This theme integrates knowledge from both traditional and emerging approaches to address challenges in producing affordable, high-quality agricultural products while safeguarding biodiversity and resilience. Concepts such as carbon footprint, animal welfare, and equitable food distribution are central to the development of truly sustainable crop and livestock production systems, aligning with evolving consumer expectations and ethical considerations.
鈥淲e are deeply rooted in the 10,000-year-old practice of agriculture and resource management, and yet utterly contemporary and forward thinking in our approach to merging disciplines and working together to solve thorny problems.鈥�
鈥擯rofessor聽Mark Lefsrud
Research highlights
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Professor Jaswinder Singh enhances quality traits, stress tolerance and bioenergy capability of crop plants using current genomic, molecular breeding and biotechnological tools. He is an internationally recognized innovator in the use of transposon tagging (bookmarking) in cereal crops. His recent discovery of a key gene that acts as a switch to determine how a particular plant responds to high humidity and excess rainfall opens up new directions for research in seed dormancy.
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The primary goal of William Dawson Scholar聽Mark Lefsrud鈥檚 research is the improvement of plants for human consumption (food security), and energy (biofuels). He is looking at ways to move the production of fresh fruits and vegetables closer to the consumer, using vertical farming and innovative greenhouses, with a focus on energy reduction and the selection of species and cultivars for this specific growing environment.
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Plant science professors聽Anja Geitmann聽(Canada Research Chair in Biomechanics of Plant Development), Martina Str枚mvik and Jean-Benoit Charron, in partnership with the Universit茅 de Sherbrooke, have established the Eastern Canadian Plant Phenotyping Platform (ECP3) research program to develop new crop cultivars and precision agricultural tools and management practices adapted to climate change in Eastern Canada.
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McGill鈥檚 Industrial Research Chair in the Sustainable Life of Dairy Cattle is a joint venture funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Novalait, Dairy Farmers of Canada, and Valacta (Quebec-Atlantic Dairy Production Centre). Led by James McGill Professor聽Elsa Vasseur, the McGill team researches all aspects of dairy cattle welfare and works with industry partners to transfer knowledge to producers and other stakeholders.
Humanity urgently needs to sustainably produce low-input, affordable, accessible and high-quality livestock and crop products, while protecting biodiversity and resiliency of agriculture.
Our research focuses on the data required to develop sustainable plant and animal production systems in the context of climate change, population growth, increased urbanization and changes in consumer values and demands.