Food from Thought

Food from Thought: Agricultural Systems for a Healthy Planet

Agriculture and food production around the world has benefited from the rapid expansion of sensor technology that is helping us collect vast amounts of information and measure everything from global shifts in climate, to variations in food quality, to microscopic evolution of pests and pathogens. 

The Food from Thought research program at the University of Guelph is working on how to realize the full potential of all this data to understand the complex interplay between farming practices, the genetic potential of our livestock and crops, and the ecosystem. The $76.7 million, 7 year research program started in 2016, and is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. This research will help us to understand how we can increase the capacity, sustainability and safety of our food production systems.

Faculty and graduate students from all seven colleges are tackling cross-disciplinary projects at three scales of research and innovation: the global scale (transforming agriculture’s impact on biodiversity), the landscape scale (sustainably intensifying production), and the micro-scale (enhancing food and livestock health).

FFT Research from Animal Biosciences

Food from Thought research falls under seven broad themes:

• livestock

• crops

• pathogens and food safety

•  biodiversity

• ecosystem services

• integrated food systems

• digital ag

With expertise in animal physiology, genetics, nutrition and welfare, our faculty are a major driving force behind the livestock theme.

 Projects include:

• The Animal Database (Principle Investigator-Dr. Christine Baes)

• Breeding Livestock for Climate Resilience (Principle Investigators-Dr. Angela Canovas, Dr. Niel Karrow and Dr. Bonnie Mallard (OVC))

• Breeding Livestock for Climate Resilience: The Capacity to Maintain Production and Fitness (Principle Investigator-Dr. Flavio Schenkel)

• Identification of Metabolic Markers for On-farm Selection of Gilts with High Reproductive Potential (Principle Investigator-Dr. Julang Li)

• Identifying Genetic Markers Associated with Low Stress Reaction in Pigs (Principle Investigator-Dr. Renee Bergeron)

• Methods to Assess Protein Quality (Principle Investigator-Dr. Anna-Kate Shovellor)

• Precision Dairy Cattle Management (Principle Investigators-Dr. John Cant and Dr. Trevor DeVries)

• Precision Poultry Management: Tackling Sustainability Issues of Egg and Chicken Production (Principle Investigator-Dr. Gregoy Bedecarrats; Co-Investigators-Dr. Elijah Kiarie, Dr. Tina Widowski, Dr. Alexandra Harlander)

• Roles of Alkaline Phosphatases in Gut Health and Nutrient Utilization in Pigs Health (Principle Investigator-Dr. Ming Fan)

 ABSc faculty members also contribute to projects under other FFT research themes including:

Pathogens and Food Safety

•  Improving Antimicrobial Stewardship in Food Animals by Identifying the Determinants of use of Antimicrobials by Veterinarians and Dairy Farmers (Co-Investigator-Dr. Dan Tulpan)

Digital Ag

• Applying wearable sensors & machine learning to improve dairy cow health & production (Principle Investigator-Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro)

• Livestock visualization project: Using spatial and spectral images to determine calf growth and performance (Co-Investigators-Dr. Katie Wood, Dr. Dan Tulpan)

• Utilizing data from automated calf feeders: Identifying novel ways to identify disease to improve growth and performance of dairy calves (Co-Investigator-Dr. Michael Steele)

New Hires

Funding through the FFT program also brought two new faculty members to the department: Dr. Michael Steele (Animal Physiology) and Dr. Dan Tulpan (Computational Biology). You can read more about their research programs and how they contribute to FFT at foodfromthought.ca/new-animal-biosciences-professors.

For more information on the Food From Thought research program, please visit: foodfromthought.ca/