ing more jobs and generating more wealth than any other industry. A recent study by the city's Planning and Business Development Department predicts a 50-per-cent increase in employment in agri-food industries in the next decade. Broaden out to the
New frontiers At the tum of the 20th century, Prof. William Graham created the impetus for a Canadi an poultry industry through nutrition stud ies that also provided a background for work in human nutrition. The tum of the 21st century finds poultry scientist Ann Gib bins perfecting the techniques to transfer genetic material into chicken embryos to develop birds with better disease resist ance or to improve production characteris tics, including the deposition of medically valuable proteins in the eggs.
Ontario industry and the predictors are similar, and again, you'll find U of G at the hub of that growth. In the past decade, the view from Johnston Hall has expanded to include OMAFRA's provincial headquarters and the U of G Research Park, which is home to a branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the regional headquarters of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and more than two dozen businesses and agriculture organizations that are key players in Ontario's industry. In the summer of 1997, Guelph welcomed th e establishment of Ontario Agri-Food Technologies - a consortium of 12 grower asso ciations, five Ontario universities, 11 industries and OMAFRA - which is dedicated to generating wealth for the provincial agri -food sector through the application of biotechnology. The consortium will develop financing and th e research teams needed to take discoveri es and turn them into products in the supermarket. A new venture beginning this year is the Agri Food Quality Cluster that seeks out opportunities for agri-food companies to work together to meet a specific need. The Guelph duster is one of the first to be established in Canada, but it already has 500 members and has predicted that potential projects in Ontario could add $2 billion to $3 billion a year
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GUELPH ALUMNUS
YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENT 125
• Mosquito monitoring • Canadian Greenhouse Conference • Non-agricultural waste on land • Pest diagnostic service 1980- 1990
• Alumni House • Turfgrass Institute • Centre for the Genetic Improvement of Livestock • Network of Toxicology Centres • Biological control lab • George Morris Centre • Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program • Distance education • Animal behaviour and welfare • Farm animal care • Haploid breeding technologies • Hybrid canolc:! • Consumer benefits from agricultural research • Soybean rhizobium: 532C 1990S
• Guelph Food Technology Centre • GUARD Inc. • Environmental Farm Plan • U of G/OMAFRA partnership • Wheat in China • Food packaging • Transgenic plants
OAe 125 ANNIVERSARY EVENTS jan. 29 - Official OAC
12S launch and publication of 125 Years of Achievements. Feb. 16 - Winegard Seminar Series hosts Andy Johnson, Seymour, Wis. March 5 - Winegard Seminar Series hosts Sir Colin Berry, Royal London Hospital, U.K. March 31 - Opening of A.J. Casson Exhibit and selections from the OAC art collection at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. April 30 - Recognition of the 12s-year Guelph/OMAFRA partnership and launch of The College on the Hill: A New History of the Ontario Agricultural College, 1874 - 1999· june 7 & 10 - Spring Convocation for OAC diploma and degree graduates. Each graduate will receive a copy of College on the Hill. june 18 & 20 - Alumni Weekend and opening of the Conservatory and Gardens. Sept. 14 to 16 - Canada's Outdoor Farm Show will host the country's biggest silent auction as an OAC fundraiser for student support . Sept. 25 - Heritage Banquet and Ball for alumni, agri-food partners and University community. Nov. 24 - Agri-Food: Into the New Millennium conference to discuss the major forces shaping the destiny of the global and Canadian agri-food systems and rural societies.
For more information on these events or to order copies of the anniversary books, visit the OAC 125 Web site at www.oac.uoguelph. cajOAC125, or contact the dean's office at 519-824-4120, Ext. 2285; e-mail: oac125@ oac.uoguelph.ca.
in new business to the country's economy. So me would sugges t th e growth of agri -food partnerships is part of a global trend in economic thinking that says consolidate, cluster and work together for greater reward s, but the important thing is that this ag ri-food sector is clustering in Guelph - around U of G - because this institution began preparing for its future 125 years ago with a com mitmen t to lead ership in agri-food research, edu cation and service. ga