The village of Alvinston is home to one of thirteen agricultural projects receiving funding from the Federal Government.
Just over $6.5 million has been earmarked to support Canada's industrial bioeconomy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That's about half of the total project funding, with the other portion coming from industrial partners and other sources.
The funding, to Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) through the AgriScience Program, was announced during a media conference on Monday at the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.
Member of Parliament (MP) for London North Centre Peter Fragiskatos was in town on behalf of the Honorable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
BIC Project Manager Michael Faba said the money is supporting pre-commercial research.
He said the idea is to process a low value material, from a farm or food production facility, and turn it into something useful.
"We're not getting into the large-scale commercialization opportunities or facilities yet, but this is everything from proof of concept at lab scale to some more advanced lab bench work," said Faba. "We might get into early pilotation where we're starting to move things off the bench and really scale things up."
Faba said the funding runs through March of 2028, and he's thrilled to see work being done locally.
"The project in Alvinston is working on novel or new soil amendments for growing various crops," he said. "In doing so, they're using a residual material that's also produced from agriculture. So, it's making things more of a cyclical model from the field to the field. Overall, it lowers their carbon footprint in doing so. This is a nationally focused program however, as projects scale up and with the expertise and facilities that we have in Sarnia-Lambton, there's always the potential that something could come here, and site here, and create jobs."
Faba said there are also projects in the works in places like Guelph, Waterloo, Toronto and Nova Scotia.
He also highlighted an exciting initiative happening out in Manitoba.
"It's looking at using renewable or sustainable materials as seed tapes for field planting applications," said Faba. "That material is also being sourced by their own crop production. The exciting thing is that there's a lot of applicability to northern, remote, and First Nations communities."
MP Fragiskatos commended the staff and the work being done at the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.
"It's been around since 2003, and they do incredible work," said Fragiskatos. "Part of that incredible work sees them forge ties with businesses across the country who are focused on sustainability. Climate change is the challenge of our time, and finding ways to be sustainable is crucial. There are businesses that are trying to take ideas to market to provide jobs along the way and to market products that are exactly that, sustainable. The agriculture residues can go toward things like batteries for cars, food packaging and textiles. There are a lot of other examples that have come out of research in Sarnia. So, we wanted to support that work."
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said when the city and the county first bought the park over two decades ago, they were taking a big risk.
"We have graduated quite a few people from this park who have gone on to have locations in this community and across the country in the biofuel industry," said Bradley. "While we have an existing industry that's strong, and we continue to support it, the industry is telling us that we need to move into other areas. That was recognized by the Ford government, they've totally reversed their stance on wind turbines and are now talking about more projects. They understand there are economic and job opportunities. That's what this announcement is about today."
The Federal Government estimates revenue from Canadian industrial bioproducts in 2015 was around $4.27 billion.
By 2030, the global bioeconomy is projected to reach $10.5 trillion annually, with Canada's estimated share up to $240 billion.
BIC previously received $5.5 million in funding through the Growing Forward 2 framework and another $11.2 million through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership framework.