Italian confectioners Ferrero Canada are growing their company and require a stable supply of quality hazelnuts produced by innovative growers in Ontario. The makers of the popular Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Nutella are anticipating upwards of 20,000 acres of hazelnuts planted across the province in the next decade, in large part to supply expansions to its Brantford, Ont. plant, now the hub of its North … Continue reading Hazelnut growers to benefit from NC research »

  Update as of May 12, 2021: Following previous “instrumental” growing trials conducted by student researchers from Niagara College’s Agriculture & Environmental Technologies Innovation Centre, Walker Environmental Group (WEG) is advancing its development of its rockwool growing media recycling program. The company has since received funding under the Greenhouse Competitiveness and Innovation Initiative from the Agriculture Adaptation Council to study the market development of rockwool … Continue reading Growing trial of greenhouse waste could help open new markets »

On July 19th, a group of farmers from Northern Germany made their way to Niagara College’s Niagara-on-the-Lake campus to discover the school’s agricultural and horticultural technologies and capabilities. The group – mainly cabbage growers – are all independent farmers, but are part of an association called “Maschinenring Dithmarschen,” a machinery/professional pool with access to affiliated companies to help agricultural farmers. The Research & Innovation division … Continue reading German farmers reap agricultural & horticultural insight in NOTL »

The Agriculture & Environmental Technologies Innovation Centre (AETIC) is getting equipped to enter into cannabis applied research, thanks to a recent grant for dedicated space and specialized equipment to complete trials for the cannabis industry. The $149,918 grant to Niagara College (NC) through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) from the Applied Research Tools and Instruments Grants (ARTI) program will cover … Continue reading Expanding cannabis applied research »

  Niagara College is at the forefront of agricultural robotics technology, with its complement of aerial drones and enterprise-level software systems. Now a 400-lb remotely operated rover, named RoamIO Jumbo, is undergoing field testing to refine high-precision engineering onboard that will help accurately predict vineyard yield estimates for grape growers. These field trials are taking place at the Niagara-on-the-Lake campus vineyards by members of the … Continue reading Artificial Intelligence in the vineyards? »