Winnipeg may be a long way from most prairie nutraceutical growers, but
that doesn’t mean farmers will be cut off from the city’s new
nutraceutical research centre.
Modern technology and cross-prairie travel by researchers will ensure
growers everywhere can capitalize on the centre’s research, say the
University of Manitoba’s supporters.
“I don’t care if it’s a centre in Manitoba,” said Kelley Fitzpatrick of
the Saskatchewan Nutraceutical Network, a group that represents farmers
who grow grains, herbs and spices that may have medicinal properties.
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“If that’s where the expertise is and the money and the infrastructure,
great. My members can use that.
“They complement what we’re doing here in Saskatchewan.”
The nutraceutical research centre was announced in November, when the
federal and Manitoba governments committed $6 million each. Another $13
million will come from the university and from private donations.
The centre will have its own building and will support about 60
researchers.
The centre will research all aspects of nutraceutical production and
processing, said Rachael Scarth, the associate dean for research of the
university’s agriculture department.
That includes figuring out whether certain plants contain compounds
that actually have health benefits, determining what those compounds
are, discovering how to extract them without destroying them,
developing crop varieties that contain these compounds, and working out
how these crops should be grown in various prairie conditions.
“The challenge is to make sure we understand the way in which they must
be grown in order for those particular compounds to be in the maximum
amounts they can be,” said Scarth.
The research will rely on more than crop scientists. Researchers from
the pharmacy, human ecology, medicine and other departments will take
part, said Scarth.
Nutraceuticals are grown on only a tiny acreage on the Prairies and
there are few well-developed and funded grower groups, such as those
for the large acreage crops.
But while the centre will look for money from grower groups, Scarth
said nutraceutical research could also tap into other sources, such as
medical research funds.
“Rather than just rely on a single source we have multiple partners in
these projects,” said Scarth.
Producer money will help ensure that researchers will come up with
results that help farmers.
“They will influence the direction of the research,” said Scarth.
Centre researchers will speak at grower meetings across the Prairies to
share research findings, and researchers at other facilities will take
part in crop trials. Detailed research results will be available on the
internet.
“We’ll put out a lot of information and the growers will have an
opportunity to look at what’s coming along and assess what they want to
get involved in,” said Scarth.
“The actual physical location of a centre is less important than how we
do as the disseminator of information.”
Fitzpatrick said the Saskatchewan Nutraceutical Network would try to
channel information to its members, including a number of Manitoba
farmers.
“What we try to do is facilitate interaction between the research
community, no matter where they are, and the individual,” said
Fitzpatrick.
She and other industry representatives are working with the centre to
make sure the lines of communication are open.
“We don’t want to duplicate what they’re doing,” said Fitzpatrick. “We
need to do that, rather than have a centre in every province doing the
same thing. That’s dumb.”
