise Greenhouses; chartered accountant Alan Ralph; John Scott, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers; and Alastair Summerlee, president of the University of Guelph.
The centre also recently picked up a new multi-year funding pledge from the Niagara Peninsula Fruit and
Vegetable Growers Association, which on Wednesday presented the centre with $10,000.
Ontario’s horticulture sector “is facing increased pressure from
environmental considerations, new pests, consumer demands and globalization,” the centre said in a release Wednesday. The province in December announced $30 million as direct income support for horticulture producers.
