Skip to main content
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Indigenization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
  • Governance
  • About People
  • Expert Profiles
  • Student Stories
  • About Places
  • Research Centres
  • Access to Research Centres
  • University Facilities
  • Tours and Biosecurity
  • About Programs
  • Research & Innovation
  • Veterinary Capacity
  • Agriculture & Food Laboratory
  • Animal Health Laboratory
  • Regulatory Training
  • Property Management
  • Resources for Researchers
  • Ag-Tech
  • Beef
  • Dairy
  • Field Crops
  • Horticulture
  • Poultry
  • Swine
  • Our Impact
  • Case Studies
  • Annual Reports
  • News
  • Events
  • Newsletter
Looking between two rows of young fruit trees; one row with pink blossoms and one with white blossoms

Supporting Ontario's Horticulture Sector

  1. U of G Homepage
  2. Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance
  3. Sector Partners
  4. Supporting Ontario's Horticulture Sector

Supporting a productive, profitable and sustainable horticulture industry

The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance works for Ontario farmers growing fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, turf and more.

By investing in research, laboratory services and training, we help farmers grow healthy plants that produce well and innovate for a prosperous future and a safe, healthy, Ontario food supply.

Partners: Working together for a strong, sustainable sector

The Alliance brings together government, academia and industry for a strong, sustainable horticulture sector. Partners include:

  • Growers’ associations and organizations, such as the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association

  • Agricultural and ag-tech companies

  • Agribusinesses, such as seed companies

Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Contact Us

Jump to section:

  • Making an impact
  • Ontario Crops Research Centre
  • Services and resources
  • In the news

Making an impact

Steve Loewen stands outside in a tomato field on a sunny day, articulating something with his hands as he explains something

Breeding better tomatoes

Dr. Steve Loewen

Loewen develops lines of tomatoes for seed companies to further breed, develop and release. The Ridgetown Campus researcher breeds 800 to 1,000 different lines every year, and more than 200 of the lines are under active license.

Homegrown Solutions Support Ontario Value Chain
Jay wears sunglasses and holds a basket of fresh peaches, outside in front of a peach tree

Shortcuts to new peach varieties

Dr. Jay Subramanian

The prolific U of G peach breeder and U of G professor has released six new peach varieties since 2003, including Vee Blush, which accounts for 20 per cent of the early market peaches grown in Ontario.

Earlier, Tastier Peaches
Brendan Daisley is dressed in protective gloves, jacket and mesh face covering, holds up a frame of honey bees from their hive

More honey bees dying, even as antibiotic use halves

Dr. Brendan Daisley

Despite tighter restrictions on antibiotics used in Canadian beekeeping, honey bee death rates are still rising. In a 2026 study, U of G researchers found the withdrawal of antibiotics was one of the top predictors of honey bee overwintering mortality.

Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance
Keith in the lab with a long, coffin-shaped metal Cleanworks machine, wearing a labcoat and holding a tray of raw eggs

U of G invention kills food pathogens in seconds

Dr. Keith Warriner

Ontario apple grower Paul Moyer sought out the U of G food scientist in 2015, then commercialized the food safety technology that is credited with saving candy apples. The technology is still undergoing testing for new applications, like decontaminating low-growing crops like spinach and broccoli and treating wine grapes affected by powdery mildew.

Destroying Pathogens Without Pesticides
Naïo Technologies' robotic weeder, named Orio, working in a sunlit field of crops.

Robots with potential to transform farming

Dr. Mary Ruth McDonald

Robots that seed and weed are being tested at the Ontario Crops Research Centre in Bradford to provide feedback to the manufacturers and improve the designs. The machines can be used to seed, cultivate and weed crops like onions, beets, carrots and more.

Self-Driving, Weed-Cutting Robots
Owen smiles and stands outside next to an apple tree wearing glasses and a sunhat

Apple trial as a blueprint for real-world results

Owen Rowland

The Plant Agriculture MSc candidate and a multidisciplinary team of researchers are determining how apple growers can incorporate new thinning compounds to manage labour costs and produce better fruit.

Beyond the Orchard
Medhat Moussa and Cole Terry standing next to a yellow robotic arm labelled "Robotics Institute" in a laboratory setting

"Smart" robot for greenhouses and harvesting

Dr. Medhat Moussa

Researchers at The Robotics Institute @ Guelph are advancing a harvesting solution that could help tackle labour shortages. Their robot is trained to pick tomatoes, but could be trained to pick peppers or cucumbers, or to pick up on early signs of disease.

Using AI to Pick Tomatoes
Close-up of two whole heads of garlic and one head broken apart into cloves

Clean seed garlic boosts yield potential and cultivar resistance

University of Guelph staff

Clean garlic seed lines developed at the Ontario Crops Research Centre - New Liskeard SPUD Unit showed a consistent yield advantage in trials led by OMAFA vegetable crops specialist Travis Cranmer. Access to clean seed can boost yield potential, economic sustainability, and cultivar resistance.

Bigger Bulbs and Higher Returns for Growers
Outdoors on a sunny spring day, the back of a drone operator is visible as he navigates a drone over a field of young apple trees

Ontario Crops Research Centre

Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario (ARIO) provides the places and spaces where research thrives.

The network of sites provides cutting-edge research that prevents disease and keeps Ontario's food systems safe—from farm to table—and hosts events for producers, including field days and ag-robotics demo days.

Explore the Ontario Crops Research Centre sites in:

Bradford
Cedar Springs
Simcoe

Additional services and resources

Dependable diagnostic and analytical services

The Agriculture & Food Laboratory (AFL) at the U of G offers the latest and most accurate methodologies for testing soil, water, plants, agrochemicals, food and beverages and milk.

AFL delivers accurate results for the agriculture, food and beverage, corporate and research sectors.

Extensive, state-of-the-art growth facilities in two locations.

The Research Innovation Office supports the commercialization of U of G crop varieties that come from the plant breeding programs and related research work.

The SPUD Unit consists of a tissue culture laboratory, greenhouses and cold storage facilities.

In the news

  • The Grower: Outside-the-Box Science Delivers Inside the Spray Sox (Jan. 2026)

  • The Grower: New University of Guelph President Calls Horticulture the “Vanguard” of Innovation (Sept. 2025)

  • Farmtario: Robots, Lasers, and AI, Oh My! (Sept. 2025)

  • CBC Fresh Air: A New Study Looks at Honeybee Mortality and Antibiotics (Aug. 2025)

  • Ontario Federation of Agriculture: Spring Into Local: Ontario’s Fresh Food Season Kicks Off With Asparagus (May 2025)

  • Farmtario: New Chipping Varieties Catch the Eyes of Producers (Sept. 2024)

  • Farmtario: FarmDroid Provides Scalable Horticultural Seeding and Weeding (Aug. 2024)

  • Prince Albert Daily Herald: A Robot That Can Harvest Asparagus Part of the ‘Next Phase’ of Farming (July 2024)

  • Hortidaily: Pitch Competition Highlights Ontario’s Agri-Tech Talent (July 2024)

  • The Grower: Field Strawberry Season Kicks Off Early (June 2024)

  • The Grower: Lavender Bloom is a Week Ahead of Schedule (June 2024)

  • CBC News: Ontario Winery Testing New Green Canadian Technology to Fight Age-Old Threat to Grape Crop (May 2024)

  • Norfolk Farms News: Introducing … Torin Boyle, The New Manager of the Ontario Crops Research Centre – Simcoe (Mar. 2024)

Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance wordmark

Stay connected

Subscribe to our newsletter

Follow us @AgInnovationON

Connect with the Alliance on Twitter Connect with the Alliance on YouTube Connect with the Alliance on LinkedIn

In collaboration with

Government of Ontario logo

This website is managed by the University of Guelph. Views expressed here are the views of the University and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Ontario.