Cawston Cold Storage has received a grant of $140,160 in joint funding from the provincial and federal governments through the Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program.
The funding will allow Cawston Cold Storage to test the potential of using earwigs as biological control for several apple-orchard insect pests including the rosy apple aphid, leafrollers, budmoth and apple clearwing moth.
The grant comes from the governments of Canada and British Columbia’s commitment under the Growing Forward 2 agreement to provide up to $13.4 million between 2013 and 2018 through the Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program.
Projects funded through the program must have the potential to lead to the commercialization and/or adoption of innovative products, technologies and practices. So far, 80 projects have shared more than $7 million in funding.
“We need to ensure that B.C. remains at the forefront of agricultural innovation,” Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson said. “We continue to support finding non-chemical ways to deal with pests that cause loss of produce and income for farmers.”
“The Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation program funds projects that are looking for operable solutions to the issues facing agriculture,” Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. board chairman Ken Bates said. “This is a program focused on creating better opportunities for B.C.’s farmers and food processors and increasing our ability to compete as we look to the future.”
The Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program is administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. Additional program information and application forms are available at: http://iafbc.ca/agri-innovation.htm