Ministry of Agriculture of British Columbia : Funding boost pollinates innovations for bee hives, cranberries

The following 28 projects received over $2.7 million in support from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership under the Canada-BC Agri-Innovation Program. This brings the total funding to over $5.3 million since the program began in April 2018.

Agri-Forest Bio Technologies (Kelowna): $55,000 to create more blight resistant hazelnut starter plants for nurseries, orchards and distributers

Artificially Inspired Technologies Inc. (Surrey): $10,000 to create a robot prototype that will help farmers harvest strawberries

BC Cranberry Marketing Commission (Abbotsford): $10,725 to support a study on artificial pollination to increase yield across different varieties of cranberries

BC Cranberry Marketing Commission (Abbotsford): $6,000 to support research with Ocean Spray Canada that will identify the optimum irrigation needed to maximize soil water threshold

Blueridge Produce Inc. (Langley): $94,616 to develop new value-added products from B.C. produced berries and tree fruits

Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (UBC) (Vancouver): $495,081 to test methods that could help reduce flock mortality due to common pathogens

Canadian Pine Pollen Company (North Vancouver): $47,797 to develop pine pollen as a new agricultural product, by expanding partnerships and updating current pilot equipment to optimize production yield and minimize losses

Canadian Pine Pollen Company (North Vancouver): $1,950 to gather market data to help support the expansion of the pine pollen sector

Craft Grain (Vancouver): $45,572 to explore opportunities to reduce waste in the craft brewing industry

Craft Metrics Inc. (Summerland): $15,000 to act on enhancements identified in its previous project that will support a wider market of mid-sized craft beverage brewers

Days Century Growers Inc. (Kelowna): $150,000 to modernize its pear packing house to improve sorting in the pear industry, and to update traceability for regulators and retailers

Egg Solutions-Vanderpol Inc. (Abbotsford): $95,733 to test new equipment to increase the quality and production of soft-boiled eggs

Emkao Foods Inc. (Surrey): $24,770 to extract cocoa oil from cacao beans and develop an effective product to take to domestic and international markets

E.S. CropConsult Ltd. (Surrey): $7,760 to facilitate a research trial to test a new method for managing thrips (crop pest)

Fraser Valley Conservancy (Abbotsford): $41,756 to conduct a feasibility study on non-chemical vole (small rodent) control in berry fields

HiPoint Agro Bedding Corporation (Abbotsford): $90,500 to develop a hypoallergenic, anti-viral horse bedding

Joppa Willis Inc. - Phase 2 (Cawston): $12,165 to modify and complete a mobile organic food dehydrator

Mountain Munchies Inc. (Nelson): $16,500 to help use new technology to produce puffed dehydrated cheese products

NovoBind Livestock Therapeutics Inc. (Vancouver): $99,147 to test alternatives to antibiotics against necrotic enteritis in poultry

Nutrimax Solutions Corporation (North Vancouver): $50,000 to develop sustainable products from locally grown sumac berries

Simon Fraser University (Burnaby): $45,104 to pilot new technology to combat plant pathogens in blueberries

Technology Brewing Corporation (Salmon Arm): $450,000 to test a robot that will pick mushrooms according to rules set by a grower at a commercially acceptable rate and deliver them for processing and packing

Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops): $97,243 to purchase an emissions detector and monitor the carbon emissions of cattle

University of British Columbia (Vancouver): $269,880 to develop new technology and new varieties of blueberries

University of British Columbia (Vancouver): $96,000 to test a process developed at UBC that will provide alternatives for best management practices in manure treatment and nutrient management

University of Fraser Valley (Abbotsford): $170,320 to develop an automated honey extraction system to support the beekeeping community

Valid Manufacturing Ltd. (Salmon Arm): $150,000 to test a centrifuge designed to support the business and environmental needs of the dairy industry

Vanderpol's Eggs Ltd. (Abbotsford): $147,618 to develop a liquid egg white with no chemical additives